Editing Denazification (section)

==End==
[[File:President Johnson (USA) had besprekingen met Kiesinger te Bonn, Johnson en Kiesi, Bestanddeelnr 920-2595.jpg|thumb|German Chancellor [[Kurt Georg Kiesinger]] (right) was a former member of the [[Nazi Party]].]]
The West German political system, as it emerged from the occupation, was increasingly opposed to the Allied denazification policy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Frei |first=Norbert |date=1996 |title=Vergangenheitspolitik: Die Anfänge der Bundesrepublik und die NS-Vergangenheit |publisher=C.H.Beck |isbn=978-3-406-63661-5 }}</ref> As denazification was deemed ineffective and counterproductive by the Americans, they did not oppose the plans of the West German chancellor, [[Konrad Adenauer]], to end the denazification efforts. Adenauer's intention was to switch government policy to reparations and compensation for the victims of Nazi rule (''[[Wiedergutmachung]]''), stating that the main culprits had been prosecuted.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Steinweis |editor1-first=Alan E. |editor2-last=Rogers |editor2-first=Daniel E. |date=2003 |title=The Impact of Nazism: New Perspectives on the Third Reich and Its Legacy |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |page=235 |isbn=978-0803222397 }}</ref> In 1951 several laws were passed, ending the denazification. Officials were allowed to retake jobs in the civil service, and hiring quotas were established for these previously-excluded individuals,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gassert |first1=Philipp |title=Coping with the Nazi Past: West German Debates on Nazism and Generational Conflict, 1955-1975 |date=2006 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=1845450868 |page=98}}</ref> with the exception of people assigned to Group I (Major Offenders) and II (Offenders) during the denazification review process. These individuals were referred to as "131-ers", after Article 131 of Federal Republic's Basic Law.<ref>{{cite book |last=Art  |first=David  |date=2005 |title=The Politics of the Nazi Past in Germany and Austria |url=https://archive.org/details/politicsnazipast00artd|url-access=limited  |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/politicsnazipast00artd/page/n68 53]–55 |isbn=978-0521673242 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bgbl.de/Xaver/media.xav?SID=anonymous3113862832518&tocf=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl_tocFrame&tf=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl_mainFrame&qmf=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl_mainFrame&hlf=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl_mainFrame&bk=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl&name=bgbl%2FBundesgesetzblatt%20Teil%20I%2F1951%2FNr.%2022%20vom%2013.05.1951%2Fbgbl151s0307.pdf |title=''Gesetz zur Regelung der Rechtsverhältnisse der unter Artikel 131 des Grundgesetzes fallenden Personen'' – 11 May 1951 (Bundesgesetzblatt I 22/1951, p. 307 ff.) |access-date=April 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406203057/https://www.bgbl.de/Xaver/media.xav?SID=anonymous3113862832518&tocf=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl_tocFrame&tf=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl_mainFrame&qmf=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl_mainFrame&hlf=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl_mainFrame&bk=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl&name=bgbl%2FBundesgesetzblatt%20Teil%20I%2F1951%2FNr.%2022%20vom%2013.05.1951%2Fbgbl151s0307.pdf |archive-date=April 6, 2020 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Several amnesty laws were also passed which affected an estimated 792,176 people. Those pardoned included people with six-month sentences, 35,000 people with sentences of up to one year and include more than 3,000 functionaries of the SA, the SS, and the Nazi Party who participated in dragging victims to jails and camps; 20,000 other Nazis sentenced for "deeds against life" (presumably murder); 30,000 sentenced for causing bodily injury, and 5,200 who committed "crimes and misdemeanors in office".<ref name="TNR">{{Cite magazine|last=Herf|first=Jeffrey|date=March 10, 2003|title=Amnesty and Amnesia|magazine=The New Republic|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/66780/amnesty-and-amnesia|access-date=August 25, 2021|issn=0028-6583}}</ref> As a result, many people with a former Nazi past ended up again in the political apparatus of West Germany. In 1957, 77% of the [[Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection|German Ministry of Justice]]'s senior officials were former Nazi Party members.<ref>{{cite news |title=Germany's post-war justice ministry was infested with Nazis protecting former comrades, study reveals |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/10/germanys-post-war-justice-ministry-was-infested-with-nazis-prote/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/10/germanys-post-war-justice-ministry-was-infested-with-nazis-prote/ |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=October 10, 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Included in this ministry was Franz Massfeller, a former Nazi official who had participated in the meetings which followed the [[Wannsee Conference]], in which the extermination of Jews was planned.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Postwar West German ministry 'burdened' by ex-Nazis, study says |url=https://www.ft.com/content/3b5abe60-8efc-11e6-a72e-b428cb934b78 |access-date=2024-05-24 |newspaper=Financial Times|date=October 10, 2016 |last1=Wagstyl |first1=Stefan }}</ref>