Editing Nazi Germany (section)

== Legacy ==
{{Main|Consequences of Nazism}}
{{See also|Denazification}}
[[File:Defendants in the dock at the Nuremberg Trials.jpg|thumb|Defendants in the dock at the Nuremberg trials|alt=]]
The Allied powers organised war crimes trials, beginning with the [[Nuremberg trials]], held from November 1945 to October 1946, of 23 top Nazi officials. They were charged with conspiracy to commit crimes, crimes against peace, [[war crime]]s and [[crimes against humanity]].{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=741}} All but three were found guilty and twelve were sentenced to death.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=1143}} Twelve [[subsequent Nuremberg trials]] of 184 defendants were held between 1946 and 1949.{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=741}} Between 1946 and 1949, the Allies investigated 3,887 cases, of which 489 were brought to trial. The result was convictions of 1,426 people; 297 of these were sentenced to death and 279 to life in prison, with the remainder receiving lesser sentences. About 65 per cent of the death sentences were carried out.{{sfn|Marcuse|2001|p=98}} Poland was more active than other nations in investigating war crimes, for example prosecuting 673 of the total 789 Auschwitz staff brought to trial.{{sfn|Rees|2005|pp=295–296}}

The political programme espoused by Hitler and the Nazis brought about a world war, leaving behind a devastated and impoverished Europe. Germany itself suffered wholesale destruction, characterised as {{lang|de|[[Stunde Null]]}} (Zero Hour).{{sfn|Fischer|1995|p=569}} The number of civilians killed during the Second World War was unprecedented in the history of warfare.{{sfn|Murray|Millett|2001|p=554}} As a result, Nazi ideology and the actions taken by the regime are almost universally regarded as gravely immoral.{{sfn|Kershaw|2000a|pp=1–6}} Historians, philosophers, and politicians often use the word "[[evil]]" to describe Hitler and the Nazi regime.{{sfn|Welch|2001|p=2}} Interest in Nazi Germany continues in the media and the academic world. While Evans remarks that the era "exerts an almost universal appeal because its murderous racism stands as a warning to the whole of humanity",{{sfn|Evans|2009|p=56}} young neo-Nazis enjoy the shock value that Nazi symbols or slogans provide.{{sfn|''The Economist''|2015}} The display or use of [[Nazi symbolism]] is illegal in Germany and Austria.{{sfn|''Strafgesetzbuch'', section 86a}}

Nazi Germany was succeeded by three states: [[West Germany]] (the Federal Republic of Germany or "FRG"), [[East Germany]] (the German Democratic Republic or "GDR"), and [[Allied-occupied Austria|Austria]].{{sfn|Wüstenberg|Art|2008|pp=74–80}}
The process of denazification initiated by the Allies was only partially successful, as the need for experts in such fields as medicine and engineering was too great. However, expression of Nazi views was frowned upon, and those who expressed such views were frequently dismissed from their jobs.{{sfn|Evans|2008|pp=748–749}} From the immediate post-war period through the 1950s, Germans kept quiet about their wartime experiences and felt a sense of communal guilt.{{sfn|Sontheimer|2005}}

The trial of [[Adolf Eichmann]] in 1961 and the broadcast of the television miniseries ''[[Holocaust (miniseries)|Holocaust]]'' in 1978 brought the process of {{lang|de|[[Vergangenheitsbewältigung]]}} (coping with the past) to the forefront for many Germans.{{sfn|''The Economist''|2015}}{{sfn|Sontheimer|2005}} Once study of Nazi Germany was introduced into the school [[curriculum]] starting in the 1970s, people began researching the experiences of their family members. Study of the era and a willingness to critically examine its mistakes has led to the development of a strong democracy in Germany, but with lingering undercurrents of antisemitism and [[neo-Nazi]] thought.{{sfn|Sontheimer|2005}}

In 2017, a [[Körber Foundation]] survey found that just 47 per cent of 14 to 16-year-olds polled knew what [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]] was.{{sfn|Goebel|2017}}{{sfn|Körber-Siftung|2017}} The journalist [[Alan Posener]] attributed the country's "growing historical amnesia" in part to a failure by German film and television to reflect the country's history accurately.{{sfn|Posener|2018}}