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at the risk of being cynical, the number of anti-nazis grew exponentially in june-juily 1945--kinda like the rapid expansion of the ranks of the resistance in france by september 1944.
it was in everyone's interest after the war to talk about how they were forced to become nazi party members. it was in their interest at the point where they were "being forced" to be a party member to not mention that they felt forced. the americans. for example, round about the fall of 1945 were far more worried about communists than about ex-fascists. they preferred electoral tickets all over germany, when they came, that excluded kpd members...
in the case of folk like von braun or memebrs to the ss apparatus engaged in "curious" types of experimentation of human subjects, it was in the american interest to believe these stories, since the americans sheltered many of the foulest war criminals from prosecution on the grounds that the information they had was a kind fo war reparations. read christopher simpson's book "blowback" for a detailed history of this glorious period of american history.
the question of how perfectly ordinary folk in the germany of the mid 1930s could have found fascism appealing, in a nationalist common-sense kinda way, is really pretty interesting. far more interesting than the save-your-ass stories about forcing that came after the war had ended. what there is to be learned from that experience, and applied to the american one in particular, is how easy it was (and is) for perfectly ordinary folk, who were not evil by nature, who were not exceptional in any way, could become supporters of a fascist regime without even really noticing the shift. or so it seems. maybe a few more military-style rallies. but they would be the logical extension of nationalism, yes? maybe the disappearance of a few neighbors--but that's all good as well, if the purity of the body politic is at stake. a few civil liberties here, a few there--no problem, you arent giving anything away, you have nothing to hide, you are a good person, these things are for bad people--the militarization of everything will weed them out anyway. it was easy then, i think, for folk, particularly petit bourgeois folk who did not understand themselves as being political, to just follow the lead of their radio and papers and neighbors and neighhborhoods and slide right into this. of course they did not know how the story was going to go in the longer run. but the future is never clear, is it.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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