ARD - Living with the Enemy (2008) Part 3 Culprits and Victims

1945 to 1949 proved to be a decisive period for both Germany and the occupying forces - this is the story of the years between the end of WWII and the founding of the two German states. It was a period of reciprocal impressions and experience for both occupiers and occupied, and a period that still fundamentally shapes personal fates, families, the economy, the arts and geopolitics. Combining carefully selected eyewitness accounts from occupiers and occupied alike, Living with the Enemy creates a new, exciting and differentiated view of the time and shows that these years not only helped shape present-day Germany, but also had a profound effect on the rest of the world. This period was the beginning of the Cold War. It would influence global politics for decades to come. A new generation of historians with new findings, archives only now accessible, and the willingness of those involved to engage in an open dialogue make a new and remarkable in-depth view of these historical events.

Part 3: Culprits and Victims After the war, the symbols of Nazi power were destroyed, leading Nazis were tried and imprisoned or executed. The arduous and time-consuming process of de-nazification (filling out detailed questionnaires to establish one's innocence or guilt) affected the whole adult population. After some time, the Military Government handed this process over to the Germans themselves. The occupiers realised that it was time to create a new Germany by focusing on the children and young people, re-educating them and showing them that there was another way.

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