How could postwar democracy exist without real "denazification"? A discourse-analytical comparison of West Germany, and France and Austria shows that the relationship between political burdens and transformation after World War II was more complex than it seems. In discourses about the burdens of the Nazi regime and collaboration, it was less about individual guilt than it was about the future of democracy and easing the burden on the nation.

Autorentext

Thorsten Holzhauser, Federal President Theodor Heuss House Foundation, Stuttgart, Germany.