Political and ideological differences between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union were put aside during World War II to defeat the German armed forces in a joint effort. Nevertheless, after the war was won, these differences soon started to become insurmountable obstacles in the relationship between the former Allies.
Additionally, several occurrences in the second half of the 1940s created a hostile atmosphere especially between the United States and the Soviet Union, which finally culminated in the Cold War837 which dominated the world until the end of Communism in Eastern Europe in the early 1990s. In respect of the US war crimes trial programme, Friedman summarised these post-war developments as follows:838
From the first trial session in October 1946 to the last review in December 1949, the world had witnessed an escalating series of confrontations between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, among them the
837 The term Cold War stands for “the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World
War II between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. The Cold War was waged on political, economic, and propaganda fronts and had only limited recourse to weapons. … Throughout the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union avoided direct military confrontation in Europe and engaged in actual combat operations only to keep allies from defecting to the other side or to overthrow them after they had done so. … In late 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and … [t]he Cold War had come to an end.” “Cold War” www.britannica.com (last accessed 19 March 2010).
838
Communist incursion into southeastern Europe and central Asia before 1947, which inspired the Truman Doctrine[839]; the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia in March 1948; the promulgation of the Marshall Plan[840] one month later; the Berlin Blockade[841] in the summer of that year; the founding of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on 4 April 1949; the founding of the West German Federal Republic in May; the Soviets‟ detonation of a nuclear weapon in September 1949; and the creation of the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) on 7 October.
Naturally, these occurrences strongly influenced the US policy towards Germany and, according to Friedman, “[a]s a result … of this intensifying conflict, American policy toward Germany shifted from one of occupation and denazification … to one of reconstruction and integration”842
.
Fearing that Communism could become the dominant political system all over Europe, the United States, together with their Allies Britain and France, decided early to rebuild and strengthen the area of Western Europe as a bulwark against Communism.843 The decision to establish a
839 The Truman Doctrine generally describes the Cold War strategy of containment of the
United States versus the Soviet Union and the expansion of Communism, established by President Harry S Truman in March 1947, after he had declared immediate economic and military aid to the governments of Greece and Turkey, which had become targets on Communist insurrection and Soviet expansion in the Mediterranean area. “Truman Doctrine” www.britannica.com (last accessed 19 March 2010).
840
The Marshall Plan was the “U.S.-sponsored programme designed to rehabilitate the economies of 17 western and southern European countries in order to create stable conditions in which democratic institutions could survive.” Established by the Truman Government, some 13 billion dollars worth of economic aid, helping to restore industrial and agricultural production, establish financial stability, and expand trade, were distributed between April 1948 and December 1951, leading to a strong European economy in the 1950s. “Marshall Plan” www.britannica.com (last accessed 19 March 2010).
841
The Berlin Blockade was an “international crisis that arose from an attempt by the Soviet Union, in 1948-1949, to force the Western Allied powers … to abandon their post- World War II jurisdictions in West Berlin. … [T]he Soviet occupation forces in eastern Germany began a blockade of all rail, road, and water communications between Berlin and the West. … On June 26 [1948] the United States and Britain began to supply the city with food and other vital supplies by air. … [T]he airlift kept life going in West Berlin for 11 months, until on May 12, 1949, the Soviet Union lifted the blockade.” “Berlin Blockade and Airlift” www.britannica.com (last accessed 19 March 2010).
842 Friedman, above n 2, 91-92. 843
new West German republic on the territory of the former occupation zones of the three Western Allies was the clearest sign of this new policy.844
In return, East Germany was founded as a Communist state under the influence of the Soviet Union on the territory of its former zone of occupation, and this established the Cold War as the new world order for the next 40 years.
The newly founded Federal Republic of West Germany was the closest neighbour of the new Communist countries of Eastern Europe and, therefore, became very important as an ally of the US and of the Western Europe defence community.845 To protect the Western world from Communism, a German contribution to the defence of the West was desperately needed and, to achieve this support, the Western Allies were aware that they “would have to pay for this by restoring the sovereignty of Germany.”846
Additionally, the creation of an East German paramilitary force in 1949, and the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 as the first proxy war of the Cold War conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, put the question of Germany‟s rearmament on the map.847
In this situation, the Allied scheme to prosecute and punish German war criminals turned from a programme into a problem. The imprisoned war criminals became an uncomfortable burden to both the Allied and the West German Governments on the path to make West Germany an equal partner militarily and politically.848 Although criticised before, the US war crimes trial programme now became the target of many attacks from legal experts and powerful political groups in both German and American society, including the US Congress and the new West German Parliament.849
844 Ibid, 56. 845 Ibid, 3. 846 Ibid, 70. 847 Ibid. 848 Ibid. 849
Consequently, beginning in 1951, the focus of the US authorities was no longer on punishing war criminals and re-educating the German public, but rather on preventing the war criminals problem from causing further controversy in both the United States and Germany.850 As a result, no more trials were held under US tribunals, and clemency and sentence modification procedures were introduced for those Germans who had been already convicted and imprisoned.851
With this new war criminals policy the way was cleared for the realisation of the political visions of the Western Allies and, in 1955, West Germany actually became sovereign and joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) with its own national army.852
Yet, the Western Allies had to pay a high price for these achievements, which is best summarised by Frank M Buscher who stated: “The decision to promote German participation in the defense of Western Europe led to the dismantling of the war crimes program.”853