Retreating into Trauma: The Fragebogen, Denazification, and Victimhood in Postwar Germany

Abstract

In the months that immediately followed the collapse of the National Socialist regime, amid the postwar setting of unprecedented death and destruction, a denazification questionnaire, or Fragebogen, was distributed by the four Allied military governments to millions of German civilians and returning soldiers.¹ This two- to-six-page survey required the respondent to provide detailed information about their past political affiliations and activities and had the purpose of purging German society of National Socialist and militarist elements. The Fragebogen was a cornerstone document of denazification; while pursuing Allied political objectives, it also had major psychological and sociological impacts on the predominantly devastated population.