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DISINFO: Russophobia in the West helped Nazi criminals escape punishment

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

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World War II Russophobia Nazi/Fascist

DISINFO: Russophobia in the West helped Nazi criminals escape punishment

SUMMARY

The division between the allies and the exacerbation of Russian hatred (Russophobia) in the West helped Nazi criminals to escape punishment.

After the war ended, relations between the Allies (the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain and France) began to deteriorate rapidly, particularly due to the Iranian crisis of 1946 and the famous speech by British Former Prime Minister Winston Churchill at Fulton, which marked the beginning of the Cold War, that same year.

At that time, demand for a product such as anti-Sovietism and Russophobia appeared in the West. This situation was exploited by many Nazi criminals who offered their services to Western elites. For example, former Nazi intelligence officer Otto Skorzeny, cooperated with many Western intelligence services.

RESPONSE

A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative trying to portray the West as tolerant to and even encouraging of Nazism. The claim was neither critically challenged nor counterbalanced in the article.

The west has experienced in the aftermath of WWII an extensive denazification programme both in Western Europe and the US. Support or promotion of Nazi ideals was banned in Germany as well as in most Western countries.

According to the BBC, denazification was the process of removing Nazi ideology and influence from all forms of public life in defeated Germany. The occupying allies carried this process out in a number of ways: first, the Nazi Party was banned and advocating National Socialist ideas was made punishable by death. Second, the Swastika symbol and other Nazi emblems were banned in public. Third, Germans were made to complete questionnaires about the extent of their involvement in Nazism. Finally, ex-Nazis were taken on tours of concentration camps or made to watch video clips of Jewish prisoners.

Although, due to a large number of memberships in the Nazi party, it became impractical to prosecute and hold accountable every former member of the party, therefore, the policy aimed at helping Germans to confront the crimes of the Nazi regime, but also to re-educate them in order to leave Nazism behind. In 1946, five categories of involvement were established: major offenders, offenders, lesser offender, followers, persons exonerated.

Those who had been involved in suspected war crimes were tried in the Nuremberg Trials in 1945. The first hearings involved the 23 most important leaders of Nazi Germany. Only three were acquitted (found not guilty), whilst 12 were sentenced to death.

While it is true that as the Cold War began and Britain and the USA came to see the newly created West Germany as a key democratic ally against the totalitarian grip of Stalinism, denazification was scaled back so as not to pressure the population. While this scaling down allowed a small number of less involved ex-Nazis to regain prominence, Nazi ideology remained firmly crushed as democracy developed. Opposing the worst type of Stalinist totalitarianism cannot be considered Russophobia, as the USSR itself embarked on a de-Stalinization program after Stalin's death in 1953.

As other examples of this narrative, see the claim that the West has been trying to whitewash Nazi crimes. In addition, see similar disinformation cases such as Europe is becoming Nazi again, and the EU continues aggressive policies of Nazi Germany.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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