I come from a fascist state (opinion) and am wanting to write on how a country/nation recovers from fascist states and propagandas.
And I believe Germany would be the best country to put forward as an example. So, how did you guys manage it? Was it constant reminders? self-reflection? And what still keeps Germany from falling back into fascism? How long did it take and how much of the population would be completely unaffected as of now ? I would really love to know.
Also would not mind any related reading.
I hope I don't offend anyone with this post!
Would be very thankful for answers !
Germany is probably not your best example of how to recover from fascism. The state's end was forced, both by the suicide of its leader, and military conquest. It was conquered by an alliance that was exceedingly unstable; the US, England, and newly freed France had political ideologies opposite of the USSR. The first three were given the Western half (geographically it's about 2/3 of the landmass of the country) of Germany to control after the occupation, while the USSR took the eastern half for themselves, with Berlin, in the eastern portion, being again split in two. Within just a few years, England and France gave their portions to the US zone, as had been the plan (the splitting was not supposed to be permanent). These three zones became more or less Democratic and Capitalist. The fourth zone, however, did not join. Due to increased aggression by the Soviet Union, the portion which they controlled stayed separate until 1990, with the fall of the USSR. Germany did not decide independently to become democratic; it was forced, and even then 1/3 of it became a Soviet Satellite for a good 40 years. If you were looking more for the laws implemented to avoid such an incident from occurring again, I cannot really help you. Some other examples of getting rid of a totalitarian government (Marxist or Fascist): Look at Czechoslovakia (the Velvet Revolution), India's independence from colonial government, South Africa's dismantling of Apartheid, the dissolution of the USSR. sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germany#Reunification , what I can remember from my AP European History and AP US History courses (other people who are more experts in this area, please correct me if I made any mistakes)
Hope I could help
Well the country was divided into four zones (American, British, French and Soviet) governed by the four powers of occupation. Berlin, which geographically lay in the Soviet Zone, was divided into four sectors. And these four superpowers controlled Germany to a large extent and did not allow facism to rise again. You can still see the reminiscence of this today with the Strafgesetzbuch section 86a which outlawes "use of symbols of unconstitutional organisations" and this being (among others) nazi and facist symbols.
Source: My many conversations with my history teacher.