What were the views of Germans, military and civilian alike, during 1945?

by Maxshby

I remember reading that many thought the world was ending, but I wanted to know the general views of most Germans.

abbamouse

The only surveys I know of that occurred during 1945 were the OMGUS polls, conducted about every three weeks beginning in October 1945. Because the original data doesn't survive, we have to refer to the OMGUS reports on the data sent back to Washington. Some surveys were only administered in the US occupation zone, while others were administered throughout what became West Germany. No surveys were conducted in the Soviet occupation zone. Cluster sampling was the technique used, and initially sample sizes were small: "The first eight surveys, conducted between 26 October 1945 and 13 December 1945, rested upon area samples of 39 to 45 communities, with a sample size that ranged between 331 and 466 respondents" (Merritt and Merritt 1970, 5). But with those caveats, here are some of the more interesting findings:

  • Opinion was more favorable -- or less unfavorable -- towards the American occupiers than any of the other three. In particular, confidence that Americans would treat Germans fairly was higher than confidence in the other Allies.
  • By September 1946, only 1 in 7 residents of the American Zone had come to know an American soldier "well" or "rather well," -- indeed, only 20% said they had even talked to an American since the beginning of US occupation.
  • Although those surveyed were generally not fearful of the American occupiers in general (17%), more than twice that number were fearful of African-American soldiers in particular.
  • When surveyed in April 1946 -- the first time the question was asked -- only 1 in 9 respondents thought the occupation would last three years or less. Of the 62% who were willing to take a guess at the length of US occupation, most (2 in 3) said either 10 years or more than 10 years.
  • On reconstruction: "In early 1946 residents of the American Zone were optimistic despite their recognition that the road to full recovery was long. Only a seventh (14%) expected reconstruction within a decade; four times as many (57%) thought that it would take two or more decades; and a fifth (20%) anticipated that it might require at least 50 years. About as many (41%) were satisfied that recovery was proceeding more quickly than expected as the number seeing it proceeding more slowly than expected (40%)" (Merritt and Merritt 1970, 11).
  • In November 1945, about 70% of US Occupation Zone residents thought that the United States was helping to speed reconstruction, although this optimism declined somewhat over the next couple of years.
  • 63% in the US zone had listened to "Voice of America" radio between the end of the war and January 1946; surprisingly, only a minority overall (but a large majority of West Berliners) felt that there was "too much propaganda" in these broadcasts.
  • In late 1945 surveys, Germans in the US Occupation Zone consistently reported their biggest worries (in order of most to fewest respondents) as:
    • Anxiety about POWs and missing persons
    • Food
    • Money troubles in general
    • (Tied during 1945) Clothing and Shoes AND "None." The latter began at 20% of respondents in the first surveys in October, but declined rapidly thereafter.
  • Some 1946 data on the question of Germans who had been expelled from or fled the Soviet-occupied countries/zone: "Asked who was responsible for the expulsions, over half (51%) attributed them to the Allies, to a desire for revenge against the Germans, or to antipathy in Eastern Europe toward Germans. About three in ten (29%) blamed the defunct Nazi government or Hitler himself, one per cent said that the Germans themselves were responsible, and a quarter would not or could not assign responsibility" (19).
  • Attitudes toward Hitler and Nazism:
    • 35% said they never had faith in Hitler. Another 16% lost faith in Hitler when the war broke out, while only 12% said they had faith in him until the end of the war.
    • "Attitude toward Hitler notwithstanding, large numbers agreed with aspects of National Socialist discourse:
      • About 1 in 10: "a civilian is an unworthy (lower) person compared to a member of the army," and/or "in all probability foreign nations and races are enemies; therefore, one should be prepared at all times to attack them first," and/or "if a pure German marries a non-Aryan wife he should be condemned"
      • About 1 in 8: "the horrors committed by the Germans are an invention of the propaganda of our enemies" and/or "the Communists and the Social Democrats should be suppressed."
      • About 1 in 5: "only a government with a dictator is able to create a strong nation," and/or "this war was caused by a conspiracy between the International Bankers and the Communists," and/or "the German people were the victims of a conspiracy by other nations," and or "it would have been much better for the Allies to have had a war with Russia instead of with Germany"
      • About 1 in 3: "the publication of no book that criticizes a government or recommends any changes in government should be permitted," and/or "Negroes are members of an unworthy (lower) race," and/or "Jews should not have the same rights as those belonging to the Aryan race"
      • 37 per cent denied that "extermination of the Jews and Poles and other non-Aryans was not necessary for the security of Germans"
      • Fully half of the respondents agreed that "territories such as Danzig, Sudetenland, and Austria should be part of Germany proper."

A lot of these surveys combine data from late 1945 and early 1946, so it's not clear how long the expansionist aims were retained by the populace.

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SOURCE:

Anna Merritt and Richard Merrit. 1970. Public Opinion in Occupied Germany: The OMGUS Surveys. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.