If you are a German general who defected and collaborated with the Allies, what will happen to you after the war?

by MaxMaxMax_05

For example: If a German soldier defects to the Allies and collaborates with them to avoid imprisonment, what would happen to them?

Will the German government punish them for treachery?

Will the citizens and populous mock/hate you?

Will the Allies praise you?

Yamureska

That depends on the nature of the "treachery".

Many Wehrmacht and SS officials - especially Judges - were able to start over in the West German Government due to currying favor. For example, the former SS man Paul Dickopf gave the Allies some secret intelligence about the Holocaust, and later found himself in a position of leadership in the BKA, and even served as the president of Interpol in the late 60s.

There's also the case of Hans Globke, one of the lawyers who wrote the commentary on the Nuremberg laws and was one of the main perpetrators of the persecution of the Jews. Towards the end of the war, he served the Allies as a translator, was cleared by a Denazification court, and eventually became the National security adviser to Konrad Adenauer. This caused such a scandal that Adenauer's government froze vital arms trade with Israel in 1960 to make sure Adolf Eichmann wouldn't implicate Globke in the Holocaust.

Now, contrast these with the case of Erich Von Dem Bach Zelewski, a former SS man and Holocaust perpetrator. Zelewski expressed remorse for his crimes and openly admitted on several occasions that the Holocaust happened and was a horrible act of mass murder. Whereas most Nazis got sentences ranging from a few days to about less than ten years, Bach Zelewski was randomly prosecuted for the murder of German Communists in the 30s, and sentenced to 10 years in prison, where he died in 1972.

Saving your own skin and gaining favors with the Allies was fine, so long as you didn't say anything bad about the Regime. The BKA under Paul Dickopf persecuted Roma and spied on West German politicians accused of treason. He continued being a Nazi and was rewarded for it. In contrast, Zelewski was harshly punished by the "Old Guard" for his perceived betrayal of the Regime by condemning Nazi crimes.