The Present Status of Denazification (December 31, 1950)

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The statistical table on the next page gives figures on the operation of the denazification program in the U.S. Zone from the promulgation of the Law for Liberation in 1946 to September 30, 1950. Not much change has taken place since that date, so that the figures with negligible modification can be accepted as correct as of December 31, 1950.

This was, perhaps, the most extensive legal procedure the world had ever witnessed. In the U.S. Zone alone more than 13 million persons had been involved, of whom over three and two-thirds million were found chargeable, and of these some 800,000 persons were made subject to penalty for their party affiliations or actions. All this was, of course, apart from the punishment of war criminals many of whom were high-ranking Nazis.

In fact, of the top Nazis who fell into Allied hands, all have been either tried or interned. Of the 24 most important and prominent Nazi Cabinet Ministers and Nazi leaders appointed to the highest party rank, that of ‘Reichsleiter’, six were executed, six are still serving sentences up to life, and eight have died or committed suicide. The fate of one is obscure and three are at liberty. Of the 42 persons who held the next highest rank, that of ‘Gauleiter’ or regional party chief, eight were executed, ten committed suicide or have died; one was shot by his own comrades; eleven are still jailed or interned; while the fate of four is unknown. The eight today known to be at liberty have either completed their confinement or are fugitives.

DENAZIFICATION PROCEEDINGS
in the U.S. Zone

Total registrants				...	...	...	...	...	...	13,416,101
	Not chargeable cases				...	...	...	...	...	9,746,862
	Chargeable cases			...	...	...	...	...	...	3,669,239
Monthly average of new registrations during period
		1 October 1949 to 30 September 1950					...	...	...	13,800*
Cases amnestied by Public Prosecutors’ categorization										2,456,731
Otherwise quashed by Public Prosecutors								...	...	252,875
Classifications by Trial Tribunals:
		Major Offenders		...	...	...	...	...	...	1,698
		Offenders	...	...	...	...	...	...	...	22,598
		Lesser Offenders			...	...	...	...	...	106,995
		Followers		...	...	...	...	...	...	487,996
		Exonerated		...	...	...	...	...	...	18,571
		Amnestied		...	...	...	...	...	...	320,713
Cases to be completed by Trial Tribunals								...	...	1,062
Cases to be completed by Appellate Tribunals								...	...	678
Inmates of internment camps						...	...	...	...	73
Persons permanently ineligible to hold public office									...	23,616
Persons restricted in employment							...	...	...	125,510
Subject to confiscation of property							...	...	...	27,587
Persons fined				...	...	...	...	...	...	572,993
Sentenced to Special Labor but not imprisoned									...	30,781

*Returning POWs and returnees from the East.