The "De-Nazification" programs where a massive central effort to attack the minds of Germans because the Frankfurt socialists asserted that the German mind was intrinsically authoritarian and totalitarian; and the only way to combat this was to use massive propaganda efforts through a totalitarian and authoritarian system to form an absolutely homogeneous narrative through manipulating education, political affiliation, having total control over the media, controlling people's employment through licencing and training, ect, ect.
It was so bad that the American Army was actually burning books that the Frankfurt School and their advisers had identified could lead to a resurgence of Nazism; or were "too ideological".
The Frankfurt School prized itself on developing Critical Theory which would prevent runaway ideological possession, by being socialists who identified capitalism as inherently immoral and eradicating ideological zealotry with ideological zealotry in the form of Critical Theory. And obviously, Socialists were not ideological zealots because socialism is super rational and logical.
Now, combine this with the fact that Germans, (thanks to what I would argue is the result of the trauma of the 30 Years War, Prussian cultural dominance, and the success of German Unification) are a highly collectivist people already. The Denazification programs and the Frankfurt School's cultural control over West Germany combine with German collectivism to create a mentality of absolute obedience to authoritarian propaganda, which is promoting (at this point) open self-hatred, along with whatever pet projects any Leftist narrative needs constructing.
You can bet your ass that the Soviet "Peace War" efforts focused on spreading fear of Nuclear War across the West, and unilateral nuclear disarmament, would have had a major target in West Germany. In the event of a Soviet Invasion, the Soviets planned to effectively incinerate West Germany, because it would have been too difficult to fight through, and there is a natural choke point in West Germany where Russian tanks would have to flow through in order to get to Western Europe very quickly before NATO could respond. (This is actually the specific reason why the A-10 Warthog exists: small arms resistant, close-air support, anti-tank, fixed-wing, heavy firepower that can be kept perpetually firing on Soviet tank formations in a round-the-clock sortie campaign).
So, you've got a highly collectivist people, who having been scared by being the victims of the 30 Years War, and realized that safety only came from Prussian discipline and aggression, are completely further collectivized into any Leftist narrative that is constructed, particularly one that was also heavily supported by Soviet Intelligence efforts. Don't think for a minute the Russians wouldn't keep up the propaganda to make Germans dependent on GazProm, and that the Chinese wouldn't be happy to fund propaganda that makes Germany buy more Chinese batteries.
It was so bad that the American Army was actually burning books that the Frankfurt School and their advisers had identified could lead to a resurgence of Nazism; or were "too ideological".
iirc they even burned just normal run of the mill training regimen manuals because they feared any actual bodily discipline might also lead to a resurgence of national socialism - they didn't even attempt to copy the stuff and just remove the german references
The A-10 missions against tank columns were excepted to be suicidal (the pilots knew they wouldn't return) and NATO's own plans for a "limited nuclear war" involved striking every Polish city on the Wisła (Vistula).
Also, one interesting note is that I focused on West Germany. The reason the AfD is popular in East Germany is because the East Germans weren't exposed to Frankfurt indoctrination that was part of "The New Left". The East Germans were exposed to the tactics of "The Old Left", and a lot were just murdered.
The result is that the East was less subverted and authoritarian than the West is.
The Frankfurt School's primary target was the German people themselves.
The "De-Nazification" programs where a massive central effort to attack the minds of Germans because the Frankfurt socialists asserted that the German mind was intrinsically authoritarian and totalitarian; and the only way to combat this was to use massive propaganda efforts through a totalitarian and authoritarian system to form an absolutely homogeneous narrative through manipulating education, political affiliation, having total control over the media, controlling people's employment through licencing and training, ect, ect.
It was so bad that the American Army was actually burning books that the Frankfurt School and their advisers had identified could lead to a resurgence of Nazism; or were "too ideological".
The Frankfurt School prized itself on developing Critical Theory which would prevent runaway ideological possession, by being socialists who identified capitalism as inherently immoral and eradicating ideological zealotry with ideological zealotry in the form of Critical Theory. And obviously, Socialists were not ideological zealots because socialism is super rational and logical.
Now, combine this with the fact that Germans, (thanks to what I would argue is the result of the trauma of the 30 Years War, Prussian cultural dominance, and the success of German Unification) are a highly collectivist people already. The Denazification programs and the Frankfurt School's cultural control over West Germany combine with German collectivism to create a mentality of absolute obedience to authoritarian propaganda, which is promoting (at this point) open self-hatred, along with whatever pet projects any Leftist narrative needs constructing.
You can bet your ass that the Soviet "Peace War" efforts focused on spreading fear of Nuclear War across the West, and unilateral nuclear disarmament, would have had a major target in West Germany. In the event of a Soviet Invasion, the Soviets planned to effectively incinerate West Germany, because it would have been too difficult to fight through, and there is a natural choke point in West Germany where Russian tanks would have to flow through in order to get to Western Europe very quickly before NATO could respond. (This is actually the specific reason why the A-10 Warthog exists: small arms resistant, close-air support, anti-tank, fixed-wing, heavy firepower that can be kept perpetually firing on Soviet tank formations in a round-the-clock sortie campaign).
So, you've got a highly collectivist people, who having been scared by being the victims of the 30 Years War, and realized that safety only came from Prussian discipline and aggression, are completely further collectivized into any Leftist narrative that is constructed, particularly one that was also heavily supported by Soviet Intelligence efforts. Don't think for a minute the Russians wouldn't keep up the propaganda to make Germans dependent on GazProm, and that the Chinese wouldn't be happy to fund propaganda that makes Germany buy more Chinese batteries.
iirc they even burned just normal run of the mill training regimen manuals because they feared any actual bodily discipline might also lead to a resurgence of national socialism - they didn't even attempt to copy the stuff and just remove the german references
fun little tidbit there
It wouldn't surprised me. They banned singing in schools for decades.
The A-10 missions against tank columns were excepted to be suicidal (the pilots knew they wouldn't return) and NATO's own plans for a "limited nuclear war" involved striking every Polish city on the Wisła (Vistula).
Seems pretty reasonable.
Also, one interesting note is that I focused on West Germany. The reason the AfD is popular in East Germany is because the East Germans weren't exposed to Frankfurt indoctrination that was part of "The New Left". The East Germans were exposed to the tactics of "The Old Left", and a lot were just murdered.
The result is that the East was less subverted and authoritarian than the West is.