HN 2: The British and their Works

1.2
Two kinds of denazification
In its handling of denazification measures at the Volkswagenwerk,
the British military government proceeded initially
with the same pragmatism with which it had lost no time in
taking the company under its wing in the first place. Possibly the
one led directly to the other. It was clear enough that an overzealous
weeding-out of management and workforce would
jeopardise the British plans for production. Thus between political
necessities and economic necessities, Major Ivan Hirst was
faced with a dilemma. The execution of the denazification
measures was based initially on the "instructions to Financial
institutions, and Government Financial Agencies No. 3", which,
in the absence of an appropriate directive for the British Zone,
served as a temporary expedient. In these instructions a
distinction was drawn between two modes of procedure.
Immediate dismissal faced all those who for example had been
a member of the NSDAP (National Socialist Party) prior to 1933,
had held an office in certain Nazi organisations, or had worked
with the Gestapo. The second, more flexible procedure was
intended to remove active Nazis and adherents of the regime. In
this case the person concerned was suspended from his work
during the ongoing investigations and up to the final decision.
The Military Government obtained the necessary information
with the aid of a questionnaire which, in accordance with the
"Instructions", had to be distributed to the entire management
staff from supervisors upwards. The fact that the Military
Government in Hanover issued supplementary guidelines for
denazification in late August 1945, in which the distinction
between suspension and dismissal was ignored, only added to
the confusion. Instead, the "Nazis" were to be identified on the
basis of a series of sometimes ill-defined criteria, such as
whether a person had derived advantages from the Nazi government
or distributed propaganda. This mish-mash of directives
and instructions hindered the implementation of denazification
measures on the spot. 24
Ivan Hirst endeavoured to conduct the denazification process
decreed by the British military government in the autumn of
1945 as quickly and quietly as possible. His prime interest was
the setting up of saloon car production, and for this a functioning
management had to be appointed and the demoralising
effect on the workforce limited. The British officer used his
position to accelerate the proceedings. Bypassing the district
office in Gifhorn, he took the completed questionnaires of the
workforce directly to the headquarters in Lüneburg, where they
were processed by Public Safety. The first denazification wave
left only a few splashes on the Volkswagenwerk; it applied only
to the management team, and even here personnel changes
were very limited. Major Hirst declared the denazification
process essentially concluded in January 1946, and in February
notified the Board of Control of the satisfactory outcome. 25