Democracy, Nazi Trials, and Transitional Justice in Germany, 1945-1950

Post-war Germany has been seen as a model of ''transitional justice'' in action, where the prosecution of Nazis, most prominently in the Nuremberg Trials, helped promote a transition to democracy. However, this view forgets that Nazis were also prosecuted in what became East Germany, and the story in West Germany is more complicated than has been assumed. Revising received understanding of how tra...