Violence and Xenophobia as Means of Social Control in Times of Collapse: The Soviet Occupation of Post‐War Germany, 1945–1947*

Abstract

This article explores an overlooked aspect of the Soviet occupation of post-war Germany, namely, the influence of wartime violence on German behavioural patterns during the post-war period. Whilst many historians have noted that violent Soviet conduct in Germany merely encouraged the intensification of existing anti-Soviet attitudes therein, few have attempted to thoroughly investigate its influence on German behaviour. The conclusions made by those few historians who have done so are unsupported by the Soviet archival evidence drawn upon in the article. Using this evidence, the article highlights the tentative links between the violent repression of an occupation force and the muted responses of its subjects. It concludes that the nature of the repression and of the broader occupation landscape in which it developed, was integral in ensuring that the characteristically docile behaviour of the German population toward the Soviet occupier continued unabated throughout much of the occupation period.Those horrible weeks are in the past. The Nazis frightened us into thinking that the Russians would send all Germans to perpetual slavery in cold Siberia. Now we see that this was a blatant lie. The measures taken by the Soviet Komendant demonstrate that the Russians are not planning to insult and exterminate us. Once again, I have gained a perspective on life.