Coming to Terms with the Past in Germany after 1945 and 1989

Public Judgments on Procedures and Justice

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6090604
AutoresSusanne Karstedt (0000-0002-0269-8858, Bielefeld University, autor de correspondencia)
Año1998
Volumen20
Número1
Páginas15-56
Fecha de publicación1998-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLaw & Policy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0265-8240 • E-ISSN: 1467-9930
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9930.00041
OpenAlexW2133248552
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8

Germany presents the unique case of a society that has been forced to come to terms with its past twice within a fifty‐year period. This double experience can contribute to our understanding of the legal processes of lustration. This paper examines a largely neglected dimension of this phenomenon: justice judgments by the general population. Justice judgments about the Nuremberg Trials and denazification after 1945 are compared to analogous procedures that took place in post‐communist East Germany after 1989. The study uses two theoretical models in its comparative approach: the Leventhal model, and the “group value” model of procedural justice set forth by Lind and Tyler. The analysis is based on survey data collected by the Office of the Military Government of the U.S. (OMGUS) from 1945 to 1949, and survey data taken in East Germany from 1989 to 1994. The results lend support to the “group value” model for the specific situation of social transition. During both periods justice judgments developed according to analogous patterns. The German experience yields some important lessons for legal policies of lustration

Dimension (graph theory · Economic Justice · European Social Survey · Geography · German · Government (linguistics · Period (music · Political science · Population · Sociology · Statistics · Value (mathematics · Demography · European and International Law Studies · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law