Zero hour (, ) is a term referring to midnight on 8 May 1945 in Germany. It marked the end of World War II in Europe and the start of a new, non-Nazi Germany. It was partly an attempt by Germany to dissociate itself from the Nazis. Denazification was encouraged by the Allies occupying Germany.
The term implies "an absolute break with the past and a radical new beginning" or a "sweeping away of old traditions and customs". People at the time were living in a devastated country – roughly 80 percent of its infrastructure was in need of repair or reconstruction – which helped the idea that Germany was entering a new phase of history.
History of the term
The term was first used in World War I, and it was used to say "a time at which some great military action has to take place". The term 'zero hour' appears in various sources throughout post-World War I history. It is mostly used in terms of a militaristic concept (as it was when it was first coined), Richard Freund (a journalist) used the term as a call to war, he talks of Hitler's occupation of the Rhineland, and the Spanish civil war pushing the world to the edge, and, then he says "The next flash may be the signal. It is Zero Hour". Not only was it used in militaristic terms, it also suggests a call to action, Erika Mann says "And one man should be forbidden to entreat you: 'Act! This is your hour, it's the final hour – the Zero Hour!" she calls the American people to action (also during WWII). The term was used to illustrate the need for America to act in World War II, it was used to show the urgency for an American military intervention. Both were used in militaristic settings, displaying urgency to their respective audiences, to the need to intervene and help stop the German advances. It was not until the post-war period that the term was used to refer to the "new beginning" of Germany.
Allied occupation of Germany
During the post-war period Germany was split up into four zones controlled by the Soviet Union, the United States of America, France, and the United Kingdom. A main cultural impact of this occupation was the denazification process that each of the occupying powers put in place. The main plan to accomplish this was through 're-education', without the German people noticing the shift. This was done, because for the most part (at least on the Allies' side) the new political culture was not supposed to be imposed on Germany, for fears of the Germans rejecting these ideas if they felt they were being reeducated, but the Allies also wanted to make sure that there would not be another Nazi-like regime.
The Americans used techniques developed in psychiatry during the 1930s to de-Nazify West Germany. The concept of re-education then was developed originally to change people who had severe delusionary disorders, but it was redone to try and change the German culture at the time. To do this, sociologists, anthropologists, and psychologists studied the differences between democratic and totalitarian societies, to try and find a way to make passing democratic values and traditions to the German people more effective. They encouraged a focus on human values, in favor of 'super human values', that is to say a change from focusing on the state, to instead focusing on individuals. Kurt Lewin suggested that the German people should be given training on how to organize themselves in democratic society, and that this should be done as subtly as possibly, to avoid the German people rejecting democratic ideas. In practice, this meant roughly ten policies that the U.S would enact. First 'white lists', or lists of anti-Nazis who would be entrusted with political, educational, and other positions. Second a screening process was put in to regulate who could become newspaper editors and run publishing houses. Next new political parties were allowed to form in small towns for elections. German prisoners of war were 're-educated'. Information centers were made to let Germans learn about how democracy was going to work. Exchange programs were put in place to let German people see the United States for themselves. Trade unions were formed. Denazification was started, which tried former Nazis for crimes they committed during the Nazi regime. Finally, gewerbefreiheit was put in place, which allowed Germans the freedom to practice a trade, gave freedom of economic activity.