Editing Denazification (section)

====Censorship====
While judicial efforts were handed over to German authorities, the US Army continued its efforts to denazify Germany through control of German media. The [[Information Control Division]] of the US Army had by July 1946 taken control of 37 German newspapers, six radio stations, 314 theaters, 642 cinemas, 101 magazines, 237 book publishers, and 7,384 book dealers and printers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.psywarrior.com/mcclure.html |title=McClure article |access-date=October 22, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061115053715/http://www.psywarrior.com/mcclure.html |archive-date=November 15, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Its main mission was democratization but part of the agenda was also the prohibition of any criticism of the Allied occupation forces.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-4/lochner2.html| title = Lochner interview}}</ref> In addition, on May 13, 1946, the Allied Control Council issued a directive for the confiscation of all media that could contribute to Nazism or [[militarism]]. As a consequence a list was drawn up of over 30,000 book titles, ranging from school textbooks to poetry, which were then banned. All the millions of copies of these books were to be confiscated and destroyed; the possession of a book on the list was made a punishable offense. The representative of the Military Directorate admitted that the order was in principle no different from the [[Nazi book burnings]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=May 27, 1946 |title=Germany: Read No Evil |location=New York |magazine=Time |url= https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,776847,00.html |access-date=April 1, 2021}}</ref>

The censorship in the US zone was regulated by the occupation directive [[JCS 1067]] (valid until July 1947) and in the May 1946 order valid for all zones (rescinded in 1950), Allied Control Authority Order No. 4, "No. 4 – Confiscation of Literature and Material of a Nazi and Militarist Nature". All confiscated literature was reduced to pulp instead of burning.<ref group="Notes">In August 1946 the order was amended so that "In the interest of research and scholarship, the Zone Commanders (in Berlin the Komendantura) may preserve a limited number of documents prohibited in paragraph 1. These documents will be kept in special accommodation where they may be used by German scholars and other German persons who have received permission to do so from the Allies only under strict supervision by the Allied Control Authority."</ref> It was also directed by Directive No. 30, "Liquidation of German Military and Nazi Memorials and Museums". An exception was made for tombstones "erected at the places where members of regular formations died on the field of battle".

Artworks were under the same censorship as other media: "all collections of works of art related or dedicated to the perpetuation of German militarism or Nazism will be closed permanently and taken into custody." The directives were very broadly interpreted, leading to the destruction of thousands of paintings and thousands more were shipped to deposits in the US. Those confiscated paintings still surviving in US custody include for example a painting "depicting a couple of middle aged women talking in a sunlit street in a small town".<ref name="URL at Wayback machine">Cora Goldstein "PURGES, EXCLUSIONS, AND LIMITS: ART POLICIES IN GERMANY 1933–1949, {{cite web |url=http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/workshop/goldstein.html |title=Cultural Policy Program |access-date=2007-12-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223153732/http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/workshop/goldstein.html |archive-date=December 23, 2007 }}</ref> Artists were also restricted in which new art they were allowed to create; "[[OMGUS]] was setting explicit political limits on art and representation".<ref name="URL at Wayback machine"/>

The publication ''[[Der Ruf (newspaper)|Der Ruf]]'' (''The Call'') was a popular [[literary magazine]] first published in 1945 by [[Alfred Andersch]] and edited by [[Hans Werner Richter]]. ''Der Ruf'', also called ''Independent Pages of the New Generation'', claimed to have the aim of educating the German people about democracy. In 1947 its publication was blocked by the American forces for being overly critical of occupational government.<ref>{{cite news
|url = https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/12/19/specials/grass-meeting.html
|title = Historical Analogy
|access-date = November 4, 2007
|author = Theodore Ziolkowski
|date = May 17, 1981
|newspaper = New York Times
}}</ref> Richter attempted to print many of the controversial pieces in a volume entitled ''Der Skorpion'' (''The Scorpion''). The occupational government blocked publication of ''Der Skorpion'' before it began, saying that the volume was too "nihilistic".<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://www.literaturkritik.de/public/rezension.php?rez_id=5863&ausgabe=200304
|title = Geburt als Skorpion, Tod als Papiertiger
|access-date = November 1, 2007
|author = Doris Betzl
|date = April 3, 2003
|work = Rezensionsforum Literaturkritik, No. 4
|publisher = Literaturkritik DE
|language = de
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061453/http://literaturkritik.de/public/rezension.php?rez_id=5863&ausgabe=200304
|archive-date = January 14, 2006
|url-status = dead
}}</ref>

Publication of ''Der Ruf'' resumed in 1948 under a new publisher, but ''Der Skorpion'' was blocked and not widely distributed. Unable to publish his works, Richter founded [[Group 47]].

The Allied costs for occupation were charged to the German people. A newspaper which revealed the charges (including, among other things, thirty thousand [[bra]]s) was banned by the occupation authorities for revealing this information.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Did the United States Create Democracy in Germany? - James L. Payne |url=http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?issueID=47&articleID=599 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116190202/http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?issueID=47&articleID=599 |archive-date=November 16, 2017 |access-date=2024-12-16 |work=The Independent Institute |url-status=live }}</ref>