Terrence Petty's Nazis at the Watercooler: War Criminals in Postwar German Government Agencies is a damning and wide-ranging investigation into post world war II Germany's penchant for placing former Nazis in high positions in various German government agencies.

Other books have taken up the subject of the American blind eye to war crimes when it was to the benefit of the space race or the cold war against the Soviet Union, here it is centered specifically on the dawn of a new democratic age in Germany. Post war there was supposed to be a process of denazification, that was rapidly moved from US and Allied control, to German control. Already weak, it became farcical. Instead Germany embraced a forgetting of the bad times, leading to a generational "amnesia" or avoidance to search to hard into a candidates background.

Across the chapters Petty explores important and tainted figures within different governmental agencies, compromised figures forced or willingly serving as Soviet or double agents and the careers of anti Hitler dissidents who should have had more opportunity in the post war government. There are a lot of figures named and biographed, and at times this can feel like something of a recitation. The 15 chapters are semi-chronologically, divided into two sections. The first, American Culpability, lays out the process by which outside the Nuremberg trials most Nazis were let off the hook for their crimes. Part 2, "Second Guilt" narrates the upending of the Cold War fueled amnesia and the long delayed reckoning with those guilty of war crimes and the attempts to seek justice.

Petty brings it to the present discussing more recent operations against extremist elements in the German police and military and the ongoing alarming inward focus of nationalist parties. It is a hard read, though very timely.

Recommended for readers and researchers of Post wwII Europe, history, German History or the Cold War.

Thank you to NetGalley for this e-copy of Nazis at the Watercooler by Terrence Petty in exchange for a honest review this is is a well-researched and well -written non- fiction account of how numerous ex-Nazis were able to infiltrate various departments of the East and mostly West German government and hold jobs without being held to account for the numerous wartime atrocities they had committed .It is shocking there was so much collusion as Germany tried to bury its past in hopes that people would forget.about all the havoc the Nazis had wreaked When many of these officials were finally charged in the 1960s they were given light sentences and when these people were again investigated in the early 2000s most of these officials had passed away or were physically or mentally unable to stand trial.This book casts a bad light on the German government and how they were unable to accept responsibility for their wartime actions.

This was a rough read. It’s a very well-written and well-researched book, but it will make you absolutely livid. The number of Nazis that got away without any sort of punishment is astounding. And not just low level Nazis, people who joined the party but never participated. People who were actively involved in murdering and torturing Jews.

These men were able to step into government jobs in the newly formed German govt and worked hand in hand with the American govt. and America was complicit b/c they felt that the USSR was a greater danger. It’s disgusting that these monsters were rewarded for their atrocities and never had to suffer any jail time or repercussions. This book makes me want to dig deeper into this part of history.
*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.*

Note: Thank you to NetGalley, University of Nebraska Press, and author Terrence C. Petty for the advanced reader copy of this book. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

Growing up, both in school and at home I was always told that after World War II, the Germans did a great job reckoning with their past and it was something we could learn from in the United States. After reading Nazis at the Watercooler, I realize that was a lie. Both the new West German government and the United States were complicit in protecting war criminals.

The stories are detailed with evidence to back it up. In some cases, the information came to light after CIA files were declassified. The precursor to the CIA helped protect war criminals they thought would be helpful in spying on the new enemy, the Soviet Union. In one case, they financed a whole operation involving the employment of hundreds of former Nazis, thinking this would aid in the Cold War conflict. It was a waste of money.

You might ask about the Nuremberg Trials. That was reserved for the most heinous of the Nazi War Criminals. As the process dragged on, everyday Germans grew tired of the trials and there was a fear that continuing them would push the country more toward an alliance with the Soviets. However, once the trials stopped and so many former Nazis were hired in the new government, the Soviet Union and East Germany used this knowledge to strike at the credibility of the new government in West Germany.

Author Terrence Petty has organized information gleaned from other books, historical documents, and his own research to detail how many responsible for war crimes were given positions in the new West German government. Both the United States and West Germany glossed over the concept of background checks, allowing these men to write their own biographies of what they did during the war and accepting them at face value. Even when they were discovered, they were often transferred within the government to a less prominent role or allowed to retire.

There seems to have been an argument made at the time that many of these men were needed to run the new government. This also meant that those they had persecuted – and who had survived the war – were shut out of the new government.

I was very surprised by what I learned in Nazis at the Watercooler. This contrasted a lot of what I had been taught in school and learned over the years. Petty writes the stories somewhat chronologically, so it is easy to follow how these events shaped West Germany and the world following the war. It’s only near the end of the book that he discusses those who tried to press the issue and the obstacles they faced. While those Nazis in government who were discovered and tried in court received light or no sentences (2 years for being an accessory to the murder of thousands?) those who had been conscientious objectors during the war or who had really tried to protect those being persecuted were treated as outcasts all the way into the new millennium.

After reading this I think I need some light reading for a while. Nazis at the Watercooler is a good book. It’s well-researched and presents the topic in a cohesive and easy to comprehend manner. The problem is that it’s depressing to realize that the people who committed war crimes were protected by both the West German government and our own here in the United States, if it was perceived to be in our interests to do so. It’s a bitter pill to swallow with the current state of the United States. I do recommend reading it, though.