Political Realignments 1131

opposition to the Nazis, hostility to the Soviets and to East Germany, and
his social conservatism reassured the Allies. Yet at the same time, Adenauer
handed out positions to former Nazis and bent over backward to help Ger­
mans who had endured Allied reprisals for their service to the Nazi cause.
In West Germany, the Allied program of “de-Nazification,” intended to
remove all former Nazis from positions of power and influence, overall had
relatively little impact. It proved impossible to purge millions of people
from government, industry, and education. The Allies concluded that Ger­
many could not do without tens of thousands of experienced doctors, teach­
ers, and engineers. Moreover, it would be difficult to distinguish between
different degrees of Nazi commitment and action. Supported by smaller
parties on the right, the Christian Democratic Union Party held power
from 1949 until 1969, with the Social Democratic Party the chief opposi­
tion party. Adenauer forged a close alliance with France intended to serve as
a bulwark against the Soviet Union.
In the meantime, the Cold War hastened the acceptance by the Western
powers of the German Federal Republic and its rearmament in the Western
alliance. In 1950 the Federal Republic became a nonvoting member of the
Council of Europe. Moreover, bolstered by economic recovery and the total
discrediting of the extreme political right wing, the German Federal Repub­
lic achieved full sovereignty and diplomatic respectability, joining NATO in
1955.

West Berliners looking across the mined “death strip,” intended to discourage East

Berliners from attempting to cross into the western zone, before the construction

of the Berlin Wall, 1961.