Jan Stuckatz

Project title

Who was Denazified? Comparative Denazification in Post-World War 2 Germany

What is your project about?

History casts a long shadow that affects people’s lives far into the future. As one of the best examples of this, regime transitions from autocracy to democracy often involve hard questions of transitional justice. Should supporters of the previous regime be punished or forgiven and reintegrated into the post-transition society? My project investigates these questions using data from the 20 million denazification questionnaires distributed in post-World War 2 Germany. Germans had to fill in such a questionnaire and provide detailed information on Nazi organization memberships and socio-demographics. At the end of this screening, people were sorted into levels of complicity with the Nazi regime and either punished or spared. I will collect big data from these questionnaires to analyze the long-run effects of denazification on post-war German individuals, politics, and the economy.

How did you become interested in your particular field of research?

Before coming to Denmark, I was a researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, an interdisciplinary research center in the south of France. Together with colleagues in political science, history and economics, I started investigating why people in Germany supported the Nazi regime through the lens of the denazification questionnaires. The next logical step was to ask what happened to these individuals after the war. Were they punished or spared and re-integrated into society? As a German, I have also been naturally interested in better understanding the aftermath of World War 2 and its impact on post-war Germany and Europe.

What are the scientific challenges and perspectives in your project?

The biggest challenge is collecting large-scale data from millions of historic digitized denazification documents. Previously, this would have required a lot of time-consuming and costly manual data entry. Therefore, I will use state-of-the-art large language models and artificial intelligence to automate data extraction. The second challenge is to convince people that Germans answered truthfully when filling in the denazification questionnaires. However, contrary to what many might assume, answers are surprisingly accurate. For instance, I find that less than five percent of respondents lied about their membership in the Nazi party. This low rate of lying is likely because the Allies could cross-check people’s answers, published cases of falsified questionnaires, and punished liars with fines, jail, or military tribunal.

What is your estimate of the impact, which your project may have to society in the long term?

First and foremost, my project offers answers to long-standing questions about how regime shifts, and transitional justice affect individuals, politics, and the economy. The implications potentially stretch beyond Germany. They might help us better understand related cases, such as Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in South Africa after the Apartheid, or the Trial of the Juntas in Argentina after the military dictatorship. In addition, my project will create a new database using millions of denazification questionnaires across the Allied occupation zones. The database will be a huge public good for researchers, journalists, or private citizens interested in the history of Nazi Germany or the aftermath of World War 2.

Which impact do you expect the Sapere Aude programme will have on your career as a researcher?

I am grateful and honored to receive the Sapere Aude: DFF-Research Leader-grant. The grant will enable me to put together a strong, international research team to tackle a major question and take my research agenda to the next level. Both the project results and the recognition as Sapere Aude recipient will expand my international research career.

Background and personal life

I am originally from Germany and grew up in East Berlin right after German re-unification. After finishing my Ph.D. in London in 2019, I moved to Denmark in 2022, where I live together with my wife in beautiful Frederiksberg. I enjoy cycling through Copenhagen and taking a dip in the harbor during summertime.