A Sobering Fact

Unlike South Africa which had its Truth and Reconciliation Commission after apartheid, West Germany did not go through any like process. Nazi paraphernalia became illegal and the general attitude was effectively to erase the past.

Because of the Cold War and the fear of Communists, and because former Nazis weren't ostracized by their host society, many who could show that they weren't on the "Left" and therefore were somehow trustworthy actually had Nazi pasts.