What to Do With Germany?

As Allied troops fought their way into Germany in October 1944, The March of Time was clearly in no mood for reconciliation or forgiveness. Mixing footage from the entire conflict - including harrowing shots of dead civilians - with film of German prisoners of war captured since D-Day, as well as staged sequences featuring actors portraying unrepentant young Nazis, the issue confronts the twin problem of how to punish Germany while establishing a lasting peace.

Taking its title from a book by Louis Nizer, this film is a snapshot of a time when an Allied victory seemed inevitable but a lasting peace far less certain. Despite concluding that justice is more important than revenge, the issue not only finds the entire German nation culpable for the horrors of the war but also suggests that Germany is an inherently militaristic nation. This was the view of Lord Vansittart, whose book ‘Black Record: Germans Past and Present’ (seen here in a Foyles window display) argued that Teutonic aggression was deeply embedded in Germany’s world view and that the only way to secure peace was the destruction of German military power followed by a programme of complete re-education.