Occupation 2 of 3
Finally the terrible time was over. For a moment we forgot the millionfold atrocities carried out in all our names during the preceding decade.
Alexander Mitscherlich, psychiatrist and author
Between the arrival of the Americans in Heidelberg and the end of the war with the capitulation of the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) on 8 May almost six weeks elapsed, in which fighting still went on in large parts of Germany and the war even continued in the already occupied areas. Accordingly, the United States occupational policy followed military logic in the first phase and concentrated wholly on the safety of its own troops. This meant: disarming and capturing German soldiers, controlling the civilian population including searching their houses and obliging them surrender weapons, restricting vehicle traffic and implementing strict curfews, as well as closing most public institutions. At first, such action stemmed from concern about acts of sabotage and guerilla tactics by “Werwolf” groups – partisan units established by the SS leadership from the end of 1944 in order to combat Allied occupants and German collaborators. There was no sign of the them in Heidelberg, however; the presumed last war victim was an 18-year-old soldier who escaped from captivity in mid-April and was shot by a military patrol in Handschuhsheim.
Even if in the early days the spotlight was on military concerns, and the political purposes to be served by occupation were still an open question, it was clear to most Heidelberg residents that they were living through a change of era. This was, first of all, visible in that, besides the German military, the previous political regime was also immediately disempowered: “the removal of all active Nazis und ardent sympathizers” was one of the main principles set out in the Handbook for Military Government. Further goals and measures of occupation policy were discussed in the following weeks and months at different levels, the highest being the Inter-Allied Potsdam Conference from 17 July to 2 August. The room for maneuver of the local military government, headquartered in the area around the Heidelberg Town Hall and first reshuffled in July, was limited by the soon-to-be formed military government at the federal state level, its special units, and interventions by the Counter-Intelligence Corps.
