Occupation 3 of 3
Allocations to accommodation are still pretty unplanned and this method is at least not a means of propaganda against any underground movements. But I’m not yet sure whether there’s a system of humiliation underlying it, or not.
Fritz Ernst, historian (diary, 16 April)
In order to raise the acceptance of the occupant’s initially strict restrictions on public life, the acting director of the civic authorities, who had been installed in April, several times urged respect for the prohibitions imposed by the military government. The main reasons were the frequent infringement of curfews and disregard for no-go zones that cordoned Heidelberg off from neighboring cities and towns.
Measures taken by the United States occupation authority focused on security and, above all, massively limiting freedom of movement and communication traffic. However, it became clear very early that the military occupation also came with a change of political system. The ban on the “Hitler salute”, along with the uniforms and insignia of the Nazi party and its sub-divisions, indicated not only that Germany was to be defeated in military terms but that National Socialist rule was also to be terminated.
