From Enemy to Ally: Reconciliation Made Real in the Postwar German Maritime Sphere

Abstract

While the process of transforming West Germany from an occupied, demilitarized enemy to semi-sovereign, remilitarized ally has been scrutinized from an international and Bonn-centred perspective, a bottom-up approach as to how reconciliation was made real sheds new light on this transformation. Peifer uses the prism of the naval community to investigate the stages of reconciliation, contrasting the policies of the Royal Navy and the US Navy toward the German naval veteran community. He analyses the very different approaches of the two navies toward their former enemies, arguing that the Royal Navy was grudging and reactive while the US Navy assembled personnel, equipment and material for a new West German navy well before the diplomatic framework for German remilitarization had been clarified.