ABSTRACT
The documentary record on denazification is scattered in many different archives, and unlike most of the material relating to the occupation of Germany, much of the material relating to the denazification of musicians is still classified. After 1948, when denazification petered out, there was a general sense of dissatisfaction and embarrassment about the whole process, and it appears to have suited all involved to draw a veil over it. The analysis focus first on the Allied effort to pursue a collective policy on denazification in music, and then proceed to consider in greater depth the policies pursued separately in individual Zones of occupation. The American commitment to denazification in music brought them frustration, and the profound hostility of the German population in their Zone. The exclusion of performers from professional life by the Americans was taken much further than their censorship of music, and challenges any assumption that denazification of musicians was lenient or superficial.
