A (, German for "

fellow traveller A fellow traveller (also fellow traveler) is a person who is intellectually sympathetic to the ideology of a political organization, and who co-operates in the organization's politics, without being a formal member. In the early history of the Sov ...

"; plural , feminine ) is a person tied to or passively sympathising with certain

social movement A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a Social issue, social or Political movement, political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to re ...

s, often to those that are prevalent, controversial or radical. In English, the term was most commonly used after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, during the

denazification Denazification () was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by removing those who had been Nazi Par ...

hearings in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, to refer to people who were not charged with Nazi crimes but whose involvement with the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

was considered so significant that they could not be exonerated for the crimes of the Nazi regime.

Etymology

The German word (literally "with-walker" or "one walking with") has been in common use since the 17th century. It means as much as "follower", more literally "tag-along", a person who gives in to peer pressure. A is one who is not convinced by the ideology of the group followed but merely offers no resistance, such as for lack of courage or for opportunism. The term is usually translated in English as "

" or "hanger-on", but it is not equivalent to either. The German

Wiktionary Wiktionary (, ; , ; rhyming with "dictionary") is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary of terms (including words, phrases, proverbs, linguistic reconstructions, etc.) in all natural languages and in a number o ...

provides the English translation as "follower"; the English version defines it as "a passive follower". The German word is derived from it. , also called the (

bandwagon effect The bandwagon effect is a psychological phenomenon where people adopt certain behaviors, styles, or attitudes simply because others are doing so. More specifically, it is a cognitive bias by which public opinion or behaviours can alter due to ...

), refers to the effect a perceived success exerts on the willingness of individuals to join the expected success. For example, voters would like to be on the winning side and so prefer to choose the candidate that they expect will win.

Legal definitions

In the American Sector of

Allied-occupied Germany The entirety of Germany was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II, from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949. Unlike occupied Japan, Nazi Germany was stripped of its sov ...

, a "follower" was the second lowest group or category in the

proceedings. The denazification hearings classified Germans according to five groups: * 1. Major Offenders (German: ) * 2. Offenders: Activists, Militants, or Profiteers (German: ) * 3. Lesser offenders (German: ) * 4. Followers (German: ) * 5. Exonerated persons (German: ) In

Allied-occupied Austria Austria was occupied by the Allies of World War II, Allies and declared independence from Nazi Germany on 27 April 1945 (confirmed by the Berlin Declaration (1945), Berlin Declaration for Germany on 5 June 1945), as a result of the Vienna offen ...

, the Russian term (

) was translated into German as , and they were considered to be "lesser offenders" (a person who, although not formally charged with participation in

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s, was sufficiently involved with the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

to the extent that the Allied authorities could not legally exonerate them).

Assessment

Of the five categories, is the most controversial as it does not relate to any formal Nazi criminal activity, as defined by the

Nuremberg trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...

, only to a loosely defined indirect support of Nazi crimes. Therefore, former German Chancellor

Helmut Schmidt Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. He was the longest ...

could say about Herbert von Karajan's Nazi Party membership card: "Karajan was obviously not a Nazi. He was a ." In essence, were found '' de facto'' guilty of contributing to Nazi crimes, even though they were not necessarily ideologically committed to some essential Nazi doctrines, especially biological racism and the policy of Jewish extermination. The Nazi often were of a slightly different sort: they sympathised with the Nazis but only indirectly participated in Nazi atrocities such as genocide. This is why this category was often used as an easy way to excuse most Germans legally from Nazi crimes.

Examples

In addition to von Karajan, well-known included the philosopher

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art ...

, the filmmaker

Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, Film producer, producer, screenwriter, Film editing, editor, photographer, and actress. She is considered one of the most controversial ...

, Christian Schad, and Wilhelm Stuckart.

References

External links