The chapter examines the role of forced displacement in increasing the demand for state intervention and expanding the size of the state bureaucracy in West Germany. It discusses the government elites’ strategies for dealing with the needs of expellees and receiving communities and reviews expellees’ ability to influence government policy. Statistical analysis is used to demonstrate that counties with a greater proportion of expellees to population had more civil servants per capita.

Chapter 4 introduces the readers to the specific political parties within each case study and considers the extent to which the fourteen items of “good citizenship” are already partisan, that is, before introducing democratic threats. We observe consistent patterns of partisan citizenship, even when controlling for demographic factors that might explain citizenship preferences. That is, supporters of left parties value protesting and solidarity-oriented beliefs like helping others; supporters of right parties strongly support allegiant items of belonging, from obeying laws to items of national belonging. In majoritarian systems (the US and UK), these patterns are strong and systematic. However, a crucial observation underlies these differences: there are sufficient overlaps between the left and right when it comes to liberal democratic beliefs and behavioral items of good citizenship. This “holding of the center” is critical. It suggests a strong base of agreement for preserving national unity and sufficient overlaps for establishing common goals despite polarization in everyday politics.

Chapter 3 discusses the key characteristics and numbers of internees. It argues that here, too, the similarities across the zones were greater than is often assumed, but that important differences emerged. It shows that internee numbers were higher in the western zones than is often believed and that most internees in every zone were middle-aged men. The chapter examines competing claims about internees’ Nazi incrimination and distinguishes between different organizations and tiers of the Nazi Party hierarchy. It shows that there were more lowly than highly ranked personnel in every zone, but that seniority levels were higher in the western (and especially the American and British) zones and that only there were significant numbers of SS members interned. Yet one should not overlook the personnel of the broader Nazi repressive apparatus nor downplay the responsibility of even the lowest-ranked Party officials who were interned in the Soviet zone in large numbers. The chapter also argues that the Soviets interned fewer adolescents, Social Democrats, and members of other postwar political parties than is often believed and that some were targeted for Nazi-era offences. Nevertheless, their number had no equivalent in the west and even more were prosecuted by Soviet Military Tribunals.