A new search engine that allows users to search Nazi party records in order to find out whether their ancestors were card-carrying members has been accessed millions of times since it was launched earlier this month.
The huge database has been made available by the German newspaper Die Zeit in a bid to “end the silence born of misplaced shame,” according to an editorial from the publication. It is run in conjunction with archives in Germany and the United States.
Founded after World War I, Hitler’s party did not really gain in popularity until the economic collapse of the Great Depression. There was a sharp rise in support for it during the 1930…