Already before the German surrender in May 1945, it had become clear to the Allies that Germany would have to be purged of National Socialism and its influence. Their most immediate measure was to instigate a series of military tribunals at Nuremberg which were to try those responsible for the Holocaust and the war crimes committed by the Wehrmacht. In the Western occupation zones, "Spruchkammern", committees of German citizens who were uninvolved in the crimes of the Third Reich, were formed. Their purpose was to determine the degree of complicity of individual Nazi sympathisers and to hand down punishments. In the long term, the Western occupiers planned to re-educate the German population towards a liberal and democratic society.