Book
Aftermath : life in the fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955
Edition
First American edition.
Publication Information
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2022.
Physical Description
xv, 394 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Uniform Title
Summary
The years 1945 to 1955 were a raw, wild decade that found many Germans politically, economically, and morally bankrupt. Victorious Allied forces occupied the four zones that make up present-day Germany. More than half the population was displaced; 10 million newly released forced laborers and several million prisoners of war returned to an uncertain existence. Cities lay in ruins: no mail, no trains, no traffic. Bodies were still being found beneath the rubble. Using major global political developments as a backdrop, Jähner weaves a series of life stories into a nuanced panorama of a nation undergoing monumental change. Poised between two eras, this decade is portrayed as a period that proved decisive for Germany's future-- and one starkly different from how most of us imagine it today.
Notes
"This is a Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knopf"--Title page verso.
Originally published in German language with the title "Wolfszeit" in 2019 by Rowohlt in Berlin.
"English translation originally published in the United Kingdom by WH Allen in 2021."
Contents
- Preface
- Zero hour?
- In ruins
- The great migration
- Dancing frenzy
- Love amidst the rubble
- Robbing, rationing, black-market trading
- lessons for the market economy
- The economic miracle and the fear of immorality
- The re-educators
- The cold war of art and the design of democracy
- The sound of repression
- Afterword: Happiness.