Really interesting subject matter but found it hard to get into.

When did World War II end?

In Europe, the war officially concluded at 10 am on May 8, 1945. But in "Aftermath," Harald Jähner adds millions of endings to the European conflict—each German who survived the war also experienced their own personal end of the war.

For some, the end came at different points, in different moments, as Allied and Soviet troops gradually conquered Germany, bit by bit, throughout 1944 and 1945. For others, the end didn't come until later, when they were finally released from German prisons, where they were serving sentences handed down by the Third Reich. For others, the war ended when they finally left the displaced persons camps (some of which, Jähner writes, didn't officially close until the 1970s).

This framework for thinking about WWII is the most compelling part of "Aftermath."

Jähner is a journalist, and "Aftermath" is very much a work of journalism. He provides a sense of where the historical scholarship stands, but "Aftermath" lacks the depth of a scholarly account. Jähner's sources include easily accessible newspapers, magazines, short stories, novels, poetry, art, and movies from the period. But all this makes the book very readable and accessible to a larger audience. (Shaun Whiteside's translation feels a little rushed and clunky now and then, but what do I know?)

The chapters are orgnaized by theme, and this works well. I read the book very quickly. The introduction and concluding chapter (on repression and the rise of Adenauer) are worth the price of admission, but the other chapters get a little boring after their first few pages of each. Jähner's storytelling skills aren't always great (maybe this gets lost in translation), and I found myself skimming through the body of each chapter. If you read the first and last pages of each chapter, you're not missing too much.

What's most notable about "Aftermath" is how frank and moralistic Jähner's perspective is. Maybe that's just notable for me, because I'm an American and I'm accustomed to syrupy works of popular history that sentimentalize the past and brush over the sins of our forefathers as unfortunate deviations from our inherent goodness. You won't find any of that here. Like a typical German, Jähner has absolutely no sympathy for the average German in 1945, whether or not they knew about the death camps. He unabashedly scolds Germans for their self-pity in the wake of their nation's total destruction. At no point does he treat this wholesale destruction as anything but a net positive, even when he's telling stories of unimaginable Germany suffering (the data on rapes by occupying soldiers will horrify you).

And who can blame Jähner for his repungance toward the Germans of 1945? In the West, our moral universe revolves around the negative example of the Third Reich, just as our galaxy revolves around a black hole. We understand ethics, especially geopolitical ethics, in relationship to the Holocaust. I fear for Western societies when memory of the Holocaust begins to dim—what then will serve as the yardstick for political "transgression" (as historian A. Dirk Moses calls it)? Granted, as Moses argues, the Holocaust sets a very high bar for transgression, a standard that permits Westerners to look away from their crimes in Vietnam, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and much of the rest of the world.

What I most enjoyed about "Aftermath" was its insight into that moment when our modern moral universe began to take shape, when the criminality of the Third Reich was no longer in doubt but when many (most?) Germans still needed to be convinced that they were complicit in, and not merely duped by, their criminal regime.

Started well, ended badly. Like the war really.

Really fascinating read. Very in depth and took me a few weeks to get through, but it was worth it.

This was an extremely interesting non fiction book. Being German I found it fascinating to read about the connections between history of the 2nd world war and some of the typical character traits of German people.

Aftermath by Harald Jähner is a fascinating and detailed exploration of post war Germany. This nonfiction book examines German society and reconstruction following WW2 when the country was left in ruins, shocked and divided. It is a sensitive, emotive look at how the country attempted to rebuild and renew. The book presents a variety of evidence from journalists, diaries and philosophers to highlight how society recovered both physically and psychologically. The sources identify the initial problems of finding food, warmth and shelter and the long term difficulties of rejuvenating industry, economy, culture and Germany’s global perspective. It is a well researched and engaging book that explores the voices and the silence of a wounded country and it’s inhabitants. I highly recommend this book for fans of nonfiction and modern history. 4.5 Stars ⭐️.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy of this book in exchange for honest feedback.

I think I was hoping for something a little more accessible in language - this had moments of interest, but large chunks were very dry and scholarly language that was either impenetrable, or slightly dull. I could get to the end of a chapter and not be able to summarise what I’d read. The art chapter was particularly bad for this - it was art criticism, not really how things were or changed in the aftermath. I found the last 1/4 of the book a slog.

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.