Excellent overview of Germany's development and evolution in the 5+ years following the end of World War II. Jähner takes a critical look at how (West) Germans moved from 12 years of a dictatorship to a thriving democracy and economy. Was the road difficult? Without a doubt. Was the transition to a democratic society and Wunderwirtschaft inevitable? Hardly, and far from it. But Jähner walks us through the challenges and triumphs in a highly entertaining and informative manner. One slight criticism might be his glossing over of the Allies' role in rehabilitating Germany. Rather than co-stars in this drama, the Allies play a more secondary role, not consistent with historic reality.

5 stars for the Veronika Dankeschön.

Amazing nonfiction. This was incredibly comprehensive and exactly what I've been looking for. I've read a lot on WW2 and all of those books seem to end promptly with the liberation of the camps and Hitler's suicide. But I've always wondered - what then? How did people get home? How did people find each other? And more. This book explores pretty much every aspect of society in the postwar years and is really informative and insightful.

Há tantos obras sobre a Alemanha pós guerra porém sempre comum olhar "estrangeiro",este aqui oferece um olhar local, além da superfície sobre a vida cotidiana de quem não pegou em armas diretamente, mas também lutaram e sobreviveram:mulheres. É uma breve e interessante exposição da lenta derrota do socialismo/nacionalismo enraizado da tradição alemã para um processo de democratização ,com muitas nuances sociais politica e cultural. Uma devastação que causou enormes fissuras e mudanças que ainda estão em movimento até hoje,é claro que o tema extermínio de judeus ,continua sendo o mais complexo e sensível...

Absolutely incredible. I loved that it covered so many aspects of life, from theft to theater to love. I suspect that many readers will be extremely curious about denazification, as was I, and the chapter does not disappoint; frankly, it stunned me.

One thing that I particularly loved was that Brigitte Eicke's diary was one of the sources of information for this book. See, she grew up on the street that I now live on, in fact I can see her door from my living room. So her input for this book had particular meaning to me, and gave me a little thrill every time I saw her name. For the curious, Eicke's diary is called Backfisch im Bombenkrieg (Teenager in the War), available only in German as of this writing.