- Summary
- "A gripping and nuanced history of the German people from the Second World War to the present day, including hugely revealing new primary source material on every aspect of its transformation."-- Provided by publisher.
"Innumerable scholars have asked how Germany could have degenerated from a nation of scientists, poets, and philosophers into one responsible for genocide. This book raises another vital question: How did a nation whose past has been marked by mass murder, a people who cheered Adolf Hitler, reinvent themselves, and how much? Trentmann tells this dramatic story of the German people from the middle of World War II through the Cold War and the division into East and West to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the struggle to find a place in the world today. This journey is marked by a series of extraordinary moral conflicts: admissions of guilt and shame vying with immediate economic concerns; restitution for some but not others; tolerance versus racism; compassion versus complicity. Through a range of voices--German soldiers and German Jews; displaced persons in limbo; East German women and shopkeepers angry about energy shortages; opponents and supporters of nuclear power; volunteers helping migrants and refugees, and right-wing populists attacking them--Trentmann paints a remarkable and surprising portrait spanning eighty years of the conflicted people at the center of Europe, showing how the Germans became who they are today." -- Publisher's description.
- Variant Title
- Germans, 1942-2022
- Format
- Book
- Author/Creator
- Trentmann, Frank, author.
- Published
- New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2024
©2023
- Locale
- Germany
Germany (East)
- Edition
- First United States edition
- Contents
-
Part one. The German war and its legacies, 1942-60s. Parzival at war : the troubled conscience
The wages of sin : from Stalingrad to the end
The murderers are among us : from guilt to amnesty
Making (some) amends : reparation and atonement
Part two. One nation, two states, 1949-89. The house of democracy : liberal, within limits
A new socialist people : the many moralities of the GDR
Searching for Heimat : East and West
War and peace : the dilemma of arms
Strangers at home : the difficulties of difference
Part three. After the wall, 1989-2022. United and divided : the cost of freedom
In the wide world : Germany at its limits
Part four. Trying to be good, 1950s to the present. Money matters : thrifty, wealthy, and unequal
The circles of care : family, community, and state
Mother nature : loving and trashing
Epilogue: What is Germany for?
- Notes
-
"This is a Borzoi book."--Title page verso.
"Originally published in hardcover in Great Britain by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Press, a division of Penguin Random House Ltd., London, in 2023."--Title page verso.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 675-740) and index.
Part one. The German war and its legacies, 1942-60s. Parzival at war : the troubled conscience -- The wages of sin : from Stalingrad to the end -- The murderers are among us : from guilt to amnesty -- Making (some) amends : reparation and atonement -- Part two. One nation, two states, 1949-89. The house of democracy : liberal, within limits -- A new socialist people : the many moralities of the GDR -- Searching for Heimat : East and West -- War and peace : the dilemma of arms -- Strangers at home : the difficulties of difference -- Part three. After the wall, 1989-2022. United and divided : the cost of freedom -- In the wide world : Germany at its limits -- Part four. Trying to be good, 1950s to the present. Money matters : thrifty, wealthy, and unequal -- The circles of care : family, community, and state -- Mother nature : loving and trashing -- Epilogue: What is Germany for?
