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History Germany

To Forget It All and Begin Anew

Reconciliation in Occupied Germany, 1944-1954

by (author) Steven M. Schroeder

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Apr 2013
Category
Germany, History, General
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781442645752
    Publish Date
    Apr 2013
    List Price
    $88.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781442613997
    Publish Date
    Apr 2013
    List Price
    $35.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442663558
    Publish Date
    Jun 2013
    List Price
    $33.95

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Description

Germany’s transition from Nazism to peaceful, if at times reluctant, integration into the western and Soviet spheres during the decade immediately following the Second World War is one of the most remarkable events of the twentieth century. Shattered relations between Germans and their wartime enemies and victims had rendered prospects for peaceful relations between these groups unimaginable, or a dream belonging to the distant future. However, numerous grassroots initiatives found varying degrees of success in fostering reconciliation.

Drawing on underutilized archival materials, To Forget It All and Begin Anew reveals a nuanced mosaic of like-minded people – from Germany and other countries, and from a wide variety of backgrounds and motives – who worked against considerable odds to make right the wrongs of the Nazi era. While acknowledging the enormous obstacles and challenges to reconciliatory work in postwar Germany, Steven M. Schroeder highlights the tangible and lasting achievements of this work, which marked the first steps toward new modes of peaceful engagement and cooperation in Germany and Europe.

About the author

Steven M. Schroeder is a faculty member in the History Department at the University of the Fraser Valley.

Steven M. Schroeder's profile page

Editorial Reviews

‘Schroeder’s research successfully introduces into the historiography the work of a number of hitherto neglected post-war institutions based on thorough archival digging, which in itself is an important contribution to the social, political and intellectual history of the period.’

Reviews in History, 19 June 2014

‘Both researchers and students will find this book useful as a means of looking beyond the Cold War dynamic and state leaders to understand how prominent individuals, not always for the most altruistic reasons, sought to make Germans respectable again on the world stage after the horrors of Nazism.’

American Historical Review vol 119:02:2014