Germany 1945-1949

The period 1945-1949 is generally acknowledged as a critical period for the German people and their collective history. But it did not, Manfred Malzahn argues, lead inevitably to the construction of the Berlin Wall. As in 1989, so in 1945 the German people were prepared to break away from established patterns, to reassess, if need be, what it meant to be German. Then, as now, Germans East and West wanted order and stability; food, shelter, clothing and work. Using numerous documents from the imm