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The bitter taste of victory, life, love, and art in the ruins of the Reich, Lara Feigel

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Includes bibliographical references (pages [371]-420) and index

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The bitter taste of victory

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Lara Feigel

life, love, and art in the ruins of the Reich

When Germany surrendered in May 1945 it was a nation reduced to rubble. Immediately, America, Britain, Soviet Russia, and France set about rebuilding in their zones of occupation. Most urgent were physical needs--food, water, and sanitation--but from the start the Allies were also anxious to indoctrinate the German people in the ideas of peace and civilization. Denazification and reeducation would be key to future peace, and the arts were crucial guides to alternative, less militaristic ways of life. In an extraordinary extension of diplomacy, over the next four years, many writers, artists, actors, and filmmakers were dispatched by Britain and America to help rebuild the country their governments had spent years bombing. Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, Marlene Dietrich, George Orwell, Lee Miller, W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender, Billy Wilder, and others undertook the challenge of reconfiguring German society. In the end, many of them became disillusioned by the contrast between the destruction they were witnessing and the cool politics of reconstruction. While they may have had less effect on Germany than Germany had on them, the experiences of these celebrated figures, never before told, offer an entirely fresh view of post-war Europe. The Bitter Taste of Victory is a brilliant and important addition to the literature of World War II

The battle for Germany, 1944-45. "Setting out for a country that didn't really exist" : Crossing the Siegfried Line, November-December 1944 ; "Nazi Germany is doomed" : advance into Germany, January-April 1945 ; "We were blind and unbelieving and slow" : Victory, April-May 1945 -- Ruin and reconstruction, May-December 1945. "Complete chaos guaranteed" : cccupation, May-August 1945 ; "Berlin is boiling in sweltering summer heat" : Berlin, July-October 1945 ; "A pain that hurts too much" : German winter, September-December 1945 -- Judgement and hunger, 1945-46. "You'll hang them anyhow" : Nuremberg, November 1945-March 1946 ; "Let Germany live!" : fighting the peace, March-May 1946 ; "Let this trial never finish" : boredom, May-August 1946 ; "The law tries to keep up with life" : judgement, September-October 1946 -- Tension and revival, 1946-48. "Their suffering, and often their bravery, make one love them" : Cold War, October 1946-October 1947 ; "I've been the Devil's General on earth too long" : artistic enlightenment, November 1947-January 1948 ; "In Hell too there are these luxuriant gardens" : Germany in California, January-June 1948 -- Divided Germany, 1948-49. "If this is a war who is our enemy?" : The Berlin Airlift, June 1948-May 1949 ; "Perhaps our deaths will shock you into attention" : division, May-October 1949 -- "Closing time in the gardens of the West."

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Life, love, and art in the ruins of the Reich