Germany 1945: From War to Peace

“Fascinating….Bessel does an excellent job of evoking the blasted landscape of a conquered Germany.”

—The New Yorker

“A sober yet powerful account.”
—New York Times Book Review

Authoritative and dramatic, Germany 1945 by distinguished British historian Richard Bessel is groundbreaking history that brilliantly explores the devastation and remarkable rebirth of Germany at the end of World War II. Called “a masterly account by a first rate historian,” by Ian Kershaw (Hitler), Germany 1945 is sure to become the definitive work on the subject.

1945 was the most pivotal year in Germany's modern history. As World War II drew to a devastating and violent close, the German people were confronted simultaneously with making sense of the horrors just passed and finding the strength and hope to move forward and rebuild. Richard Bessel offers a provocative portrait of Germany's emergence from catastrophe, and he astutely portrays the defeated nation's own sense of victimhood after the war, despite the crimes it had perpetrated. Authoritative and dramatic, Germany 1945 is groundbreaking history that brilliantly explores the destruction and remarkable rebirth of Germany at the end of World War II. Ultimately, it is a success story; a story of life after death.

“Combining high-quality scholarship and fluent writing, a real draw for WWII readers. . . . Questioning how defeat in World War II transformed Germany from a militaristic to a pacific country, Bessel narrates the cataclysm that the Nazi regime determined to inflict as it fell and a shocked populace’s reactions to the aftermath.” - Booklist

“The distinguished British historian Richard Bessel understands the difference between suffering and atonement, and with Germany 1945 he has produced a sober yet powerful account of the terrible year he calls the “hinge” of the 20th century in Europe. . . . Bessel, who prefers understatement to pathos, doesn’t claim that the suffering was somehow worth it. He merely suggests that misery can sometimes beget hope.” - The New York Times Book Review

“Fascinating. . . . Bessel does an excellent job of evoking the blasted landscape of a conquered Germany.” - The New Yorker