Homecomings: Returning POWs and the Legacies of Defeat in Postwar Germany
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.82 (913 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0691143145 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 384 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-04-20 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
. Frank Biess is Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego
This book is highly recommended to those interested in postwar Germany in particular or in sociocultural responses to the aftermath of war in general."--Timothy Vogt, Journal of Modern History. What distinguishes Biess' book is his insistence that German representations of the Nazi past deeply affected social relations, shaped social policies, and produced important material consequences for millions of Germans. Billinger, Jr., German Studies Review"Frank Biess excellent book shows why it is important to understand not only what post-war Germans re
Historian Frank Biess traces the origins of the postwar period to the last years of the war, when ordinary Germans began to face the prospect of impending defeat. He then demonstrates parallel East and West German efforts to overcome the German loss by transforming returning POWs into ideal post-totalitarian or antifascist citizens. These former prisoners made up a unique segment of German society. The book examines the lingering consequences of the soldiers' return and explores returnees' own responses to a radically changed and divided homeland. This book focuses on one of the most visible and important consequences of total defeat in postwar Germany: the return to East and West Germany of the two million German soldiers and POWs who spent an extended period in Soviet captivity. Based on a wide array of primary and secondary sources, Homecomings combines the political history of reconstruction with the social history of returnees and the cultural history of war memories and gender identities. It unearths important structural and functional similarities between German postwar societies, which remained infused with the aftereffects of unprecedented violence, loss, and mass death long after the war was over.. They were both soldiers in the war of racial annihilation on the Eastern front and then suffered extensive hardship and deprivation themselves as prisoners of war. By exploring returnees' troubled adjustment to the more
patrick said One Star. The author's opinions are presented as facts and conclusions are based on these "facts".. "Review of Homecomings" according to Bud_ebReview of Homecomings The very large bibliography indicates a sincere effort at exhaustive research by the author. These were however, only minimally supported with views, conclusions, and authoritative observations regarding this material. I missed that in such a comprehensive work. I would have enjoyed reading these.Very tedious reading at times due to a stilted english . . The very large bibliography indicates a sincere effort at exhaustive research by the author. These were however, only minimally supported with views, conclusions, and authoritative observations regarding this material. I missed that in such a comprehensive work. I would have enjoyed reading these.Very tedious reading at times due to a stilted english . Jon W said not bad. I disagree with the Saudi. This isn't some Zionist conspiracy book looking to (god forbid) blame Germans for supporting Nazism when it suited them. It's a well researched monograph that touches on the major aspects of the homeward return of German soldiers. He DOES talk about their deaths in the Soviet camps, as he attributes the poor condition of Sov