The narrative delves into the experiences of two million German soldiers and POWs returning to East and West Germany after enduring Soviet captivity. It highlights their unique position as participants in a brutal war and their subsequent hardships as prisoners. The book explores the profound effects of their return on a transformed and divided Germany, examining how these returnees coped with their altered reality and the lasting implications of their experiences on German society.
Bringing together some of the most prominent contemporary historians of modern Germany alongside innovative newcomers to the field, this volume offers new perspectives on key debates surrounding Germany’s descent into, and emergence from, the Nazi catastrophe. It explores the intersections between society, economy, and international policy, with a particular interest in the relations between elites and the wider society, and provides new insights into the complex continuities and discontinuities of modern German history. This volume offers a rich selection of essays that contribute to our understanding of the road to war, Nazism, and the Holocaust, as well as Germany’s transformation after 1945.
Impending defeat: military losses, the Wehrmacht and ordinary Germans -- Confronting defeat: returning POWs and the politics of victimization -- Embodied defeat: medicine, psychiatry, and the trauma of the returned POW -- Survivors of totalitarianism: returning POWs and the making of West German citizens -- Antifascist conversions: returning POWs and the making of East German citizens -- Parallel exclusions: the West German POW trials and the East German purges -- Absent presence: missing POWs and MIAs -- Divided reunion: the return of the last POWs -- Histories of the aftermath.