The German War

Starred review from August 24, 2015
How a people takes to defeat has been a staple of historical inquiry since ancient times, and in this gut-wrenching work, Cambridge University historian Stargardt (Witnesses of War) examines the German experience during WWII. His extraordinarily deep and wide research allows him to fill in an otherwise solid history of the war with intimate, newly unearthed recollections of harrowing service on the battlefield and homefront. Such is the complexity of human nature that, after millions of deaths, massive destruction, and unbelievable “psychological shock waves,” Germans maintained their fierce nationalism and took pride in their ability to endure individually and collectively. What will be difficult for many readers to believe is that the people of the country responsible for the Holocaust long considered themselves the victims—of failed Nazi leadership, the Allies (whom they saw as Jews in another guise), and the Soviets. Seeing the bombing of their cities as equivalent to the death camps, and sustaining unbelievable losses on the battlefield, many Germans preferred outright destruction to a negotiated peace as in 1918. Only the next, postwar generation of Germans could get beyond disbelief and disillusionment and begin to free itself of ruinous attachments and convictions. Stargardt has produced a brilliant, sobering work. Maps & illus. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander Associates.

July 1, 2015
The story of World War II seen through the eyes of regular German citizens. In this massive but thorough meditation, Stargardt (European History/Magdalen Coll., Cambridge; Witnesses of War: Children's Lives Under the Nazis, 2005, etc.) carefully avoids fixing blame on how the war affected both the attitudes and daily lives of German citizens. Instead, the author takes a studiously clinical approach to provide a contemporary perspective on how an entire nation rose up to follow Hitler into a war of conquest and genocide. In addition to providing greatly needed context to the central problem, Stargardt also examines the long-suppressed notion that the average German citizen was under the impression that Germany was fighting "a war of national defense, forced upon them by Allied machinations and Polish aggression." Yet the author never denies that a significant majority of the population was well-aware of the atrocities being committed in their name. "Where other historians have highlighted the machinery of mass murder, and discussed why or how the Holocaust happened, I find myself more concerned with how German society received and assimilated this knowledge as accomplished fact," he writes. "How did it affect Germans to gradually realize they were fighting a genocidal war?" Stargardt covers this historic arc in deliberative detail, but he also knows when to dive down from the macro level to focus closely on soldiers, civilians, commanders, and victims. The author has clearly drawn on a wealth of letters and documents written at the time, and when he punches a specific line or memory at the right time, it's chilling. Near the end of the story, he finds eerie prescience in defeat from the late journalist Ursula von Kardorff: "And when the others [Allies] come with their boundless hatred and gruesome accusations, we will have to keep quiet because they are true." A well-researched, unsettling social history of war that will prove deeply thought-provoking-even worrying-for readers who wonder what they might have done under the same circumstances.

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September 15, 2015

What was World War II like for the Germans? Devoted complicity with the Nazi regime is typically assumed, and attempts to humanize everyday German citizens and soldiers are controversial even 70 years after the end of the war. Without that perspective, however, an understanding of the conflict is incomplete. In his latest work, Stargardt (Witnesses of War) continues his exploration of German lives during that grim time. While this account is important, it doesn't always make for easy reading as we are confronted with stories from men and women suffering the effects of war on their daily lives. These anecdotes are culled from letters, diaries, and archives, among other sources. From our postwar viewpoint, their experiences may come across as tragic and even ironic, since readers know what they don't--when and how the war ended. VERDICT Stargardt provides a vital and necessary addition to the World War II canon that will appeal to World War II buffs and anyone with an interest in 20th-century German history.--Brett Rohlwing, Milwaukee P.L.

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