The Death and Life of Germany

Drawing on interviews with Germans and Americans of various backgrounds and perspectives, from High Commissioner's office personnel to occupation troop GIs, storekeepers to housewives, this text aims to convey the atmosphere of postwar Germany and the role of the American occupation in achieving the nation's economic transformation. The text examines the transformation of Germany by focusing on such key episodes as the unprecedented war-crimes tribunal at Nuremberg, the attempts of the Western Allies to cooperate with the Russians, the effects of the currency reform and Marshall Plan aid, the break between East and West Germany that culminated in the Berlin airlift, the East German uprising of June 1917, 1953, and the eventual formation of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. The author traces the progress of thought among Germans and Americans alike as their conceptions of postwar Germany gradually evolved and the leaders of a new democratic Germany emerged.