A Series of Mixed Emotions

Revenge, Defeat, Change, Vision, and Occupation were just only a few of the words that circled in the minds of Germans following World War II.  The country was in complete shambles with not a flicker of hope.  The curtains came down and Germany was left exposed.  The agendas of the Third Reich carried out in the war were coming to light as the Russians, British and the Americans came to liberate the concentration camps whose skeletons loomed for them to find.  There was an air of a revengeful spirit as those who Germany had hurt throughout the course of the war suddenly turned to seek revenge on what was left of this desolate country.



For many, Germany was the sole cause of the war and as such, responsible for all that had happened during the war. 
But imagine what it would be like to be Germany, for them to have lost everything and feel abandoned but their leaders.  In the here and now, we have the hindsight to see the devastation that existed and that maybe, it was not such a bad thing that Germany no longer had Hitler as chancellor.  But from their standpoint, they are waiting in ruins for whatever may come next.  And what Richard Bessel does in his Germany 1945, is to illustrate on many different fronts, exactly what was going in this devastated state.

 



For many Germans, according to Bessel, "Germany did indeed go to hell, and in 1945, began to come back; the peaceful half of the 20th century rested on the ashes of the first" (4).  Since Hitler's coming to power in 1933, this is exactly what Germany had become in the eyes of some was that state of hell.  Hitler had succeeded in his complete control as well as carrying out his Final Solution against the Jews, where, at the hand of the Nazis, six million people perished.  And because of what many came to associate with Hitler and the devastation that he caused, other countries viewed Germans as "guilty by association".  According to Bessel, "the violence which Germans now experienced, in their daily lives was a profound shock, which pushed into the background their memories of the earlier phases of the war when they had the upper hand and were more often the perpetrators of violence than its victims" (5).  And what this shows so poignantly, is that Germany was left in a state of ruin and rather than the perpetrators, that had lost any control they once had and were now victims of the Russians, Americans and other countries that sought revenge for the damage that Germany had caused. And as was true for many people, Germany had also been devastated by the war; "the loss of family, friends, homes, limbs and years of their lives, in service of a criminal and lost cause, left behind an ocean of bitterness" (7).  But yet, as a country, many viewed that Germany was responsible as a country for "[what] people had been complicit in, and profited from, the actions of a racist and murderous regime, and were in danger of being called to account by the victorious Allies, raised the question of guilt and the problem of having to deal with one's own often chequered past" (7). 

And so this was the state that Germany found itself in; facing that they were a defeated peeple...

Amid the sounds of bombs, terror, illegal activity, and crime, the Nazi state continued to crumble in the wake of 1945.  As Bessel writes, "under the circumstances which prevailed during the previous years of Nazi rule, the savagery let loose by the regime during the first four months of 1945 was not the product of its tight control of German society.  Instead it was an expression of the breakdown of order, which brought a willingness, and indeed a desire, to engage in violence and an utter disregard for the lives of individual human beings" (65).  At the same time, Bessel also states that thie terror carried out was a result of an "inability to deal with the consequences of collapse, or to respect the most basic human values" (65).  And with the loss of that control of the Third Reich, those human values were indeed lost as well.

As the months continued to pass in 1945, the Third Reich was reaching its "grotesque conclusion" (93).  For higher ranking Nazi officials, "Hitler and his immediate entourage had taken to living permanently underground; military orders were issued but only offered a fleeting relationship to reality" (94).   In April 1945, the Russians pursued Germany and as they continued to mount the offesnsive, orders came from underground to continue in this fighting.  But as Germany soon became crippled in defeat, it appears that a series of conflicting, as well as mixed emotions were swirling in the minds of the Third Reich's top leaders; they would not concede willingly but were instead forced to do so as they recognized this indeed present reality.

And as the year continued, Germany faced the presence of Communism within their country.  This cyclic pattern to their history only continued to perpetuate as they tried to rise from these ashes of devastation; that indeed this devastating war would bring peace. 

 

Discussion Questions

1) Bessel presents this idea of “unconscious self-conscience”.  What does this mean in light of our vantage point? And in a way, Bessel seems to connect this with a sense of identity and maybe how this was lost with the war?  Is it fair to collectively say that this was how it was for Germany as a country?

2) This idea of being a “predictor of doom” and foreshadowing that something was coming, even as Roth pointed out in 1933 as Hitler was coming to power, what would the German response be to this foreshadowing as all of this evil of the Third Reich is being exposed; with their hindsight in the aftermath of the war?

3) As Bessel writes, "under the circumstances which prevailed during the previous years of Nazi rule, the savagery let loose by the regime during the first four months of 1945 was not the product of its tight control of German society. Instead it was an expression of the breakdown of order, which brought a willingness, and indeed a desire, to engage in violence and an utter disregard for the lives of individual human beings" (65).  From our perspective today, could one not argue that this had been the case since Hitler’s coming to power in 1933?

4) To draw from another literary perspective, in Harry Potter, Dolores Umbridge assumes authority within Hogwarts and always needs to have “order” within the constraints of her position.  However, anytime that this is threatened or otherwise challenged, she feels a need to maintain that grip.  But, when all falls apart, and order no longer exists, it is apparent that in a way this mirrors the same state of Germany without the control of the leader and how chaos ensues.  From the German perspective, how would this loss of control seem to have affected everyday life?  Does abandonment give license to violence in this case?

5) “Stripped of human decency” was a phrase mentioned earlier in our readings. This terror and savage nature of the Third Reich seems to manifest itself even greater in the early months of 1945.  In this “last stitch effort”, what implications does this terror have for the people?  Because of their disregard for these basic human rights, could one argue that the way that the Russians treated them, or even the British or Americans fair?

6) Bessel speaks to Hitler’s motto, “I can no longer go back”, as he details the Soviet offensive that took place in April 1945.  How is our understanding of his motto modified, if any, in light of what he did?  Does this signal defeat or is he alluding something deeper?

 

Resources

Bessel, Richard. Germany 1945: From War to Peace. Great Britain: Simon & Schuster, 2009. Print.

Fulbrook, Mary. A History of Germany: 1918-2008 The Divided Nation. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2009. Print.