Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955

“It’s a spectacularly important book because it raises universal themes. We’ve been reading in our papers over the last few days and weeks what it means when war comes to an end, at least temporarily—permanently, I hope—in parts of Ukraine. In towns and small villages, the Russian occupier has been removed and a degree of normal business resumes. You begin to see the consequences in terms of getting hold of food, transportation, collaborators, culture, kids going back to school, all these issues. A lot of my work as a lawyer is dealing with horrendous international cases and it’s the same everywhere—Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Chile—what happens when a degree of normality returns. This book shows that in a powerful way. I found it very affecting.” Read more...

The British Academy Book Prize: 2022 Shortlist

Philippe Sands, Lawyer

“I just found this book such a revelation. It’s a beautiful work of history. Jähner is 68 now and was born in that postwar era. It must have been an incredibly difficult book to write. We think of Germany as a place of order and discipline, what Jähner reveals here is ten years of anarchy and very naked individualism. It’s awful, just out of control. It gets to the point where a cardinal says that the seventh commandment, ‘Thou shalt not steal’, no longer applies. It’s got this very strong human element. He just aggregates lots of individual stories, so it doesn’t feel long. You’re brought into the human stories pretty quickly.” Read more...

The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize Shortlist

Kathryn Hughes, Literary Scholar