Germany 1945 Views of War and Violence [Paperback]

Packed with carefully chosen photos of the concentration camps, German exiles, the war-injured, children, and bombed-out cities, this book is a moving reminder of the material and moral devastation left behind by Nazi Germany. Rudy Koshar, University of WisconsinMadison

Demonstrates how perspective plays a key role, not only in photography, but in questions of mastering Germany's past as well. [I]nnovative and fascinating. Robert C. Holub, University of CaliforniaBerkeley

After half a century, Germany's coming to terms with Nazism remains a subject of debate. This investigation of the photographic record shows that such debates have overlooked the actual conditions in which postwar German memory was first forged.

The Allied forces that entered Germany at the close of World War II were looking for remorse and open admissions of guilt from the Germans. Instead, they saw arrogance, servility, and a population thoroughly brainwashed by Nazis. But photos from the period tell a more complex story. In fact, Dagmar Barnouw argues that postwar Allied and German photography holds many possible clues for understanding the recent German past. A significant addition to the scholarship on postwar German culture and political identity, this book makes an important contribution to the current discussion of German memory.

1997 Golden Light Award: Photographic Book of the YearResist the impulse to 'historicize' the Holocaust . . . and you run the danger of sacralizing it. Barnouw's effort to grapple with these dilemmas is provocative, brilliant, and unsettling.Germany 1945 contributes a vigorous voice to the expanding chorus of scholars who have called for increased examination of the immediate postwar years. July, 2009Germany 1945 is best seen as a contribution to [the] debate . . . about the uniqueness or otherwise of Nazi crimes, and the related questions of collective responsibility for those crimes, and the need to go on remembering them.

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