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TOPIC: Books about the end of WW2?

Submitted by Jean McG 12:40 on 22 February 2004

Can anybody recommend book(s) about the aftermath of WW2 in occupied countries? I have wanted to read about this subject for ages but have never found any books about it. I'm interested in what happened immediately after the war. How did people find their way home from battle-fronts and camps? What did they find when they got home? What happened to people who had collaborated? etc. I'm also interested in the immediate aftermath in Germany. Hope this is the right place to ask this question. Thanks in advance for any information. Jean

Submitted by Stone and Stone Second World War Books 16:31 on 22 February 2004

That's slightly outside the scope of our website because we mostly cover events during WWII, not the aftermath of the war. However, here are a few titles which might be of interest to you: Allen, Louis The End of the War in Asia London: Hart-Davis, 1976 Bennett, Gill The End of the War in Europe, 1945 London: HMSO, 1996 Botting, Douglas Time-Life World War II The Aftermath: Europe Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1983 Editors of Time-Life Books Time-Life World War II The Aftermath: Asia Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1983

Submitted by Mike Lotus 15:04 on 16 April 2004

Hugh Thomas's book Armed Truce covers just the year or so after the end of WWII, and it is a very good book.

Submitted by Terry Shoptaugh 7:18 on 14 December 2004

A few books that might help: Douglas Bottin -- "From the Ruins of the Reich" -- terrific narrative of the occupation of Germany by American and British troops, has great detail on how the Germans lived and rebuilt the country K. Hulme -- "The Wild Place" -- memoir by an American who worked at a postwar refugee camp in Europe, with vivid detail on the "displaced persons" who had to find new countries to live in after the war. R. Mayne -- "Postwar" -- fairly straightforward book on how Europe's economy and societies were rebuilt after the war, with a lot of attention to France. Blake Ehrlich wrote a book on the resistance movement in France that has detail on the postwar punishment of collaborators, and Ian Ourby (I'm not sure of the last name spelling) wrote a book titled "Occupation" which has a lot on resistance and collaboration and the postwar trials. J. Roy's "Trail of Marshall Petain" has an account of his trial and detail on who collaborated and who was actually punished. Hope this helps.

Submitted by Herbert Heyman 12:39 on 12 July 2005

Tony Vaccaro's "Entering Germany 1944-1949" (published by Taschen) is a bilingual (English - German) photobook, covering the liberation, occupation, reconstruction and life in peace-time in the immediate postwar years in Germany.