Germany 1945

by Dagmar Barnouw

Stunning documentary photographs are the focus of this compelling study of postwar Germany and the battle over history, memory, and the German past. 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 Nazism and in need of moral and political rehabilitation. For the Allies, the fundamental reality of Nazism was to be found in the death camps. Allied photography sought not only to document Nazism's violence but also to depict Germans finally seeing the truth of the regime in all its ghastly horror. Dagmar Barnouw argues that the German response could hardly have suited the vi