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Postwar Germany

~ 1945-1949

Postwar Germany

Tag Archives: books

Finding Clara

05 Thursday Mar 2020

Posted by Anika in Books, Media, postwar

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Tags

anika, books, clara, germany, postwar, scott

CosyFinding Clara, my novel of postwar Germany, has officially launched in all formats in the UK! So so proud readers will finally get to read about the secrets and lies in the ruins of Essen. North American readers have to wait a bit longer, until April 7.

If you want to know more about me and the book, check out my official author website. Thank you!

New books page

31 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by Anika in Books

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books, reading, research, sources

image_cover_mediumAs promised, I finally started a Books page dedicated to deeper reading into the postwar era. The list has nonfiction and fiction books in English and German. It doesn’t scratch the surface of the hundreds of books written in and about postwar Germany, but maybe readers will find a gem or two they didn’t know about.

And if you know a gem or two I haven’t included, please let me know and I’ll add it.

Enjoy!

Prison Journal

20 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by Anika in Culture

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books, prison, rinser

In 1946, Germany lay in ruins and everything was scarce – including paper to print books. After over a decade of censorship and lack of literary freedom, German writers who felt muzzled during the Nazi era could finally speak up again.

One of the first important postwar books published in Germany was Luise Rinser’s Prison Journal. In snippets from her secret diary, she showed the life of women in a NaziĀ  prison in 1944 and 1945. I read this little book in one day, swept up in the immediate feel of the diary entries and the conditions Rinser and the other women lived under. Rinser was a “political,” imprisoned for making comments that “undermined the war effort.” A friend had betrayed her (some friend!). Through connections, she slowed her case, and the end of the war was probably the only thing that saved her from being tried and executed for treason.

The book made waves after the war, but Rinser downplayed its importance in light of the bigger atrocities committed in the death camps. Compared to that, her tail of filth, hunger, fear and humiliation seemed almost mild.

Ironically, in a biography written after her death, it was revealed that Rinser had been an early Nazi enthusiast, a detail she never admitted in her lifetime.

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