The German Trauma

In 1945, Germany underwent a radical political transformation, moving certainly and irreversibility from dictatorship to freedom under a model federal constitution. But despite this remarkable public success, and the economic revival that accompanied it, the experience of war remains current in the imagination of Germans. Indeed, so total was their defeat, so complete was their culpability, that Germany’s obvious dynamism has coexisted with the always open wound of their history. The fact that this wound exists and has been felt so deeply for more than half a century, has altered what has usually been thought of as “the German character”. This book gathers together the best of Gitta Sereny’s writing on Germany from over 60 years. She writers about key individuals – Stangl, Speer, and the questions that their lives raise. She addresses the questions of war guilt, both among children of the high Nazis and more generally. She also deals fiercely with the Holocaust deniers.

Author Biography

Gitta Sereny had an enormous impact with her biography of Albert Speer, ALBERT SPEER- HIS BATTLE WITH THE TRUTH (1995- 37,000 hardbacks, 58,000 paperbacks) and her biography of Mary Bell, CRIES UNHEARD (1998- 18,000 hardbacks so far). She is also the author of INTO THAT DARKNESS (1972).