Germany 1945-1990
A Parallel History
Jürgen Weber, Academy for Political Education,
Tutzing
"This very readable translation surveys German
history from the end of WW II to German reunification
in 1990. Weber presents a competent, largely parallel
description... Major feateure of this introduction to
postwar German history for students are the elaborate
chronologies at the end of each chapter. Recommended."
- Choice
This book offers lively description and convincing interpretation
of the most significant events, cruces and ongoing themes
in German history from the end of the Second World War
up to the present.
The chronologies that accompany each chapter record
the most important dates, facts and names occurring
in the narrative. Jürgen Weber`s text supplies
the reader with a combination of vivid descriptive history,
easily absorbed chronology, and a reliable reference
work for the parallel lives of the two Germanies, a
product of the Cold War.
Weber describes in a clear and reader-friendly manner
the history of Germany since 1945. The narrative begins
with the period of the allied occupation and progresses
through the diverse developments in East and West Germany
up to the Federal Republic of today. The most important
events, cruces and ongoing themes of the last fifty
years are not only succinctly and vividly presented
and interpreted, they are also placed in the context
of international political developments. Each chapter
is accompanied by a chronology featuring the most significant
dates and facts relating to the period it covers. The
last chapter gives a summary of what happened after
1990 and on present and future political problems of
German reunification.
Contents
1. Into the Abyss: Germany under Allied Occupation,
1945-46; 2. Germany is Set on a New Course: the Founding
of Two States, 1947-1949; 3. The Federal Republic Orientates
to the West: Western Integration and the „Economic
Miracle" in the Adenauer Era, 1949-1963; 4. Hegemony
against the Will of the People: the German Democratic
Republic (GDR) from 1949 to 1961; 5. From Stagnation
to Take-Off, and from Ludwig Erhard to the Grand Coalition;
6. After the Building of the Wall: Stabilisation of
the SED State by Means of Force under Walter Ulbricht,
1961-1971; 7. The Republic in Transition: the New Policy
towards the East and Commitment to Reform in the Brandt
Era, 1969-1974; 8. The Crisis Years: Political Strains
and their Solutions during the Period of the Schmidt/Genscher
Government, 1974 to 1982; 9. Dictatorship`s Deceptive
Facade of Normality: the GDR under Honecker from the
1970`s onwards; 10: A Change of Government in Bonn:
the Christian Democrat-Liberal Coalition under Helmut
Kohl from 1982; 11. The Collapse of the SED Dictatorship
and the Fall of the Wall in 1989; 12. The Unanticipated
Reunification: the New Course for Germany and International
Reaction to it, 1989-90; 13. In Retrospect Bibliography.
2004
290 pages
ISBN 978-963-9241-70-1 cloth $44.95 / €37.95 /
£29.95
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