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‘You
are going into Germany. You are about to meet a strange enemy
people in a strange enemy country.’ So read the handbook
given to British personnel embarking on tours of occupation
in Germany after the end of the Second World War.
Yet Britain had no blueprint for its administration other
than colonial models from India and elsewhere, and the British
arrived
in a devastated land where the natives were off-limits and
were allowed no involvement in the running of their own affairs.
Widespread corruption flourished in a climate of ‘anything
goes’ – where thousands of German citizens found
themselves homeless or without food, fuel or other necessities – and
an overblown bureaucracy bedevilled the British administration.
However, tensions generally eased and, as the threat from the
Soviet Union grew, friendship with the Germans was officially
encouraged. Despite the haphazard and Raj-like behaviour of
some British officials, the Federal Republic of Germany was
well on its way to recovery by 1950, and the British had influenced,
for better or worse, all the most important developments in
post-war German life.
Those whose countries fought against Hitler and the Third Reich
are well used to hearing about the hardships and atrocities
endured by those the Nazis persecuted as well as those who
resisted the German occupation of Europe. A Strange Enemy People
tells the story from the point of view of the defeated Germans
and those British whose job it was to pick up the pieces.
Patricia Meehan is a former BBC Television documentarist and
producer. In 1945 she went to Germany as a welfare worker,
an experience that was to provide material for an acclaimed
five-part BBC documentary, Zone of Occupation, as well as for
this book. She is also the author of a book on the rise of
Nazism in Germany, The Unnecessary War: Whitehall and the
German Resistance to Hitler, one of the Guardian’s Books of
the Year in 1992.
'The definitive book
about the British Occupation of Germany.' - Charles
Wheeler, Germany: Misery to Miracle, BBC Radio 4
‘Fascinating’ - Financial Times
‘Provides valuable insights into the lives of Germans, but its
true subject is British policy; shockingly harsh, explicably
self-serving and predictably counter-productive . . . a vivid
account, and the range of topics is impressive.’ - German
Studies Review
‘As this book clearly demonstrates, the British governance and
administration of a defeated Germany was perhaps not the greatest
success story . . . the basic story has been told in earlier
books but Patricia Meehan’s personal experiences as a
welfare worker and her subsequent work as a BBC documentary-maker
lend a compelling element to the narrative.’ - History
Journal
To listen to the BBCRadio 4 programme ‘Germany: Misery
to Miracle’ featuring Patricia Meehan and her book, click
here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/
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