Amid rising and falling fortunes, Berlin and it’s people have been survivors. This history covers one of most tumultuous eras of Berlin from 1919 after WWI to 1989. The courage of the Berliners is seen after WWI when the devastated city rose to become a sophisticated cultural center. However, the seeds of Hitler’s rise and WWII were sown in this period. The author does a good job of giving us a view of how this horrific transformation took place.
The terrible events of WWII are described including the destruction of Berlin at the end of the war and the Berlin Wall being erected during the Cold War tension between the US and the USSR. I thought the author did an excellent job showing how the people of Berlin were affected by a wall sometimes separating families and friends.
What I liked best about the book was that it focused on the people and their individual stories. This is not just one more retelling of the events in Germany leading up to WWII and the aftermath. This is a book worth reading to gain an understanding of how the people of Berlin could suffer unimaginable hardships and be ready to rebuild their city.
I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.
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