Berlin Nach 45

Schmidt's work has always focused on his hometown of Berlin and the book format has always been a fundamental element of his work. One of his most important bodies of work, 'Berlin Nach 1945', has never been published as a whole. He has elaborated a powerful visual record of a city in a state of flux.

Herausgegeben im Auftrag des Instituts fur Zeitgeschichte Munchen-Berlin von Manfred Kittel und Udo Wengst. Die Reihe setzt die seit 1984 herausgegebenen "Biographischen Quellen zur deutschen Geschichte nach 1945" fort. In ihr erscheinen seit 1996 biographische Quellentexte aus dem gesamten Bereich der Zeitgeschichte. "

Describes how the German Army Group centre developed a 'master of defence' strategy, which inflicted atrocious losses on the Red Army's attack formations in 1942 and 1943. Explores the German defensive operations around the River Dnepr and Sea of Azov in September 1943, as well as the subsequent German retreat and the air bridge operation to Cherkassy in early 1944. Examines the major Soviet offensive in mid 1944, the fall of Romania and the autumn battles in Poland, Courland and on the Vistula, ending with the major Soviet winter offensive of early 1945 against the Neisse and Oder rivers and last-ditch battles over Berlin itself.

Published to accompany the exhibition Michael Schmidt: U-NI-TY at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, January 18 - March 26 1996 and touring (Hannover and Dresden 1996 - 1997).

A comprehensive account of Jewish life in a country that carries the legacy of being at the epicenter of the Holocaust. Originally published in German in 2012, this comprehensive history of Jewish life in postwar Germany provides a systematic account of Jews and Judaism from the Holocaust to the early 21st Century by leading experts of modern German-Jewish history. Beginning in the immediate postwar period with a large concentration of Eastern European Holocaust survivors stranded in Germany, the book follows Jews during the relative quiet period of the 50s and early 60s during which the foundations of new Jewish life were laid. Brenner’s volume goes on to address the rise of anti-Israel sentiments after the Six Day War as well as the beginnings of a critical confrontation with Germany’s Nazi past in the late 60s and early 70s, noting the relatively small numbers of Jews living in Germany up to the 90s. The contributors argue that these Jews were a powerful symbolic presence in German society and sent a meaningful signal to the rest of the world that Jewish life was possible again in Germany after the Holocaust. “This volume, which illuminates a multi-faceted panorama of Jewish life after 1945, will remain the authoritative reading on the subject for the time to come.” —Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung “An eminently readable work of history that addresses an important gap in the scholarship and will appeal to specialists and interested lay readers alike.” —Reading Religion “Comprehensive, meticulously researched, and beautifully translated.” —CHOICE

Berlin, in May 1945: World War II is over in Europe. The Soviet army has conquered Berlin, a city reduced to rubble, and now under martial law, imposed by the victorious Communists. Soldiers from America, Great Britain, and France will move into Berlin a few months later. But now, broken tanks and makeshift barricades are littering the streets, tenements and churches are turned into bombed-out shells, tunnels are flooded and train tracks destroyed. German soldiers are been hauled off to POW-camps in Siberia, while old men are cutting up dead horses for food, women are trading clothing for survival, and children are left to their own devices in the ruins. And the victors, Russian soldiers of the Red Army, look as much exhausted as the defeated. These rare pictures have been taken by photographers of the Soviet Army and by Germans in their employ, among them Otto Donath, immediately after the surrender and in the months to follow. They are published for the first time in the United States, allowing a glimpse into an era of destruction and desperation, but also of survival and rebuilding. The text is by Michael Brettin, Ph.D., the photos were curated by Peter Kroh, both of them editors at Berliner Kurier. The preface was written by Stephen Kinzer, the former bureau chief of The New York Times in Berlin. Dr. Michael Brettin, born 1964, studied History, Politics and Slavistics and graduated with a PhD in History from Hamburg University. He is also a graduate of the Hamburg School of Journalism, the Henri-Nannen-Schule. Currently, he works as a managing editor of the Sunday issue of Berliner Kurier. Peter Kroh, born in 1950, has worked as a photo reporter for East German newspapers. In 1995, after the Wall had come down, he moved to Berlin to work for Berliner Kurier. Kroh became the photo editor of the paper. Today, he is retired. Otto Donath worked as a photographer for the propaganda company of the Wehrmacht during WWII. After 1945, he took pictures first for the Soviet army, later for newspapers and magazines in East Berlin. He died in 1971 in Berlin. Stephen Kinzer is an award-winning foreign correspondent who has covered more than 50 countries, mostly for the New York Times. Today, he is a visiting fellow at Brown University. His most recent book is "The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War." These photos depict a grotesque normalcy, beyond the well known iconography of heroic liberations and optimistic rebuilding. -Der Spiegel Online At times eerie and at times prosaic, the photographs, many taken by victorious Soviet Red Army soldiers, show ordinary people doing extraordinary things in order to rebuild their lives, literally and figuratively, amid the ruins of a defeated city. -Jason Walsh, correspondent, Christian Science Monitor These never-seen pictures of Berlin in ruins are so forceful, because for those Berliners, destruction was an everyday experience. This view of history does not leave anybody untouched. untouched. -Literaturmarktinfo.de A veritable gold mine of historical and, above all, photographical treasures, with something for everyone in this book, and everything in it, from death to birth, from joy to sadness, from optimism to resignation. -Luke McCallin, author of The Man from Berlin. We see it all: the unfathomable rubble, the homeless and the hungry, the German soldiers marched off to prison camps. And then: the beginnings of recovery and return of the human spirit. Even if you think you've seen it all before on the European war, Berlin 1945 is likely to surprise you. -Greg Mitchell, The Nation magazine, and author of Hiroshima in America

The thrilling and definitive history of World War I in the Middle East By 1914 the powers of Europe were sliding inexorably toward war, and they pulled the Middle East along with them into one of the most destructive conflicts in human history. In The Fall of the Ottomans, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan brings the First World War and its immediate aftermath in the Middle East to vivid life, uncovering the often ignored story of the region's crucial role in the conflict. Unlike the static killing fields of the Western Front, the war in the Middle East was fast-moving and unpredictable, with the Turks inflicting decisive defeats on the Entente in Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, and Gaza before the tide of battle turned in the Allies' favor. The postwar settlement led to the partition of Ottoman lands, laying the groundwork for the ongoing conflicts that continue to plague the modern Arab world. A sweeping narrative of battles and political intrigue from Gallipoli to Arabia, The Fall of the Ottomans is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the Great War and the making of the modern Middle East.

"A tale drenched in drama and blood, heroism and cowardice, loyalty and betrayal."—Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post The Red Army had much to avenge when it finally reached the frontiers of the Third Reich in January 1945. Frenzied by their terrible experiences with Wehrmacht and SS brutality, they wreaked havoc—tanks crushing refugee columns, mass rape, pillage, and unimaginable destruction. Hundreds of thousands of women and children froze to death or were massacred; more than seven million fled westward from the fury of the Red Army. It was the most terrifying example of fire and sword ever known. Antony Beevor, renowned author of D-Day and The Battle of Arnhem, has reconstructed the experiences of those millions caught up in the nightmare of the Third Reich's final collapse. The Fall of Berlin is a terrible story of pride, stupidity, fanaticism, revenge, and savagery, yet it is also one of astonishing endurance, self-sacrifice, and survival against all odds.