Excerpt Open publication This book discusses research on the culture of postwar Germany (1945-1962), a topic that has become increasingly complex in recent years. Virulent topics such as war, destruction, homecoming, flight, expulsion, guilt, daily life, religion, etc., are explored systematically, using examples and by focusing on fiction, nonfiction, and film in the two German states. Historians and scholars in the field of literature and film have contributed to this compendium. They address various core questions concerning aesthetic representation and the formation of contemporary history.

Elena Agazzi, University of Bergamo, Italy; Erhard Schütz, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, Germany.