Konrad H. Jarausch, “Broken Lives: How Ordinary Germans Experienced the 20th Century”
The gripping stories of ordinary Germans who lived through World War II, the Holocaust, and Cold War partition—but also recovery, reunification, and rehabilitation
Broken Lives is a gripping account of ordinary Germans who came of age under Hitler and whose lives were scarred and sometimes destroyed by what they saw and did. Drawing on six dozen memoirs by Germans born in the 1920s, Konrad Jarausch chronicles the unforgettable stories of people who not only lived through the Third Reich, World War II, the Holocaust, and Cold War partition, but also participated in Germany’s astonishing postwar recovery, reunification, and rehabilitation. Bringing together the voices of men and women, perpetrators and victims, Broken Lives offers new insights about persistent questions. Why did so many Germans support Hitler through years of wartime sacrifice and Nazi inhumanity? How did they finally distance themselves from the Nazi past and come to embrace human rights? The result is a powerful portrait of the experiences of average Germans who journeyed into, through, and out of the abyss of a dark century.
Awards and Recognition
- One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Nonfiction Books of 2018
- Smithsonian: Best History Books of 2018
- One of Choice Reviews’ Outstanding Academic Titles of 2018
Konrad H. Jarausch is the Lurcy Professor of European Civilization at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His many books include Out of Ashes: A New History of Europe in the Twentieth Century and Reluctant Accomplice: A Wehrmacht Soldier’s Letters from the Eastern Front (both Princeton).
“A revealing study of the lives of ‘ordinary Germans’ under the Third Reich and its aftermath. . . . A provocative addition to a vast literature: Jarausch’s history complicates our understanding of German society during the early decades of the 20th century.”—Kirkus
“It’s a wide-ranging, panoramic, revealing treatment, and for the most part, it’s very dark. . . . For those who seek to understand the German experience in the twentieth century, Jarausch has done a tremendous service.”—Cass R. Sunstein, New York Review of Books
“[A] fascinating study.”—Neil Gregor, Literary Review
“Well written, well researched, and analytical, this publication provides considerable insight into comprehending how it is possible for a phoenix to rise from the ashes and how resilience can be a national virtue.”—Stuart McClung, New York Journal of Books
“Jarausch is a class act as a researcher. Every pronouncement is carefully weighed and underpinned with evidence. His thorough, considered approach epitomises social history at its very best. . . . Through the medium of memoirs, Broken Lives offers an explanation for Germany’s dramatic reversal of fortunes from catastrophe to civility.”—Hester Vaizey, Times Higher Education
“Jarausch’s steady technique gives the story continuity, as he traces the experiences of . . . young people coping with their inclusion into Nazi life.”—Jonathan Steinberg, The Spectator
“Broken Lives . . . shows how World War I defeat did not lead to repentance in a country that had become theologically liberal or atheistic, but plans for revenge. For several years ordinary non-Jewish Germans rode high and thrilled to accounts of military victory, but their comeuppance was severe. All Germans suffered for a decade starting in 1942, and for those in the east torment lasted for nearly a half-century.”—Marvin Olasky, World (25 Good History Reads)
“A wide-ranging, panoramic, revealing treatment. . . . For those who seek to understand the German experience in the twentieth century, Jarausch has done a tremendous service.”—Cass R. Sunstein, New York Review of Books
“Epitomises social history at its very best.”—Hester Vaizey, Times Higher Education
“[A] fascinating study.”—Neil Gregor, Literary Review
“Jarausch greatly succeeds at helping readers envision what it was like to attempt a normal life in the midst of depression, war, revolution, and tyranny.”—Nathan J. Ristuccia, Christian Century
“A revealing study of the lives of ‘ordinary Germans’ under the Third Reich and its aftermath. . . . Jarausch’s history complicates our understanding of German society during the early decades of the 20th century.”—Kirkus Reviews
Princeton University Press
Published: 2018, 2019
Pages: 464
https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691196480/broken-lives