Penguin paperback, 2013
Aftermath
Savage Continent
Europe in the Aftermath of World War II
Keith Lowe follows Europe beyond the surrender, through displacement, reprisals, ethnic cleansing, and the struggle to rebuild. His subject is the unstable peace that followed the fighting, when liberation and violence could exist side by side.
On This Shelf
The aftermath of war: how societies emerge from destruction, and why the end of fighting does not bring an immediate return to ordinary life.
World War II: The Eastern FrontISBN 9780141034515
Selected Passages
From Savage Continent
It is not our remembering the sins of the past that provokes hatred, but the way in which we remember them.
In wartime the worst atrocities do not generally occur in battle, but after the battle is over. A soldier might be able to avenge his fallen comrades by fighting ferociously, but he is in a much better position to do so once his enemy is defeated, disarmed and at his mercy.
Revenge was a fundamental part of the bedrock upon which postwar Europe was rebuilt. Everything that happened after the war, and everything that will be described in the rest of this book, bears its hallmark: to this day, individuals, communities and even whole nations still live with the bitterness born of this vengeance.