Berlin at war

Berlin was the nerve-centre of Hitler's Germany. It was the backdrop for the most lavish of Nazi ceremonies, the venue for Albert Speer's grandiose plans to forge a new 'world metropolis', and the scene of the final climactic battle to defeat Nazism. Berlin was the stage upon which the rise and fall of the Third Reich was most visibly played out. Yet while our understanding of the Holocaust is well developed, we know little about the wider challenges posed to the German people by living under a dictatorship in wartime, the compromises demanded and the hardships endured. As a result our understanding of everyday life in Nazi Germany is profoundly imbalanced: we know in intimate detail how a minority died under Nazism, but we understand precious little about how the majority lived. In this vivid and important study, Roger Moorhouse seeks to portray the German experience of the Second World War, not through an examination of grand politics, but rather from the viewpoint of the capital's streets and homes - a 'Berlin-eye view' that makes use of published and unpublished memoirs, diaries and interviews. As well as giving a flavour of everyday life in the German capital, "Berlin at War" also raises issues about consent and dissent, morality and authority, which go to the heart of the experience of war and dictatorship. Above all, it charts the violent humbling of a once-proud metropolis - the fear, the cruelty, the petty heroism and the individual tragedy.