Everyday Life of the Victors in the Soviet Occupation Zone in Germany in the Memoirs of Participants in the Events

Abstract

Many years of work resulted in a book on the everyday life of Soviet military and civil personnel of the Soviet occupation forces and administration in Germany in 1945–49. The current state of research does not allow a generalized socio-cultural overview as yet, but contemporary witnesses can provide us with interesting ego-sources. Twelve of such sources, flanked by rare photographs, were compiled into a book which is intended for broad readership in Germany and suggests a multi-perspective view of the new beginning in Germany after the end of the war in 1945. The article contains a fragment of the introduction to the book.

Keywords

• germany
• post-war period
• occupation organs
• soviet military administration in germany
• everyday life
• ego-documents
• interview
• oral history
• intercultural encounter