The Russians in Germany
Subtitle: a history of the Soviet Zone of occupation, 1945-1949
By: Norman M. Naimark.
Publisher: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 586
Subjects: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands.; Communism and culture -- Germany (East); Germany (East) -- Politics and government.; Germany (East) -- Economic policy.; Germany (East) -- Social policy.
Description: In 1945, when the Red Army marched in, eastern Germany was not "occupied" but "liberated." This, until the recent collapse of the Soviet Bloc, is what passed for history in the German Democratic Republic. Now, making use of newly opened archives in Russia and Germany, Norman Naimark reveals what happened during the Soviet occupation of eastern Germany from 1945 through 1949.

His book offers a comprehensive look at Soviet policies in the occupied zone and their practical consequences for Germans and Russians alike - and, ultimately, for postwar Europe. In rich and lucid detail, Naimark captures the mood and the daily reality of the occupation, the chaos and contradictions of a period marked by rape and repression, the plundering of factories, the exploitation of German science, and the rise of the East German police state.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [481]-571) and index.