Ein Ende und ein Anfang – Wie der Sommer 45 die Welt veränderte

In this summer, nothing is as it was: in the four months from May to September 1945, the old world collapses and a new one opens up. The criminal "Third Reich" is at an end and a time of freedom, but also new conflicts, begins. Book presentation with Oliver Hilmes

How do people experience this summer - victors and vanquished, victims and perpetrators, celebrities and strangers? The "Big Three" determine the course of history at the Potsdam Conference, and Berlin housewife Else Tietze fears for her son's life. US soldier Klaus Mann tracks down Nazi criminals, and in Berlin Billy Wilder plans a comedy about life in the ruins. Cafés and restaurants open their doors, and the Red Army soldier Vasily Petrovich is begged for bread by German children. In many stories and scenes that lead from Berlin to Tokyo, from Munich to Paris or from Bayreuth to Moscow, Oliver Hilmes captures the unique atmosphere of this time of extremes: the great happiness and hope of the liberated, the misery and grief, the fears of the defeated and the new freedom.

Oliver Hilmes, born in 1971, holds a doctorate in contemporary history and works as a curator for the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation. His books about contradictory and fascinating women "Witwe im Wahn. The Life of Alma Mahler-Werfel" (2004) and "Mistress of the Hill. The Life of Cosima Wagner" (2007) were huge sales successes. This was followed in 2011 by "Liszt. Biography of a Superstar", followed by "Ludwig II. Der unzeitgemäße König" (2013) and "Berlin 1936. Sechzehn Tage im August" (2016), which was translated into many languages and became a celebrated bestseller. Most recently, he published "Das Verschwinden des Dr. Mühe. Eine Kriminalgeschichte aus dem Berlin der 30er Jahre" (2019) and "Schattenzeit. Germany 1943: Everyday Life and Abysses" (2023).

Participation on site in the Württemberg State Library, hall (Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 10, 70173 Stuttgart) or online via the access link: https://bitbw.webex.com/meet/wlb

A joint event of the Stadtarchiv Stuttgart and the Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte in the Württembergische Landesbibliothek as part of the BfZ lecture series.