Out of the Darkness. Germans, 1942–2022

How did a nation that supported Hitler become a society that rejects war? The answer isn’t hidden in official rhetoric—it’s in people’s personal records and life paths: ordinary Germans who, over eighty years, traveled from collective responsibility to a new self-awareness. After World War II, Germany was destroyed both physically and morally. In the following decades, the country endured division, external control, forced resettlements, trials of criminals, reparations, and recognition of guilt. By 2022, Germany managed to become a society rejecting military aggression and ready to welcome millions of refugees. How could a nation that greeted Hitler transform so dramatically? How sincere was that change? In the book «Out of the Darkness. Germans, 1942–2022», the British historian of German origin Frank Trentmann aims to answer these complex questions by looking at private stories, examining the changing values, and creating a complex portrait of a people that overcame its past.