Part I

"An air of complete and unbalancing unreality envelops a nation which is disintegrating before our very eyes...a sort of Alice and Wonderland air."

Every once in awhile I take a break from the Disney books and read something else (usually something historical). I stumbled on Endgame, 1945 by David Stafford while Burgoyne was perusing the bookshelves at Borders. The subject matter of this book is a topic I've been anxious to read about for many years but there have been very few books about the end of WWII. I have a copy of The Death and Life of Germany by Eugene Davidson but the content of his book is more statistical. His book also spans years (1950s) not covered by Endgame, 1945 and thus it's more complementary to Stafford's work.

Stafford writes brilliantly and the prose, while grim and gritty, makes for some riveting reading. In his book, the last days of World War II are told through the eyes of 1/2 dozen witnesses from all different backgrounds. I really felt like I was with BBC correspondent Robert Reid when he uncovered the ghastly horrors of Buchenwald and UNRRA relief worker Francesca Wilson as she encountered Europe's only Buddhists displaced by the Russians and the Nazis. I was a witness to the Bassovizza massacres (post war retribution murders, "summary justice", and purges) and the deplorable horrors of marauding Russians in Germany's conquered cities. There is so much degradation in this book that YOU WILL NEVER DOUBT that evil really exists.

It is immensely detailed and Stafford provides deep context by peppering the book with historical facts about the characters who once occupied the locations ravaged by war. Here is one example:

Miramare Castle was an idyllic place to the end the war. Built by the Archduke Maximilian of Austria as personal retreat for himself and his wife, Charlotte, it was a typical nineteenth-century turreted confection of the Gothic, the medieval and the Renaissance, and rich in historical poignancy. Shortly after moving in, the Archduke reluctantly accepted the position of Emperor of Mexico and sailed with his wife to Vera Cruz, only to perish in front of a republican firing squad four years later. (Page 346)

Part 2
This is the Cologne Cathedral. It was undamaged during allied bombing. The train station is hidden by the spires and the bridge approaching the city has been disabled. I was in Cologne in 1995 and took these photos of the cathedral and train station.

Here's what David Stafford writes about the Cologne Cathedral: "Most of the buildings of architectural interest had been destroyed, including at least two of its magnificent Romanesque churches. By some miracle, however, the great Gothic cathedral, with its twin towers reaching over five hundred feet into the sky, was still standing. It's smoke-blackened stone was pitted with shrapnel, and a burned-out Tiger tank still guarded its entrance."

You can see a photograph of the Tiger tank in the Wikipedia listing.