"To compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory, so extreme that it has happened to me more than once to pick up again, as recent and unknown to me, books which I had read carefully a few years before . . . I have adopted the habit for some time now of adding at the end of each book . . . the time I finished reading it and the judgment I have derived of it as a whole, so that this may represent to me at least the sense and general idea I had conceived of the author in reading it." (Montaigne, Book II, Essay 10 (publ. 1580))

Friday, October 11, 2013

Before the Wall: Berlin Days (1946-1948) (George Clare, 1990)

A well-reviewed book, but I didn't find it very valuable.  At least it was a very quick read.  Author was a Viennese Jew whose parents were killed in the mayhem, thus with an interesting perspective on events in Berlin immediately following the end of WWII (he served as a translator and in various other capacities).

He addressed some of the practical problems with denazification - including the continuing need to run the country at a time when so much of the leadership could be viewed as tainted.  What a mess.

Also the shortages, and the politicking among the four occupying powers.  A pretty unique confluence of countries in a tight geography.

So the book was interesting, but not nearly as useful as this book, or this book, or especially this book.

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