Tönsmeyer, Tatjana Unter deutscher Besatzung. Europa 1939-1945

At the height of Germany's rise to power during the Second World War, 230 million people from Norway to Greece and from France to the Soviet Union lived under German rule. They all had to come to terms with the occupying forces and had experiences that still have an impact today. In their everyday lives, at work, in their dealings with the authorities and the military. And any contact with the occupiers could turn into violence. Tatjana Tönsmeyer has written the first history of German-occupied Europe that takes the perspective of the occupied rather than the occupiers - and in doing so uncovers a dark legacy that is still subliminally present in the relationship between Europe's neighbours and Germany. German-occupied Europe stretched from northern Norway to the Greek Mediterranean islands and from the French Atlantic coast to areas far inside the Soviet Union. Millions of people experienced deep cuts in their everyday lives, in their housing situation, in their supply situation and at their workplace. The German occupiers imposed new rules, divided societies and created an atmosphere in which the use of violence was always an option - especially for the Jews, who were also subjected to genocidal persecution. Civilian casualties in the occupied territories exceeded the number of dead soldiers. At the same time, the occupied people were not a homogeneous mass of passive victims. They had options that they could use to refuse - or to serve the occupiers. Tatjana Tönsmeyer impressively shows how the German occupation changed the lives of millions of Europeans and what it meant to live under occupation. An experience that is depressingly topical against the backdrop of the Russian occupation of large areas of Ukraine.