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Decision in Germany (1950)
Front Cover Book Details
Genre Non-Fiction
Subject Germany - History - 1945-1955
Publication Date 1950
Format Hardcover (8.7 mm)
Publisher Doubleday
Personal Details
Acquire Date 6/10/2010
Condition Good/--
Rating 0
Links Library of Congress
Product Details
LoC Classification DD257 .C55
Dewey 943.086
No. of Pages 522
First Edition No
Rare No
Notes/Review
I really want to give this book more than two stars. I tried to describe it in a few words to a friend and ended up with "it's a boring interesting book." I find the topic fascinating and important: the formation of the West German state in the aftermath of WWII.

The US is the protagonist in this story, with Britain, France and the German people as supporting cast. The USSR are the villains. The object of the game was to rebuild Germany; to transition it from quadripartite rule back into the hands of the German people with a fully functioning government and economy, demilitarized and de-Nazified. This task may have been more difficult than winning the war. Obviously, we fell a bit short in ending up with East and West Germany instead of a unified Germany.

I'd love to learn more about the process. Clay starts the story with his arrival in Germany in 1945 and ends with the adoption of the German Basic Law (constitution) in May of 1949. This is complicated stuff with lots of moving parts: denazification; demilitarization; rebuilding infrastructure, industry and schools; currency reform; printing textbooks; restarting a free press, and so on. These tasks were done differently (or not at all) by the allies after WWI in such a way as to cause the rise of the Nazis; it was feared that failure this time could result in a repeat or the loss of Europe to the communists.

Plans for all this must have been started well before we landed troops on the continent. It's critical to have people in place who understand the culture and history of the conquered. Our success in reconstructing Germany (and Japan, though that's not covered at all here) is almost unique in history. Our failures to repeat this process in Iraq and Afghanistan stand in stark contrast. Although times change, we clearly failed to learn the lessons of our own success.

So I find the book's topic fascinating; an important and for the most part overlooked chapter in the history of conflict. Unfortunately, Clay fails to make it come to life. This is a difficult task, no doubt. The dry material (quoting coal and steel production quotas, import/export quotas, recapping meetings) overpowers the dramatic subjects (US-Soviet maneuvering, the Berlin blockade). Clay's abilities as military governor and his impact on these important events exceed his ability to tell this interesting story.

Most students of WWII are well-versed in the strategies and tactics of the war but there is very little written about reconstruction. Because there is little material, I'd have to recommend this book to the interested reader in spite of the sometimes tedious text Clay has left us.