Germany's postwar reinvention

Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History Magazine. In 1945, Germany lay in ruins, both physically and morally. But over the eight decades since, the country has transformed into an economic powerhouse and a leader on the world stage. In today's podcast, historian Frank Trentman discusses this remarkable journey of reinvention and moral reckoning with Danny Byrd.

They explore Germany's Cold War division, guilt over its Nazi past, its deep-rooted approach to environmental matters, and the evolving political landscape since reunification. Frank, thanks for joining me to discuss your book Out of the Darkness. And let's jump straight in. Your book reflects on 80 years of Germany's recent history. What compelled you to write about this period and why now?

Well, when I started thinking about the book the first time we were in Autumn 2015, so the so-called refugee crisis. And in the course of the year, Germany took in almost one million refugees. And as part of that, you suddenly had an outpouring of moral statements from politicians, from media, from regular citizens.

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