Recommended books, films, documentaries, podcasts, videos, and museums to help you make the most out of your time in Berlin, Germany and Europe, as well as to refresh your memory and learn more after you return home. 

This section is continually being revised and updated, so please forgive the entries that appear incomplete. Feel free to inform me about any errors you discover. You are also welcome to disagree with anything you read here!  Send me whatever questions, comments, and opinions that come to your mind!

 

WHY THIS HISTORY IS IMPORTANT:

We live in a time when democracy is under threat by right-wing populism, authoritarianism, and new forms of fascism. The history of Berlin, more than that of any other city, provides a stark reminder of how fragile liberal democracy is, how quickly it can be replaced by dictatorship, and what horrific consequences may then follow. The Federal German president Richard von Weizäcker put it best in his 1985 speech commemorating the 40th anniversary of the end of the Second World War: Whoever refuses to remember the past remains blind to the present. Whoever refuses to remember the inhumanity remains prone to new outbreaks of the virus.

 

This history matters. Many democracies are currently under threat and it is useful to be aware of the techniques that would-be tyrants are likely to use to subvert our freedoms. But I'm conscious that that this remains a history book, not a piece of poltical commentary. And without knowing the history, the warnings can't be fully grasped.

Laurence Rees, The Nazi Mind. 12 Warnings from History.

 

General Tips for Berlin: https://www.timeout.com/berlin/things-to-do/best-things-to-do-in-berlin

 Why you should visit Potsdam: https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/europe-travel/germany/the-cheaper-more-beautiful-alternative-to-berlin-flbl5k50l

 

Top 5 Book Recommendations

     1. Kampfner, John. In Search of Berlin. The Story of a Reinvented City.

      2. Jonathan Littel, The Kindly Ones .

      3. Synder, Timothy, The Road to Unfreedom.

      4. Garton Ash, Timothy, Homelands. A Personal History of Europe.

      5. Rees, Laurence, The Nazi Mind. 12 Warnings from History.

 

Top 3 Film Recommendations

    1.   Mr. Nobody Against Putin.

     2.  The Zone of Interest

     3.  Look Who's Back.

 

Top 3 Podcast Recommendations

      1. New Books in German Studies

      2.  The Holocaust History Podcast

      3.   We Have Ways of Making You Talk 

 

Top 3 Tips for free time in Berlin:

       1. Berlin Story Bunker including the new Ukraine Museum. (Berlin Story – The whole story of Berlin in a Bunker – Berlin Story) 

       2. Reichstag Cupola: German Bundestag - Registering to visit the dome of the Reichstag Building

       3. Restored Crypt of the Berlin Cathedral (Burial place of the Hohenzollern Dynasty): Berlin Cathedral | visitBerlin.de

 

Ampelmann (“Traffic-Light Man”).

 The history of pedestrian crossing lights / AMPELMANN Berlin. The official website of the Ampelmann Store, with the background story to the world’s most famous traffic light figure and much more.

 

Berlin

Beevor, Anthony, Berlin. The Downfall 1945. The best book on the Battle of Berlin-. Beevor uses first-hand German and Soviet accounts to tell the story of the men, women, and children who experienced the battle, whether as combantants or civilians.

Hillers, Marta, A Woman in Berlin. A harrowing account of how women experienced the end of the war in Berlin.

Kampfner, John. In Search of Berlin. The Story of a Reinvented City. The is a masterful recent English-language introduction to Berlin. Despite its many small historical errors (Kampfner is a journalist, not a historian), no other book addresses the contemporary significance of Berlin to non-Germans better than this one.

Kempe, Frederick, Berlin 1961. Kennedy, Khrushchev and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth. An account of the Berlin crisis of 1961, which could have touched off a nuclear war between the superpowers.

Ladd, Brian, Berlin. The best English-language guidebook for exploring the city on foot, with a heavy emphasis on history and architecture. The last edition is somewhat outdated, but it's hard to keep up with developments in a city that is constantly changing.

Ladd, Brian, The Ghosts of Berlin.  In this book,  Ladd shows how  history has not only left its mark on the architecture of the city but also how it presented challenges to urban planning in Belin in the post-reunification era.

Lutes, Jason, Berlin. This is an informative graphic novel set in Berlin just before the Nazis come to power.

McKay, Sinclair, Berlin. Life and Loss in the City that Shaped the Century.  Mckay believes that a knowledge of the history of Berlin from the Nazi era to the Fall of the Berlin Wall is essential for understanding the 20th century as a whole.  He tells the story through the individuals caught up in the dramatic events of the time, some famous, some notorious, and others unknown.  A fascinating and eloquent depiction of everyday life then with its shortages, refugees, terror,  bombings, street fighting, pillage and rape, and hope for a better future when it was over.  Peace came, only to be followed by the new challenges with of the Cold War and the  physical division of the city. The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, leading to German reunification on October 3, 1990, was a rare happy event in the history of Berlin and Germany. 

Ritchie, Alexandra, Faust’s Metropolis. A History of Berlin. A "master-class" account (over 1,000 pages!) covering several hundred years.

Schneider, Peter, Berlin. The City after the Wall.  Before his death in early 2026, Schneider was one of Germany's most prominent left-wing intellectuals. This book is a sharp-witted look at contemporary politics, society, and culture in Berlin.

 Walker, Julia, Berlin. Contemporary Architecture and Politics After 1990. A great resource for those interested in the political aspects of city planning.

White-Spunner, Barney, Berlin. The Story of a City. White-Spunner served for many years as a British officer in West-Berlin. His book contains many minor errors and a few bigger ones, but it’s still a nice overview of the city’s history for those who may find a tome like Alexandra Richie’s too intimidating.

Wise, Michael Z., Capital Dilemma. Germany’s Search for a New Architecture of Democracy.  How Berlin’s dark history impacted the planning of a new capital for the Federal Republic of Germany after the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

“Update” of the Mosaic on the GDR “House of the Teacher” by Tyrz Kongo:  https://berlinmosaik.wordpress.com/westfries

 

German Democratic Republic (G.D.R.), History and Legacy. 

 

Hilton, Christopher, After the Berlin Wall. Putting Two Germanys Back Together Again. German reunification was a mind-bogglingly complex process that, in many ways, is still not complete and may never be. Street names, property rights, employment, money, the place of women in society: all these and many other aspects of daily life were upended for east Germans once their country, the German Democratic Republic, vanished along with the Berlin Wall. Hilton does an excellent job of depicting these challenges clearly and consisely. This book will help people unfamiliar with post-1989 Germany understand why so many east Germans to this day feel resentment about how they were "reunified" with their western cousins. 

 

Hope, Ralph, The Grey Men: Pursuing the Stasi into the Present. Hope, a retired F.B.I. agent, tells the story of  how  most Stasi agents not only escaped justice but also continue, to this day,  to hinder public discussion of their crimes and commemoration of their victims.

 

Hoyer, Katja, Beyond the Wall. East Germany 1949-1990.  Hoyer provides a nice overview of the vanished German Democratic Republic, combining political and personal history (although Hoyer was only a child when the Wall fell, she comes from an East German family). The book was a  bestseller in Great Britain , where she teaches, but remains controversial in Germany. German critics accuse Hoyer of painting a too positive picture of daily life in the GDR. I  personally think the criticism is exagerrated. As far as I am concerned, her book provides an excellent  English-language introduction to the history of East Germany.

 

Kowalczuk, Ilko-Sascha, Freedom Shock: A Different History of East Germany from 1989 to Today.  Historian Kowalczuk was born and brought up in East Berlin during the communist era. In this book, he responds to academics like Katja Hoyer (see above) and others who point out what they view as the positive aspects of life in the G.D.R. , and how east Germans have legitimate grievances concerning German reunification. In his account, Kowalczuk argues that the fall of the Berlin Wall,  the rapid collapse of the East German state and the sudden introduction of political, social, and economic freedom came as a shock to millions of East Germans. Since then, according to him, many former East Germans have sought refuge in nostalgia longing for a socialist past that was not as rosy as they believe.  However, he believes that this so-called Ostalgie, nostalgia for East Germany,  is pernicious, because it  stokes resentment against German reunification, thus undermining liberal democracy and promotes the growth of left-and right-wing extremism in former East Germany. I would recommending Kowalczuk together with Hoyer to gain a deeper, more nuanced,  understanding of the German Democratic Republic and its troubling legacy. . 

 

Richardson-Little, Ned, The German Democratic Republic. The Rise and Fall of a Cold War State. Richardson-Little argues  that those who depict East Germany as a communist hellscape are wrong; but he also finds those who present it as a socialist paradise to be equally mistaken. In his book, Richardson-Little portrays the multi-faceted nature of state and society in East Germany and places them within the wider context of the Cold War.

 

Europe

Applebaum Anne, Iron Curtain. The Crushing of Eastern Europe.  Applebaum recounts how the Soviet Union first liberated eastern Europe from Nazi Germany, only to then subjected it to a new form of tyranny.

Davies, Norman. Europe. A History. A panoramic history of the continent from the very beginning; contains some minor errors and outdated views, but still highly informative and one of the best overviews of the subject.

Davies, Norman. Vanished Kingdoms. The History of Half-Forgotten Europe. A look at once mighty but now largely forgotten powers like Prussia and Poland-Lithuania. A good resource for understanding the conflicts of these regions today.

Garton Ash, Timothy, Homelands. A Personal History of Europe. A great personal look at Europe, written by a historian who was not also an eyewitness to many key events but who also personally knew many important players.Garton Ash recounts Europe's struggles to emerge from the ashes of World War II to achieve peace, prosperity and democracy in the West, and then spread it to the East after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Sadly, as he writes, those achievements are now threatened by "illiberal" politicians like Viktor Orban and Marin Le Pen. What we need, he counsels, is pessimism of the intellect, but optimism of the will. As the Czech dissident and later president Vaclev Havel said, Hope is not prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart. It s an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed . . . It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense. regardless of how it turns out (page 341). 

Jankowski, Tomek, Eastern Europe! Everything you need to know about the history (and more) of a region that doesn't always get the attention it deserves. A lexicon-like overview of the subject, full of entertaining asides and a few errors but still a great introduction. The origin stories of the eastern European peoples is especially instructive: For example, Vladimir Putin justified his invasion of Ukraine by claiming that the Ukrainians and Russians are one people bound by historical ties. Jankowski writes: There is a common habit of referring to Kievan Rus [the Viking territory that once extended over  much of modern-day Russia and Ukraine] as "early Russia" or "medieval Russia," but this is inaccurate. This is kind of like calling the Roman Empire "early Italy."  It's a shame that many of the western politicians, commentators, YouTubers, influencers and ordinary citizens who offer  opinions (and make important decisions) about the war in Ukraine  don't read books like this. And don't be intimidated by the its size (over 700 pages). Jankowski breaks his chapters up into small segments, allowing you to dip in and out of the book without losing sight of the overall picture.

Judt, Tony, Postwar. A History of Europe since 1945. A work highly regarded by many experts in the field.

Mikanowski, Jacob, Goodbye Eastern Europe. An Intimate History of a Divided Land. A more academic look at the subject than Jankowski’s work.

Simms, Brendan, Europe. The Struggle for Supremacy. 1453 to the Present.  Simms argues that every major European war for the past several centuries has been fought for control of Germany. Even those who disagree with his thesis can still learn a lot from this book.

Sheehan, James, Where Have all the Soldiers Gone? How Europe went from the most militarized place on the planet to its most pacificist continent. Although written over two decades ago, this book explains why western Europe was caught wholly unprepared for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Wilson, Peter, The Holy Roman Empire. A Thousand Years of Europe’s History. The current standard-work on the Empire, a must-read for anyone who wants to gain a deep understanding of the history of central Europe.)

Winder, Simon, Danubia: A Personal History of Hapsburg Europe. A unique, informative and entertaining look at the central Europe through the lens of the Habsburg Empire that once ruled there. I would recommend that anyone  traveling to Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary take the paperback version of this book along with them. 

 

Fascism and Current Threats to Democracy.

 

Herzog, Dagmar, The New Fascist Body. Historian Herzog argues that the success of contemporary far-right political movements such as Germany's AFD party is partly due to their erotically charged rhetoric and imagery. Just as the Nazis once accused the Jews of lusting after German women, modern day authoritarians stoke resentment against migrants who supposedly threaten the women women and children of the countries they come to. Aligned with this is a certain ideology of physical health and beauty that also harks back to the Nazis.  Herzog calls this "sexy racism." Attractive blond, blue-eyed women are presented as representives of the people to whom the nation belongs.  Not only non-white threaten this racial ideal, but also the disabled. This is why right-wing extremists are also drawn to eugenicist policies which discriminate against the physically and mentally challenged. . 

 

Snyder, Timothy, On Freedom. Most of us think of political freedom as the absence of governmental control in our lives, but this is only side of the coin, according to Snyder,  a former Yale historian, and prominent expert on eastern Europe and the Holocaust.  Negative freedom from state authority  must be complemented by positive freedom: the ability of people to come together to create better lives for everyone.  Such freedom presupposes a healthy, well-educated populace and an inclusive, tolerant society that allows for unpredictability. Postive freedom also requires "factuality." If we cannot agree on the basic facts about state and society, we cannot expand freedom, and we cannot defend it from those sworn to destroy it. The West did not provoke Russia into invading Ukraine. Donald Trump did not win the 2020 presidential election. These are the kind of lies threatening freedom today. A big lie can bring down a whole country. The twentieth century should have been Germany's century, but Germans got caught in a story. The twenty-first century could be America's but Americans  . . .(page 179).

 

Snyder, Timothy, The Road to Unfreedom. In this book, written in the wake of Donald Trump's electoral victory in 2016, Snyder shows how Vladimir Putin used fascist ideas to gain and consolidate power in Russia, and then exported those ideas to undermine democracy elsewhere.  Russian money, propaganda and  electoral interference have contributed greatly to the success of far-right politicians in Europe and the United States.  Snyder's book is a wake-up call to those who care about democracy to see what is happening around them and to oppose it. 

 

Snyder, Timothy, Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (graphic novel version). Snyder here draws lessons from Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and the Soviet Union on how to recognize current threats to democracy today and how concerned citizens should respond to it. 

 

Stanley, Jason, Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future.  In this book, Stanley shows how fascists abuse history to first gain power, and then to legitimatize and perpetuate their power. They propagate a single narrative of their nation's past, arguing that the dominant ethnic group, which once made the nation "great," is now being taken advantage of by undeserving  minorities (immigrants, Moslems, LGBTQ persons. etc.). The illiegimate interests of such minorities, in turn, are used by "leftists," be they Marxists, communists, socialists, or liberals, to gain power for themselves, so they can "destroy" the country. for their own advantage.  While some readers may object to how Stanley labels disparate politicians such as Vladimir Putin, Narendra Modi, Viktor Orban, and Donald Trump as "fascists," there is no doubt that they all present grave threats to freedom and democracy.  And Stanley's book shows how dangerous it can be to glorify national history instead of remembering, learningmfrom and teaching it from a multi-perspectival, tolerant, and liberal-democratic perspective. The purpose of history education is not to instill national pride -- that is an abuse of young minds -- but rather to teach students the causes and consequences of historic events in their nation's history, no matter if those events are something to be proud of or not. 

 

 

 

Germany

Craig, Gordon, The Germans.  Craig, a Scottish-American historian, was considered one of the foremost authorities on modern German history. This book, although somewhat dated,  provides a clear, compact, concise introduction to German history, culture, and society.  The chapter on Berlin still offers readers a quick but soldi overview of the city’s past.

 

“Feli from Germany,“ YouTube series:  Feli is young German woman who lived in Cincinnati for nine years. She recently moved back to her native Munich with her American husband, where she continues to make her videos comparing life in the USA with life in Germany.  I especially recommend the episode: Do Germans Talk About World War II? What Do They Teach About the Holocaust? | Feli from Germany - YouTube

If you would like to know what Germans in general think about US-politics right now, check out this episode: Penny Drop City 10 Youtube

And in this episode, Feli asks locals on the streets of Munich  their opinion about America during the second Trump administration: Asking Germans “What do you currently think of the US?” | Feli from Germany

 

Holtfrerich, Carl-Ludwig, Edward A. Tenenbaum and the Deutschmark. How an American Jew Became the Father of Germany’s Postwar Economic Revival. Contrary to long-standing beliefs in Germany, it was not West German politicians -- such as the finance minister and later chancellor Ludwig Erhardt -- who laid the foundation for West Germany's stunning economic recovery after World War II, but Edward Tennenbaum, an American intelligence officer, combat veteran, and financial expert, and the son of Austrian Jews. 

 

Kampfner, John, Why the Germans do it Better. Notes from a Grown-Up Country.  Kampfner is a British journalist with decades of experience reporting from Germany.  In this book, he presents the social traditions, traits, values and practices that have made Germany 's  prosperous economy and robust democracy the envy all of the world.  He describes how Germany's  educational system,  with its encouragment of continual vocatioal training, has brought about stunning economic success. He also argues that the nation's troubled history has left its people determined to avoid the mistakes of the past. Germans cherish democracy, reject militarism, and support mulitlateralism and diplomatic solutions to  international problems. For Kampfner, no one better represents these German virtues more than the former chancellor Angela Merkel.  Her pragmatic approach to governance successfully guided Germany through the successive financial, refugee, and Covid-crises that ravaged other countries over the past twenty years. If only more countries were managed like Germany, Kampfer suggests, then the world would be a much better place, While there is much to Kampfner's argument, I can't help think that his love of Germany blinds him to the country's serious problems and challenges. The obscene cost-overruns, delays, and other scandals  that plagued the construction of Berlin's new international airport,  the now-proverbial inability of German Rail to make its trains run on time,  and Germany's failure to keep up with the digital revolution show that the Germans do not always do it better. And if Kampfner had written this book after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, I suspect his praise of Angela Merkel would have been less effusive. Her refusal to take a hard line against Putin --even after his annexation of Crimea in 2014 --, as well as her continued support of the new gas pipeline North Stream II, not only demonstrated to the Russians that they had little to fear if they expanded the war, but also helped them finance their attempt to conquer all of Ukraine. Still, "Why the Germans do it Better" is an excellent introduction to how Germans think and live. For the full picture, however, I would recommend reading it concurrently with Broken Republik. The Inside Story of Germany’s Descent into Crisis," by Chris Reiter and Will Wilkes (see below). 

 

MacGregor, Neil, Germany. Memories of a Nation. A unique look at Germany's past and how it informs the present  based on a highly acclaimed exhibit MacGregor curated while he was the head of the British Museum. As one reviewer put it: "This book can be warmly recommended to everyone who wants to know how much more there is to German history than the Third Reich." 

 

Reiter, Chris and Will Wilkes, Broken Republik. The Inside Story of Germany’s Descent into Crisis. Two long-time Germany correspondents, one American and one British, both living in Germany for decades, examine how the country went from a model of prosperity, stability and liberal democracy to a land plagued by inefficiency, corruption scandals, and a rising tide of ugly right-wing populism. But they also point out the strengths of German society which, if used properly, can overcome these challenges. 

 

Sparding, Peter, No Better Friend? The United States and Germany Since 1945. A  look at the origin, significance, challenges and future of the cultural, economic, and geostrategic relationships between these two key Western nations. Well-worth reading now, as the current American administration no longer treats Germany (along with all other European nations), as a friend and ally, but as a trade rival and obstacle to American-Russian cooperation. 

 

Steinberg, Jonathan, Bismarck. A Life. The best English-language biography of the man who united the German people by founding the Second German Empire.

 

Walser Smith, Helmut, Germany. A Nation in its Time. The best up-to-date,  comprehensive, English-language  presentation of German history I know.

 

Watson, Peter, The Germans. Europe’s Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution, and the Twentieth Century. Watson reminds us of Germany’s  great contributions to western civilization, many of which have been undeservedly obscured by the legacy of Nazi Germany.

 

Weitz, Eric D. Weimar Germany. Promise and Tragedy. A close look at the politics, culture, and society of Germany’s first democratic state. Like many historians, Weitz creates the false impression that Berlin represented German society as a whole in the 1920's and early 1930's, but his book is still worth reading, especially the chapters on the pioneering social reforms of this period in Germany.

 

Greek Myth (We do a deep dive into ancient mythology when visiting Sanssouci gardens, especially inside the New Palace).

 If you’d like to brush up on the mythical gods, heroes and monsters  you will encounter in Sanssouci, you should check out the book series by the British actor, comedian and writer Stephen Fry: "Mythos,"  "Heroes," "Troy," and "Odyssey".

 

Historiography

Evans, Richard, In Defense of History. Evans makes a persuasive argument why history matters and why academic historical research, properly conducted, is reliable.

Macmillan, Margaret, The Uses and Abuses of History.  Macmillan shows how some politicians have used history to inform their decision-making, while others have abused history to justify questionable ends.

 

Holocaust

 Amis, Martin, The Zone of Interest. A novel about a Nazi concentration camp commander and his wife, as they try to lead a “normal” family life with their children just outside the walls of the camp. Based on the real life of the commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höß. The film version of the novel from 2024 is also well worth seeing. 

 Beorn, Waitman Wade, The Holocaust History Podcast, Beorn and his guests, leading scholars in the field, keep you up to date with the current state of Holocaust studies research.

Browning. Christopher R.  Ordinary Men. Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. Browning’s acclaimed study shattered the myth that the German troops who participated in the Holocaust were forced to murder Jews against their will. The small number of German soldiers and officers who refused to commit war crimes faced no severe punishment. The ones who did kill had differing motives. Some were committed Nazis who acted from conviction, some developed a taste for killing, while it appears that most followed criminal orders out of sense of duty and a fear of letting down their comrades. 

Brownstein. Rich, Holocaust Cinema Complete: A History and Analysis of 400 Films, with a Teaching Guide. This is an excellent resource for instructors who use films as source material for Holocaust education. 

Evans, Richard, Lying about Hitler. Evan depicts the libel trail of the Holocaust denier David Irving.  Evans himself  appeared as a witness for the defendant, Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt. The book does an excellent job of showing how we know that the Holocaust happened, and how Holocaust-deniers like Irving manipulate or consciously twist the historical record for their own political purposes. The film dramatization of the trial with Rachel Weisz: Denial is also very good. 

Hayes, Peter, Why? Explaining the Holocaust. A good look at the current state of Holocaust research and an excellent source for secondary school teachers.

 Hilton, Laura and Avinoam Patt, Understanding and Teaching the Holocaust. This is another valuable resource for instructors.

Karlsson, Klas-Göran, Lessons of the History: The Holocaust and Soviet Terror as Borderline Events. We are always told we should learn the lessons of history, but we are rarely told exactly what those lessons are. Karlsson does an excellent job of explaining what we can learn from Nazi and Soviet atrocities.

 Littell, Jonathan, The Kindly Ones (novel). A brilliant but deeply disturbing novel about the Holocaust, with a narrator who was a perpetrator.  Looking back on his part in the mass murder of European Jews, he expresses no remorse, but continues to justify his actions. This book is hard to read, but essential for understanding how the men who planned and carried out the Holocaust thought

Pitzer, Andrea, One Long Night. A Global History of Concentration Camps. What exactly is a concentration camp? Where did they originate (note where you probably think they did). What kind of people are usually detained in them? What was their purpose and how did they function? What were the similarities and differences among concentration camps across various eras and countries? Read this clear, concise, well-written book to discover the answers! 

"Shoah Stories."  Video Holocaust education project of the Berlin Anne-Frank Center. The video clips, including eyewitness testimony, are aimed at young people who tend to inform themselves more with Tiktok and Instagrarm than literary sources. The project was mentored by Hebrew University professor Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann. While professor Ebbrecht-Hartmann admits that the video clips don't meet pedagogical standards, he still hopes that they can inspire young people to avail themselves of more traditional sources: Video Library: Holocaust History Clips | SHOAH STORIES

Simon, Marie Jalowicz, Underground in Berlin: A Young Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Survival in the Heart of Nazi Germany. The incredible true story of a young Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust hiding In her home city of Berlin.

Snyder, Timothy, Black Earth. The Holocaust as History and Warning. Snyder analyzes the material causes behind the murder of Europe’s Jews and argues that such conditions could return today with similar catastrophic results.

 

Snyder, Timothy, Bloodlands. Europe between Hitler and Stalin. A controversial work arguing that the destruction of the states of eastern Europe, that is, the elimination of their administrative structures, by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union paved the way for the murder of several million people.            

                                                                                                          

Stahl, Jerry, Nein, Nein, Nein!  One Man’s Tale of Depression, Psychic Torment, and a Bus Tour of the Holocaust. A satirical account of the author’s bus tour of Holocaust sites in Germany and eastern Europe.

 

Stone, Dan, The Holocaust. An Unfinished History. A comprehensive examination of not only the Holocaust itself, but also of how it was memorialized after the war, and how it still impacts our world today. Stone also deconstructs common myths of the Holocaust in his book. For example,  the murder of the European Jews was not primarily a highly efficient, industrially organized process, but a chaotic, bloody mess. Over a third of  Holocuaust victims never saw the inside of a cattle-car, a ghetto, a concentration camp or a gas chamber.  Instead they were marched out to forests where they were gunned down in enormous pits. 

 

Potsdam Conference

After the War: Churchill’s Defeat.  This BBC documentary on how the man now considered “the greatest Briton” was rejected by British voters after his great triumph in World War II,  and forced to leave office during the Potsdam Conference: The 1945 UK General Election - YouTube.

Kanon, Joseph, The Good German.  This mystery novel  begins with a murder that takes place during the Potsdam Conference. The story not only makes for riveting reading, but also provides great descriptions of what life was like in Potsdam and Berlin right after the end of World War II. 

McCullough, David, Truman. This magesterial biography of  America's 33^rd president includes three chapters focusing on Truman’s time in Potsdam.  Exhaustively researched and beautifully written, this is a must-read for anyone interested in 20th century American and world history. 

Neiberg, Micheal, Potsdam. The End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe. Neiberg reappraises the conference and rejects the Cold-War narrative that the meeting ended in failure. His description of the city of Potsdam itself in the summer of 1945 is full of errors (Potsdam did not emerge from the war "largely unscathed", but that's not his focus. Neiberg's account of the motives, discussions, and decisions of the "Big Three" Stalin, Truman and Churchill is a master-class in diplomatic history. 

 

Prussia

Blanning, Tim, Frederick the Great. King of Prussia. As far as I'm concerned, this is the best biography of Frederick in any language. Blanning puts Frederick's homosexuality, a subject long ignored or denied by historians, at the center of his narrative. But the book also contains some solid social, cultural, economic and religious history too.  This is a must-read for anyone coming to Potsdam. 

Clark, Christopher, The Iron Kingdom, The Rise and Fall of Prussia. 1600-1947. A dense, nuanced, but well-written academic history of this remarkable state that achieved great-power status within a short, became the driving force behind  German unification, and then vanished after the Second World War. This book established Clark as a celebrity historian in Germany. 

 

Queer History

Beachy, Robert, Gay Berlin. Birthplace of a Modern Identity. The story of how Berlin became the site of the first gay liberation movment.

Eldorado. Netflix documentary showing how queer life flourished in Berlin in the 1920’s before being destroyed by the Nazis in the 1930’s.

Hájková, Anna, People without History are Dust.  Queer Desire in the Holocaust. Hájková sees her mission as "queering the Holocaust," that is, giving a voice to the victims who have been marginalized in public remembrance because of their sexuality. 

Marhoefer, Laurie, Sex and the Weimar Republic. German Homosexual Emancipation and the Rise of the Nazis.  How Weimar Germany went from being a remarkably tolerant society  for queer people to a nightmare for them within just a few years.

Schillace, Brandy, The Intermediaries. A Weimar Story. A highly readable, well-researched popular history of Magnus Hirschfeld,  founder of the first Sexual Science Research Institute,  and his quest to use science and reason to  overcome  homophobic  ignorance, prejudice, hatred nd repression. His great goal, the repeal of Germany's Paragraph 175 (anti-sodomy law) was sadly only achieved long after his death. 

Tremblay, Sebastien, A Badge of Injury: The Pink Triangle as Global Symbol of Memory. Tremblay relates how  the pink triangle went from a mark of persecution to an insignia of pride, while also describing the complex structures of memory  within the queer community regarding their suffering under the Nazis.  

 

Remembrance Culture.

 

Lim, Jie-Hyun, Victimhood Nationalism. History and Memory in a Global Age.  South Korean historan Lim undertakes here a fascinating examination of how nationalists have manipulated the memory of political suffering in the 20th century to present themselves as victims, gain political legimitmacy and promote a sense of ethnic-cultural superiority. A common way they do this is by employing tropes of the Holocaust in the process. Even in Germany and Japan, he argues, nationalists have used the imagery and teminology of the Holocaust to relativize their nations's responsibiltiy for war crimes. Interestingly enough, the first use of the word "Holocaust" after the Second World War is found in a Japanese text describing the dropping of the atom bomb on Nagasaki. 

 

Neiman, Susan, Learning from the Germans. Confronting Race and the Memory of Evil. Neiman is a Jewish philosopher who grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and now is the director of the prestigious Einstein Forum in Potsdam.  Drawing on her personal experiences in both countries, she compares how Germany has confronted its dark past with how the United States has largely failed to do. She believes that German commemoration of the Holocaust has much to teach America about overcoming the legacy of slavery and post Civil War racial discrimination. To be honest, Neiman's praise of East Germany's "ordained anti-fascism" is annoying (contrary to her claims, the G.D.R. did not "get everything right" and her suggestion that the Stasi was no worse than American intelligence agencies is not only offensive but baffling.) Nevertheless, her sharp observations about how East and West Germans came to terms (or didn't) with the Nazi past are spot-on. Moreover, her thesis that the U.S. would be much better off if it followed a German-style reckonig with the past is also undeniable. This is a brillaint, thought-provoking book, even when you don't agree with it. 

 

Port, Andrew I., Never Again. Germans and Genocide after the Holocaust.  Port is an expert for postwar German history and the former editor of the prestigious academic journal "Central European History.  In this book, he examines how the memory of the Holocaust has informed German responses to genocide since 1945, from the "Killing Fields" of Cambodia to the ongoing war in Ukraine. Interestingly, Germans on both sides of such issues, such as providing military aid to Ukraine, often use the memory of the Nazi Era to justify their arguments. The book also provides a nice overview of postwar German history in general, especially regarding West Germany. 

Zimmerer, Jürgen, Memory Wars: New German Historical Consciousness. Zimmerer is an esteemed scholar of international history and genocide studies. Here he pleads for an update of German remembrance culture. German acceptance of responsibility for remembering the Holocaust, Zimmerer argues, formed in the first decades following the Nazi era, a time when Germany had an ethnically homogenous society of people largely comprised of eye witnesses. Today, however, Germany is a multicultural society. Over a third of Germans today have a so-called "migrant background." Their famlies have no personal connection to the Third Reich and the Holocaust. Moreover, the centrality of the murder of the European Jews in German historical memory leaves little space for the stories of the large immigrant communities, such as the Turks, the Vietnamese, Africans and Syrians. Zimmerer calls for expanding German historical consciousness to incorporate these other narratives. He also urges Germany to address troubling related questions. As many point out the traditional remembrance culture to avoid confronting the legacy of atrocities committed in Germany's African colonies. Moroever, the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification is often seen as a kind of "happy end" to the country's tumultuous 20th century, but this ignores the ugly wave of racist attacks in both  former East and West Germany in the early 1990'. 

 

Second World War & Military History

Beevor, Anthony, The Second World War. An up-to-date overview of the conflict in Europe and the Pacific by one of the English-speaking world’s best known military historians. Unlike many other English-language popular historians, Beevor makes extensive use of  Soviet archival material. 

Chamberlain, Paul Thomas, Scorched Earth. A Global History of WWII. Revisionist interpretation of the conflict, which Chamberlain argues was not so much a struggle of democracies versus dictatorships as it was a great power conflict between declining empires and nascent ones. Thought-provoking and well worth reading, even if you don’t agree with the argument.

Davies, Norman, Europe at War. 1939-1945. No Simple Victory. Somewhat outdated, but still a good introduction to post-Cold War revisionist scholarship.

Dimbleby, Jonathan, How Stalin Won the War.  The towering significance of D-Day in the western historical memory has too long overshadowed the fact it was the Soviet Red Army that played the decisive role in defeating Nazi Germany. At the center of  Dimbleby's book is an account of  “Operation Bagration,” the Soviet summer offensive of 1944. This single operation effectively destroyed the Wehrmacht as an effective  fighting force and set the stage for Soviet dominance of central and eastern Europe until 1989/90.  Europe still feels the afterschocks of the conflict today.

Harrisville, David, The Virtuous Wehrmacht. Crafting the Myth of the German Soldier on the Front, 1941-1944. Harris deconstructs the long-held myth that, while the SS committed horrific war crimes, the German army fought honorably, adhering to the rules of war. While the German army's involvement in Nazi war crimes has been known in Germany for quite some time now, it is still not well-known in the Anglo-American world. With this book, Harrisville does much to close this knowledge gap. 

Hellbeck, Jochen, World Enemy No. 1. Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia and the Fate of the Jews. In western historical memory, the Second World War remains primarily an Allied "crusade for democracy" with D-Day marking the "turning of the tide" agains the Nazis.  Recently, revisionist historians such as Brendan Simms have reinforced this view by arguing that Adolf Hitler viewed the Anglo-American world as his greatest enemy. In his book, historian Jochen Hellbeck reminds us that while Nazi Germany may have been defeated on the western front, it was annihilated on the eastern front. The Red Army suffered the highest casuaities of the war but also inflicted the greatest losses on the Wehrmacht.  The destruction of  Soviet "Judeo-Bolshevism" remained Hitler's greatest ambition and he was ready to pay any price to achieve his goal. This explains the savage nature of the war in the east, especially toward the native civilian population, especially Jews. No Barbarossa, no Holocaust. Most academic historians have recognized this for a long time, but Hellbeck does an excellent job of presenting these insights to the wider public. A must-read for all those with a serious interest in the Second World War and the Holocaust.  

 

Holland, James, The War in the West (3 volumes).  This is  a highly  readable narrative history of the western theater of the Second World War. Those with special interest in  weaponry, training, tactics, and logistics of the conflict will find it rewarding. 

 

Lowe, Keith, The Fear and the Freedom. Why the Second World War Still Matters. Lowe shows how this conflict that ended generations ago still shapes the world we live in today. He also reveals the dangerous legacy of the many myths contaminating the historical memory of the war and of those who fought it, showing we should beware of unreflectively labeling its participants “heroes” or “monsters.”

 

Manion, Timothy, Why Barbarossa Failed: Germany and Russia in the Second World War.  Manion offers a fresh and bold look at the German invasion of the Soviet Union.  Rejecting the traditional narratives that it was the weather, poor logistics, or the "inexhaustible" human resources of the Soviet Union that doomed the Germans, Manion argues that Barbarossa largely failed due to flaws in German operational and tactical thinking. The Red Army proved masterful at adapting  to the new nature of mechanized warfare taking place over enormous expanses of territory, while the Wehrmacht tended to keep repeating its mistakes. 

 

McMeekin, Sean, Stalin’s War: A New History of World War II (2021). McMeekin argues persuasively that Stalin wanted a war between Nazi Germany and the western democracies to allow him to seize control of central and eastern Europe. What he didn’t want was his own murderous conflict with Hitler.  Despite the staggering losses of the Soviet Union, however,  the war ultimately gave Stalin more or less what he wanted.  McMeekin also shows how the United States unwittingly contributed to this expansive of Soviet power with it’s overly generous Lend-Lease program.

 

Military History Visualized (YouTube series: great resource for those interested in the technical aspects of military history – tactics, strategy, weaponry logistics– especially regarding WWII).

Nolan, Cathal J., The Allure of Battle. A History of How Wars Have Been Won and Lost. Cathal makes a persuasive argument that almost all wars in history ultimately won by attrition..

Rees, Laurence, World War II Behind Closed Doors. Stalin, The Nazis and The West.  Rees recounts how the personal relationships among Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill impacted the course of the war and its outcome.  While the Anglo-Americans liberated western Europe,  Stalin's duplicity, aided by Roosevelt's naiviety and Churchill's comparative weakness, enabled the triumph of Soviet tyranny in eastern Europe.

Schmider, Klaus, Hitler’s Fatal Miscalculation. Why Germany Declared War on the United States. Besides answering the question posed in the title, Schmider presents some surprising insights into Hitler’s views about America.

Stahel, David, Hitler’s Panzer Generals: Guderian, Höpner, Reinhardt and Schmidt Unguarded. How the self-promoting skills of top German officers played a bigger role in their career advancement and their fame than their talents did.

Stahel, David, Operation Barbarossa and Germany’s Defeat in the East. Stahel makes a persuasive argument that Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union was doomed from the outset. Having gone through so many men and so much material in rapid summer advance, the German military found itself by the fall in a war of attrition it could never win. According to Stahel, the vaunted Wehrmacht "victoried itself to death."

Stargardt, Nicholas. The German War. A Nation under Arms: 1939-1945.  Stargardt examines how the war impacted Germans on the home front, especially how "ordinary"  men, women, and children experienced the bombing of their cities and towns. His book shows we need a more nuanced understanding of how the German people thought about the Nazis and the war. While a majority of them supported the regime to the end,  their support was not as unequivocal and their motives not as clear-cut as we often assume today. 

 

Wilson, Peter, Iron and Blood. A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples since 1500. In this formidable book, Wilson not only depicts the military culture of what became Germany, Austria and Switzerland from the Reformation period right up to today, but he also clears up a lot of misconceptions about this subject. For example, for the longest part of its history, Germany has never been an exceptionally "miltarist" or warlike nation. The book is also the worth reading for its detailed account of the periods before and after the two world wars, which tend to be neglected when discussing German military history. 

We Have Ways of Making You Talk.  (Podcast): Two Brits, historian James Holland and comedian Al Murray, engage in informative and entertaining discussion of World War Two, often along with guests like prominent historians, writers, and in one epsiode Brian Johnson, the singer frm AC/DC!

 

Third Reich

Evans, Richard, The Hitler Conspiracies. The Third Reich and the Paranoid Imagination. This book is not only a great source for the history of Nazi Germany, but also a lucid analysis of how conspiracy theories arise, spread, distort knowledge and poison discourse.

Evans, Richard, The Third Reich (3 Volumes). The best English-language overview of the subject by one of the world’s foremost experts.

Evans, Richard, The Third Reich in History and Memory.  This collection of Evan’s book reviews gives readers a good look at the current state of the research as well as the contemporary controversies within the field.

Fallada, Hans, Alone in Berlin. A novel based on the true story of a middle-aged Berlin couple that resisted the Nazis and paid for it with their lives. The author based his novel on the actual investigative records of the case and provides a close-up look at how the Gestapo operated and how their victims suffered. 

 

Görtemaker, Heike, Eva Braun: Life with Hitler. The biography of a woman often talked about but little known. Görtemaker deconstructs the myth that the members of Hitler’s inner circle didn’t know about the crimes he was committing. This also goes for Eva, who was anything but the naive "dumb blond" of popular memory. Moreover, Görtemaker shows that Hitler was not a "lone wolf" with no private life, but man who needed company and was to a great degree the "product" of his friends, allies and close supporters.

 

Harris, Robert, Fatherland. This bestselling novel, based on the premise of a Nazi victory in the Second World War, provides not only detailed descriptions  Berlin lo during the Nazi-era, but of how of how the city would have looked like had Hitler triumphed.

Hitler’s Skull & Teeth, National Geographic with Mark Benecke (YouTube video). Ignore the Japanese subtitles and see how a celebrity German forensic pathologist examines the physical remains of Adolf Hitler to determine exactly how he died.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgdzRzVO ShQ&rco=1.)

Kershaw, Ian, Hitler. A Biography. This two-volume work, highly regarded by academic historians, analyzes the charismatic relationship between the Führer and the German people..

Longerich. Peter, Hitler. A Biography. This book is much more recent than Kershaw’s and is also more of a traditional narrative history.

Michalczyk, John J., Et. Al., Hitler’s Mein Kampf. A Prelude to Genocide. Essays by several scholars analyzing how Hitler constructed an identity for himself in his notorious autobiography-manifesto.

Nazi Television. German documentary with English subtitles and voiceover: Nazi Television Footage (1935) w/English Subtitles.

Ohler, Norman, Blitzed. Drugs in Nazi Germany. A look at how drug use by Adolf Hitler, other top Nazis, and German troops impacted the course of the Second World War. Ohler’s style is somewhat sensationalistic and some of his arguments are questionable, but his book shines a light on an otherwise neglected aspect of the history of the Third Reich.

Rees Laurence, The Nazi Mind. 12 Warnings from History.  What was in the minds of the Nazis when they planned and committed their horrible crimes against humanity? How was it possible for a cultured people like the Germans to support them? Rees provides fresh answers to the questions and leaves readers with clear warning for our time. Today's right-wing extremist demagogue many not look like the Nazis or sound exactly like them, but they use the same rhetorical strategies used by Adolf Hitler, namely, promoting cult-like devotion to the "heoric leader," spreading conspiracy theories, stoking fear, resentment, and hatred of certain minorities, and pursuing a policy of zero-tolerance for dissent and resistance. 

Ross, Steven, Hitler in Los Angeles. The true story of how Jewish Hollywood film producers thwarted the attempt of American Nazis to establish a stronghold in southern California.

Ryrie, Alec, The Age of Hitler and How We Will Survive It.  A fascinating and thought-provoking look at what Ryrie sees as the coming end of our culture's obsession with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. As the last eye witnesses pass on, and our society becomes more multicultural and inclusive, the Hitler and Nazis become less and less the fixed reference point for absolute evil. This has positive aspects, considering that comparisons with Nazi Germany fail to help us confront some of our  greatest challenges today such as new viruses, climate change, AI, and drone warfare. But there are also dangers in allowing the Nazis to pass into historical oblivion. It is no concidence that the more we proceed towards a post-Hitler age, the more we experience a resurgence of anti-Semitism and the rise of new forms of fascism. 

Sharples, Caroline,  The Long Death of Adolf Hitler. An Investigative History.  Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in April 1945, but it wasn't until 1956 that he was legally declared dead. The supposed uncertainties surrounding Hitler's end provided fertile ground for much speculation and conspiracy theories about his possible survival and escape. The never-ending fascination wiht Hitler's death has expressed itself in many forms, some curious, others absurd, and still others dangerous. 

Stargard, Nicholas, The German War: A Nation under Arms, 1939-1945. An examination of how the German people experienced the Second World War on the home front.

 

Ukraine

Plokhy, Serhii, The Russo-Ukrainian War. The Return of History. A guide to the war by one of Ukraine’s foremost historians.

Snyder, Timothy, The History of Ukraine. (Yale lecture series on YouTube). I highly recommend these lectures to anyone  who wants to better understand Ukraine and Russia's murderous invasion of a country that posed no threat to Russian security.  Synder explains how, despite Vladimir Putin's claims, Ukraine is a nation with its own history. Ukrainians and Russians have common historical, linguistic, and cultural roots, but they are different peoples and have been for centuries. (For example, the Ukrainian language is closer to Polish than Russian.) Snyder also teaches his students how to think historically, and explains why history is so vital for functioning democracies. Check out the first lecture and see for yourself!

 

Urban Studies & Architecture

Filler, Martin, Makers of Modern Architecture. From Frank Lloyd Wright to Frank Gehry. These essays by the long-time New York Review of Books critic provide a nice overview of the most important architects of the 20^th and early 21^st centuries as well as their greatest works.

Goldberger, Paul, Why Architecture Matters. Architecture affects each one of us every single day, but hardly any of us are aware of it. This book will change that for you.

Kunstler, James Howard, The Geography of Nowhere. The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-Made Landscape. How modern architecture, city planning and automotive culture have ruined many American cities and what can be done to improve them.

Wilson, Ben, Metropolis. A History of the City. Humankind’s Greatest Invention.  A fascinating look at how cities have driven historical progress.

 

Bücher auf Deutsch

 Wenn du Deutsch lesen kannst, dann hier meine Top-3 Empfehlungen für 2025:

Bisky, Jens. Berlin. Biografie einer großen Stadt. Großartige, hochaktuelle Geschichte Berlins von hoher literarischer Qualität.

Tkalec, Marita, Geschichte Berlins in 60 Objekten. Was haben Elche und Kondome mit der Geschichte Berlins zu tun? Lese mal dieses Buch und finde es heraus!

Fallada, Hans, Jeder stirbt für sich allein. Für mich bleibt dieser Roman aus dem Jahr 1947 eine der besten fiktiven Darstellungen von Berlin in der NS-Zeit. Bas Buch basiert auf der wahren Geschichte eines Berliner Ehepaares, das Widerstand leistete, und dann von der Gestapo gejagt, verhaftet und hingerichtet wurde.

 

Recommended Films and Series

Alone in Berlin. Film adaption of the anonymous diary of a woman who described her experiences during the Battle of Berlin and the immediate aftermath of the war.

Barry Lyndon. Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of the novel by William Makepeace Thackary. The scenes taking place on the Berlin boulevard "Unter den Linden" were shot outside the New Palace in Sanssouci Park.

The Bridge of Spies. Steven Spielberg’s dramatization of the most famous captured spy exchange of the Cold War. If you come to Potsdam, I can also show you the actual bridge, where the spy swap in the film also takes place. 

The Boys in the Boat. George Clooney’s film adaptation of the book by Daniel James Brown about the US rowing team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. I personally found this to be a dull film, but others like it.

Charité. Dramatic series focusing on the lives of several generations of pioneering doctors, surgeons, and medicinal researchers at Germany’s most famous hospital.

Christiane F. We Children of the Zoo Station. Cult classic about a teenage heroin addict living amidst the decadence and decay of West Berlin in the late 1970’s.

Downfall.  The most commercially successful film about the last days of Hitler. Controversial, not completely historically accurate, but well worth watching.

Eldorado. Netflix documentary showing how queer life flourished in Berlin before it was crushed by the Nazis.

Elser. Biopic about Georg Elser, the lone assassin who carried out the first of many attempts on the life of Adolf Hitler.

Goodbye Lenin! A comedy about the fall of the Berlin Wall and its impact on an East Berlin family.

How to Become a German (BBC documentary about a British journalist couple who move to Germany and “live like Germans” for several months.

Kleo. A comedy-action series about a former Stasi assassin out to revenge herself on the former colleagues who betrayed her. Over-the-top, Tarantino-like action and violence, absurd historical premises, but good for understanding how East and West Germany viewed unification from very different perspectives.

Look Who’s Back. A black satire based on the premise of Hitler entering a time-warp  when he commits suicide,  reappearing in Germany today, and becoming a talk-show host. The film is very funny. However, the unscripted scenes with non-actors are disturbing, because they reveal that racism and authoritarism are also "back" in Germany. 

The Lives of Others. Oscar-winning film about Stasi infiltration of everyday life in East Germany. While the film’s historical accuracy is debateable, it still does a good job of presenting the pervasiveness of state surveillance in East German society.

1983. Drama spy series set against the background of the “Able Archer” NATO maneuvers, which almost touched off World War III.

The Man with the Iron Heart. Biopic about Reinhard Heydrich, the deputy leader of the SS and a major architect of the Nazi system of terror and repression in Germany and occupied Europe.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin.  This documentary shows how Pavel Talankin, a Russian high-school teacher and school videographer, watches and films how his students are subjected to extreme political doctrination after the full-scale invasion Ukraine in 2022.  The film offers a rare glimpse of everyday life in Putin's Russia and won the Oscar for best documentary in 2026. 

Our Mothers, Our Fathers. Drama series about how a group of young Berliners experience the rise of the Nazis and the Second World War. Controversial for its sympathetic portrayal of ordinary Germans at the time but well worth watching.

Stalingrad. A German view of the legendary battle.  Probably the biggest production of any war movie, and often praised for its gritty realism and historical accuracy.  

Stauffenberg. A German take on Colonel Klaus von Stauffenberg, the officer at the center of the army bomb plot to kill Adolf Hitler ; a much more accurate film than Tom Cruise's “Valkyrie”.

The Tiger. A German World-War-Two drama obviously inspired partly by "Saving Private Ryan," and partly by "Jacob's Ladder." A German tank crew on the eastern front must use their Tiger to go behind enemy lines to rescue a German officer. The tank seen in the film is not a real Tiger, which is not surprising, since the only remaining original Tiger in the world is at the Tank Museum in Bovington, England.  That Tiger can be seen in the Brad Pitt film "Fury." What you see in "The Tiger" is a reconstructed hull mounted on a German Leopard-1 chassis. The premise of the film, sending a 57-ton collosus on a "secret mission" is at first absurd, but make sense in the end. Personally, I found the ending absurd as well, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone.  The film  is a psychological drama taking place amidst the brutality of the Soviet-German war. In that sense, it's not bad.  So grab the popcorn and enjoy "The Tiger."  Just don't expect a historically accurate war movie like "Stalingrad" (see above). 

Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War. Excellent history of the Cold War, and how that conflict still impacts our world today, as in the Ukraine War.

Unorthodox. The story of a young woman from New York City who fled to Berlin to escape her Ultra-Orthodox family.

Weißensee. Dramatic series about an East Berlin family.

When Britain Said No. BBC documentary about Churchill’s 1945 electoral defeat.

Wings of Desire. Classic film by the director Wim Wenders; shot in Berlin just before the Wall fell.

Zone of Interest. Oscar-winning film about the commandant of Auschwitz, his wife, and their attempt to live a “normal” family life with their children just outside the walls of the death camp.