BERLIN, LA VILLE QU'HITLER N'AIMAIT PAS

Berlin as a victim of Hitler, or how a capital of Europe became a ghost, fatally wounded 70 years ago.

On May 2, 1945, a devastated Berlin fell to the Soviets. All of Nazi Germany fell with it. In the eyes of the world, Berlin symbolized nothing less than the “Thousand Year Reich” desired by the Fuehrer. Yet nothing predestined Germany's largest city to play this sinister role. On the contrary, as soon as the First World War was over, Berlin distinguished itself by its singularity. Melting pot of all the tensions of a defeated country, it engendered a political and cultural ferment that made it the vanguard of a Europe in search of modernity. Obviously, neither Hitler nor the German far right would recognize themselves in this liberated city – depraved city, in the eyes of some – where you could rub shoulders with Thomas Mann and Marlene Dietrich, Brecht, Kandinsky, Feuchtwanger or Fritz Lang. So it was with reluctance the brand new Chancellor addressed this Berlin he loathed – and which returned his sentiment. Upon coming to power, Hitler chose violent means to impose his will: burning down the Reichstag, witch-hunts, arbitrary mass arrests, concentration camps, pogroms against Jews and Kristallnacht. From then on, Berlin was no longer Berlin; it was a city emptied of its most emblematic figures and stripped of its daring. It would find itself thrown into total war and lose everything – its originality, its soul and finally its integrity. This book tells the story of Berlin's transformation until the final apocalypse. Drawing on multiple sources, it describes the grandiose and tragic fate of a city that, 25 years after the fall of the Wall, never ceases to fascinate us. Professor of history and editor Pierre Vallaud is a recognized expert on geostrategy (on which he has produced a series of reference atlases) and on totalitarianism (Third Reich, Stalinism). His book La guerre au XXe siècle (War in the 20th century) was published by Perrin in 2014. Mathilde Aycard, historian and editor, coauthored the Atlas des guerres du XXe siècle, Hachette, 1990 (Atlas of 20th century wars). With Pierre Vallaud, she wrote Allemagne, IIIe Reich, Perrin, 2008 (Germany, Third Reich).