---
product_id: 31200815
title: "The Bitter Taste of Victory: Life, Love and Art in the Ruins of the Reich Hardcover – May 17, 2016"
brand: "lara feigel"
price: "$42.10"
currency: USD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/31200815-the-bitter-taste-of-victory-life-love-and-art-in
store_origin: US
region: United States of America
---

# The Bitter Taste of Victory: Life, Love and Art in the Ruins of the Reich Hardcover – May 17, 2016

**Brand:** lara feigel
**Price:** $42.10
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Bitter Taste of Victory: Life, Love and Art in the Ruins of the Reich Hardcover – May 17, 2016 by lara feigel
- **How much does it cost?** $42.10 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
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## Description

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Excellent book about post-war Germany...
  

*by G***L on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 31, 2016*

Even before WW2 ended in Europe in May, 1945, much thought was given to post-war Germany by the Americans, British, and Soviets. Meetings at Tehren and Yalta, attended by all three powers, considered how Germany should be handled after 12 years of Nazi rule and seven years of war. Should the Morganthau Plan, which basically advocated taking away all industry from the country - after having it divided - to prevent the possibility of any future wars, be implemented? Or should a softer, less vindictive approach be made? Government officials, politicians, and military leaders remembered how the disastrous reparations payments to the Allies after WW1 helped drive the German Weimar Republic to ruin. In 1945, the country was divided into four zones - Soviet, British, American, and French (carved from parts of the British and American sections). The city of Berlin was also divided into four sectors. But along with looking at the post-war Germany with economic, political, and military considerations, there was also a look at societal problems. How did the Germans look at their wartime activities, i.e., who knew what and when did they know it? And what would happen in the post-war years?Lara Feigel, in her excellent book, "The Bitter Taste of Victory: Life, Love, and Art in the Ruins of the Reich", examines the years 1945-1949, as artists, writers, movie-makers were sent to Germany to try to influence post-war reconstruction. Some of these people were Germans who had fled the country during the Nazi years, either because they were Jewish or because they didn't agree with the Nazi line. They had gone to the United States, Switzerland, or England, sending themselves into an artistic exile.(As opposed to those artists who had gone into "internal exile") Now they were returning to see if they could help by making movies, writing music, producing plays, or writing novels as they tried to make sense of what had happened for 12 long years.Lara Feigel uses the Thomas Mann family as an example of artists who had left Germany before the war, settled mostly in the United States, and had mixed feelings as they, individually, considered returning to Germany after the war. Thomas, his daughter Erika, and three sons, Klaus, Golo, and Michael, had all produced works while living in exile. Feigel is quite detailed as she examines what motivated them to return and their thoughts about having done so. Other artists she looks at are Marlene Dietrich, Martha Gellhorn - who were in a romantic menage-a-trois with a US General - as well as photographer Lee Miller and producer Billy Wilder. Not all these people were exiled Germans; Gellhorn and Lee Miller were Americans. looking for a story and an adventure, both of which they found in post-war Germany. Feigel also looks at the Nuremberg War trials and the impact of them on average Germans. And these topics are only a few she writes about.Feigel, who is a Senior Lecturer at Kings College, London, bounces around a bit in her book. She's a smooth writer, though, and her book is quite interesting. For those who are interested in more on the subject of post-war Germany and the Nuremberg Trials, take a look at "East West Street: On The Origins of 'Genocide' and 'Crimes Against Humanity'", by international rights lawyer Phillipe Sands.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    History that still echoes today
  

*by K***D on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 17, 2016*

Most baby boomers growing up in the 50’s often heard “eat your dinner, they’re starving in Europe”.  Well, this book covers this common (and perhaps antiquated) topic, but from a different angle: from the view of the artists and expatriates who returned to Germany after the war.  That in itself (their lives, loves, impressions) makes for some interesting reading if you’re from an era where you know who (e.g.) Marlene Dietrich and Billy Wilder were, without having to Google them.It was toward the end of the book, after it had covered the historical groundwork,  that it started becoming more profound.  The book pointed out that the original generation felt very little genuine guilt over their actions during war, and had much more regret for having lost the war so badly.  Yet – one or two generations later - there was a heck of an aftershock.That same aftershock contributed to the  Civil Rights Movement in 1960s America.  And its secondary aftershock is going on right now as reactions to affirmative action and political correctness policies that have perhaps grown antiquated and grotesque, or perhaps not.  We are still trying to sort out the detritus between the generation this book covers – and our own.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Among the Ruins
  

*by C***T on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 19, 2016*

A view back to immediate post-war Germany through the lens of an assortment of visiting writers, artists,and other cultural lights. Most of these people lived in the United States or Great Britain during World War II, but had preexisting strong ties to Germany.Much of the book focuses on Berlin, not the whole of Germany; and, within Berlin, West Berlin. The soul destroying effects of the Soviet rule of East Germany are given scant notice in this book.The book succeeds best when recounting such specific incidents as the Nuremberg Trials and with general descriptions of the cultural and physical wreckage that existed at war's end. It is less helpful when going into depth about the romances of  U.S. General James Gavin or the interior dysfunctions of Thomas Mann's family.

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*Store origin: US*
*Last updated: 2026-02-23*