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destruction had hit the German cities, on the whole,
the countryside had been untouched. Already, quiet
had settled over the land.
When I think back on my impressions of the
Germany I knew during the years following the collapse,
I clearly recall how enormously difficult it was to get
an idea of the situation, to form a true picture of
the underlying forces and currents. At first, I had
the feeling that I was meeting with something
lifeless, something apathetic and formless. Gradually
this impression disappeared. After the catastrophe in
May, 1945, Germany undoubtedly existed as though it
were under an anesthetic, which however, gradually
spent itself. While the crowds of refugees made their
tragic journey from the east to the west, while the
population struggled with the increasingly difficult
and dominating problem of acquiring its daily food,
and fuel for an occasional fire, the average German, it
seemed, became more and more conscious of the fact
that a future did exist which could not altogether
be left to itself. The Germans began to discuss among
themselves. These discussions were often groping
and halting, doubtful and cautious. You often heard
groups of Germans talking about the fear which the
people had felt during the twelve years of Naziism,
a fear which was still among them, and about the
conditions of insecurity in which the people lived,
and the lack of freedom which still prevailed.
During these years, one got the impression that
the Germans tacked back and forth between the
foreign occupation authorities on one side and, on
the other, their own people. They knew that they
were totally dependent, for example for employment,
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