The period between 1929 and 1949 is arguably the most traumatic and destructive in the history of Germany. Using vital primary sources, archival material and revealing interviews, Panikos Panayi presents an extraordinary analysis of the experiences of, and relationships between, native ethnic Germans, German refugees from Eastern Europe, German Jews, Romanies and foreigners in the German town of Osnabruck during these turbulent years. Written from the perspective of everyday life, this is the first major study of the dramatic changes that took place from the end of the Weimar Republic and the...

The final weeks of World War I saw a revolutionary upheaval in Europe, as old empires collapsed and new, self-proclaimed 'nation-states' emerged in their place. For its advocates, the Yugoslav state created in 1918 represented a largely uniform culture and identity. But as its official name - the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes - suggested, its population was by no means homogeneous. Too late, the British - who had been instrumental in the birth of the state at Versailles - as well as other Europeans and the Americans came to appreciate that divisions of religious affiliation and...