European Achievements in the Homelands of the German Expellees (TPB, 1954, with foxing on the outer and inside cover, translated into 4 languages- English, German, French and Spanish, $3, which is 1/3 the internet price.)
This is a really strange book. If I have it right, after 1000 AD, the Slavic rulers of Eastern Europe wanted Germans to move into Slavic lands, bringing with them their superior cultivation and culture. Eventually the German, Slavic and Baltic people would unite and form Europe, and to protect the area from Islam and the Turks.
After WWII ended, "centuries of constuctive work was destroyed when... [lands] were placed under foreign administration and when the mass expulsions of the German population took place... Sixteen million Germans, men and women, children and aged, were driven from house and home... The unjust mass expulsions rendered tham all homeless. They meant starvation and death for hundreds of thousands of them..." This book is filled with photos of the buildings and industry that the German people were forced to leave behind.
Is it only me, or is this point of view off? True, few people welcomed life behind the Iron Curtain, but "unjust mass expulsions" of Germans? Mass expulsions, maybe, but "unjust"? This is certainly an unique perspective. Look for this interesting presentation on the new non-fiction table, avail. 1/11. (Later: Eurpean history)
