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Books

After the war — apocalypse

Ian Buruma's Year Zero remembers the generation that rose from the ashes of world war two

19 October 2013

9:00 AM

19 October 2013

9:00 AM

Year Zero: A History of 1945 Ian Buruma

Atlantic, pp.370, £25

On 12 April 1945 the Berlin Philharmonic gave its last performance. The atmosphere in Germany was apocalyptic, the Allied invasion was expected at any moment. The concert playlist had been devised by Hitler’s architect, Albert Speer, and included Brünnhilde’s last aria and the finale from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, the ‘twilight of the gods’.

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