Living with the Enemy

Germany experienced a summer in ruins. People are homeless, hungry. But the S-Bahn in Berlin is going to work again soon - many go to the Wannsee, for bathing. Meanwhile, the winners of the second World War II are setting the course for the future Germany in Potsdam. Everyone is wondering what will it be?

This episode deals with individuals, both Germans and members of the occupying forces, and their involvement in the reconstruction of Germany after World War 2.

After the war, the symbols of Nazi power were destroyed, leading Nazis were tried and imprisoned or executed. The arduous and time-consuming process of de-nazification (filling out detailed questionnaires to establish one's innocence or guilt) affected the whole adult population. After some time, the Military Government handed this process over to the Germans themselves. The occupiers realised that it was time to create a new Germany by focusing on the children and young people, re-educating them and showing them that there was another way.

Three years after the end of the World War II, Germany still lay in ruins but there were signs of a new beginning. POWs were coming home from years in camps, and learning to adjust to new lives. On the political level, however, there was little or no harmony. In 1948 the three Western zones introduced a new common currency and the Soviet Union responded with a blockade of Berlin.