NEMESIS AT POTSDAM: The Anglo-Americans and the Expulsion of the Germans. Revised edition [Paperback]

Alfred M De Zayas (Author), Alfred-Maurice de Zayas (Author), Alfred-Maurice de Zayas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1998

First published in 1979, and now in its 10th edition in German with several revised editions in English, Nemesis at Potsdam is the moving and horrifying account of the expulsion after WWII of 15 million German-speaking men, women, and children from their ancestral homelands in Eastern Central Europe. Over 2 million innocent civilians, mostly women and child, died during the expulsion - one of the worst tragedies of the 20th century.

A great amnesia has overtaken the children and grandchildren of the Allied participants, especially in the West. But today the German nation of 80 million includes 15 million Expulsion survivors and their children and grandchildren. No understanding of modern Germany will ever be complete without greater knowledge of this ghastly period in Germany's and the Allies' past.

This is an important book on a sensitive subject. it reminds genealogists that not all emigrations are voluntary; and not all immigrants to America came hundreds of years ago. A personal favorite; our strongest recommendation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Picton Press; Revised edition (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897253604
• ISBN-13: 978-0897253604
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,358,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dr. De Zayas is a brillant and honest historian!, March 31, 2001

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This review is from: NEMESIS AT POTSDAM: The Anglo-Americans and the Expulsion of the Germans. Revised edition (Paperback)

This is a topic that myth makers like Stephen Ambrose would never have the courage to touch. Alfred De Zayas has had the deepest human decency to reveal to the world one of the greatest crimes committed by the Allies: the genocide of between 2,100,000 and 6,000,000 Eastern European Germans and the forced removal of millions of others from their ancestoral homes. Potsdam was where the Western Allies alloud a second Munich, this time with Stalin, by allowing the German men, women, children and babies of East Prussia, Pomerania, East Brandenburg, and Silesia to have their homes and oftentimes lives turned over to the Soviet Union and the vicious vengeful Poles and Czechs. This is the story of one of history's worst acts of barbarity and genocide. This was a shamefull and purely evil act that led to the untold suffering and agony. And it was committed with the sad permision of the Anglo-American Alliance that had proclaimed itself against genocide and expansion during the war and then had the audacity to proclaim the phrase "Never Again," even while they aloud little German girls to be raped and helpless babies to starve.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars well researched documentation of the expulsion of the German, January 31, 2004

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"sissi3o2" (Michigan (USA) and Goettingen (GER)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: NEMESIS AT POTSDAM: The Anglo-Americans and the Expulsion of the Germans. Revised edition (Paperback)

This book is about the expulsion of the Germans after the Second World War, whose impacts still last in the present of the 21st century. In this book, the effects of the decisions of the Allies at the Potsdam conference are described in a detailed way as well as the tragedy of these decisions. In a very good documented and researched as well as extensive manner, the author characterize the problem of the expulsion which based on the decisions of the "well-regulated and human" resettlement of 16 million German and led to one of the biggest postwar period crimes in which more then 2 million German lost their lives.
Alfred M. de Zayas is able to illustrate in an objective way the facts of the holocaust on the German independent of any ideology and without putting the blame on so. nor looking for excuses so that a dark but fast forgotten chapter of the 2nd World War will bear in remembrance. This topic is most times taboo but it is necessary to deal with that subject and to accomplish comprehension which is useful for underlining the efforts for peace.
This book prompt me to do some research on that subject but also to other related documentations of the 2nd World War among other things of de Zayas. He gave me understanding but also the impulsion to get closer to that topic. This book is a must to understand the German history completely and to be able to deal with that. The first German version of that book was published in 1977 under the title: Die Anglo-Amerikaner und die Vertreibung der Deutschen, Vorgeschichte, Verlauf, Folgen.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the story nobody knows, July 14, 2000

By 

william r. schultz (103 Eagleville Rd. Eagleville, Pa 19403) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nemesis at Potsdam: Anglo-Americans and the Expulsion of the Germans (Paperback)

I find this a very exhaustive and reasoned review of this historical event. Few Americans know about any of this, and few would care, anyway, because, "the Germans deserved it". I guess that the US should return Texas to Mexico, by Polish logic. But who's kidding whom? Might makes right, it's not a good idea to lose a world war. My hope now is simply for reconciliation with Poland, and subsequent German investment in the East. The author presents a very balanced account, and does not ignore German wrongdoing. I wish more people cared about history and learned from it. Can anybody tell me if even Germans are aware or care about this topic? I'd welcome a response