Hello,
I recently finished The Reader by Bernhard Schlink and am interested in reading similar books relating to two larger themes: 1. Germans who were born during or after the war and their uncovering of what their parents/grandparents did during the war once the war crimes trials of the 1960s began; 2. German war criminals who escaped prosecution after the war and lived apparently normal lives in the ensuing decades.
I have fallen down wikipedia rabbit holes about both of these topics and am finding them fascinating, albeit shocking, to learn about. I am open to suggestions that are fiction or non-fiction. I think memoirs would be particularly compelling (I like how The Reader, although fiction, at times feels like a memoir).
The “second” theme is especially striking to me because of the sheer number of people who worked as part of the Nazi apparatus, even directly responsible for war crimes, and yet went on to be shopkeepers, civil servants, businessmen, etc after the war. However, I’m having a very hard time finding books about these people.
Thank you.
by Miserable_Card_3432