Berliners are left in the ruins of their once great city in the Spring of 1945 after fierce street-to-street fighting devastated most of the capital.  From a series of unpublished Time Life pictures made recently available...

Oberwallstrasse, Central Berlin 1945

'My God, what have we done?' - Captain Robert A. Lewis (1917-1983)

Hiroshima 1945

At the treaty of Versaile in 1919, Germany learned that it had to surrender all its colonies and occupied territory, pay $33 billion in reparations, and give its coal and iron reserves to France. What was left of Germany's economy colapsed in the Twenties, unable to cover goverment expenses, Berlin issues more cash. The resultant inflation wiped out the savings of many. By 1923, the mark was trading at 4 trillion to the American dollar, and one New York restaurant mocked German misery by using its devalued currency as New Year's Eve confetti. Into the cauldron of misery and resentment in which Germany found herself a 'decorated war hero' from Austria would soon step in with promises of rising Germany once again. 