Offbeat | Berlin exhibition evokes final months of WWII

The tense expression on Ilse Grassmann’s face belies the festive occasion. It’s Christmas 1944 and she is sitting at home with her three youngest children, the table bare of food or gifts. Her husband is due to be called up soon to join Nazi Germany’s hopeless attempt to win the war. Their 18-year-old son is already stationed in Denmark awaiting the Allied advance.
The scene captures the mood most Germans felt during the final months of World War II. Few believed the claim by Adolf Hitler and his loyal followers that Germany could still achieve an “Endsieg,” or final victory. But many feared the consequences of defeat, as the conflict threatened to consume the country that had unleashed it upon the rest of the world.
The picture is part of an exhibition in Berlin marking next year’s 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Its subjects are ordinary people caught between the encroaching enemy and their own murderous leadership, which launched a futile offensive in Belgium — known as the Battle of the Bulge — just before Christmas 1944.
“A responsible government would have seen the country was doomed and negotiated for peace,” said Claudia Steur, a historian who curated the exhibition. “But Hitler didn’t give a damn. He felt that if Germans couldn’t win they should die.” AP