Savage Continent

My high school offered a number of Advanced Placement® classes.  I availed myself of the opportunity of taking some of them, but European History was not one of them.  It seemed too far removed from anything involving me, too obscure.  Since then, thanks to things like serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Russia and my wife being from Europe, as well as a greater appreciation for my family history, which has a lot of Europe in it, I’ve developed a greater interest in Europe and European history.  The AP class typically starts with events in the XIV century, and my interests don’t usually go back that far, as the XX century and today are usually what intrigue me, likely because I see the connection, just like I didn’t see the connection back in high school.

Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II by Keith Lowe (ISBN: 978-1-250-03356-7) takes a very raw look at the immediate post-World War II period in European history.  The author catalogues the side of post-war Europe that is not usually highlighted in articles and books: genocide, ethnic cleansing, corruption, and violence.  The wartime years are famous for those, but they continued, usually on a smaller scale and in a more isolated fashion, for years after the Allies defeated the Axis powers.  Lowe examines the post-war conditions and how they created the ideal setting for further violence.  While the Allied armies tried to gain control and figure out just what they had on their hands, displaced persons and refugees wandered Europe.  There were plenty of instances of vigilante justice and people looking for revenge against the Germans or other people that had truly or only purportedly wronged others.  In Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and a few other places, the German concentration camps were still being used, either has temporary housing or by the Soviets or others for their original purposes, just against a new type of inmate.  Ukrainian and Poles fought.  Greece went into a civil war.  Jews continued to find no quarter.  The Allies and international organizations worked hard to remedy the harsh conditions, but given the level of destruction the war had wrought, it was often slow going.  Finally, the emerging struggle of the Cold War meant that some of these problems were not given the focus that some would have liked them to have been under.

The book was a very interesting read, although it is easily one of those that is often described as “hard” because of the vivid descriptions of man’s cruelty to his fellowman.  The descriptions of the trials and judgements (or lack thereof) against Nazi sympathizers and collaborators in many European countries was interesting and presented interesting arguments on why they were conducted in the manner that they ultimately were.  I thought a lot of the content was new to me in that I didn’t know about this or that specific situation, but none of it surprised me, having spent time in and trying to learn about the Balkans.  It seems that a lot of the areas where post-war conflagrations happened are the same areas that are still thought of as potential flashpoints today.  People should be aware of the history and the potential consequences of various actions in these places.  I thought the book was somewhat anti-victor (both Western and Communist), laying blame for some of the post-war atrocities at the feet of the Allies.  I wasn’t convinced that was accurate or appropriate, but the book was interesting and provided a good view into a part of European history that is not often discussed.

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