Post-WWII Europe was a mess for about a decade. I strongly advise reading Lowe's Savage Continent as people tend to have the wrong view of that time period and what happened after the war in Europe has ramifications for what might happen in the future with immigration.
there's actually an amazing book on this subject entitled <em>Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II</em> by Keith Lowe.
it details how the war didn't end with VE day; how it continued for years afterwards. rather than reconstruction and rehabilitation in the immediate post-war years, europe descended into mere anarchy, with chaos and violence everywhere, and groups using these conditions to settle 'old scores'. vengeance, displacements, moral disintegration, rape, torture, civil wars, and yes, a resurgence of anti-semitism and a re-opening of the camps.
it was only the marshall plan that brought stability to a region that was ripe for revolution and soviet takeover.
this is an important book, and i recommend it every chance i get, but it is not for the faint of heart: it is terrifying. but the fact is the europe, rather than enjoying a robust economy, would still be digging out from under the rubble today without the americans.
sometimes i indulge myself by wondering if we did the right thing.
they were starving to death because there was no food, no water, no buildings, and no society.
https://www.amazon.com/Savage-Continent-Europe-Aftermath-World/dp/125003356X
Savage Continent has a few chapters and great detail about what happened to collaborators. All kinds, too like romantic, financial, business, etc.
Just read the book <em>Savage Continent</em> to understand what post WWII Europe was like for refugees and minority groups.
Mass killings after the war were happening literally throughout whole Europe. Slovenia was no exception.
Many politicians argue about that just to spread propaganda, because they don't want to discuss more important topics.
France and Norway had a lot of collaborators and they didn't hesitate to execute them. Don't know why we still have to discuss this after 70 years.
An English historian Keith Lowe wrote a book about all the mass killings that were still happening throughout whole Europe way after the end of WW2. It's named Savage Continent.
https://www.bukla.si/knjigarna/zgodovina/20-stoletje/podivjana-celina.html
https://www.amazon.com/Savage-Continent-Europe-Aftermath-World/dp/125003356X
Highly educated opinions in that post. real edifying stuff.
Clearly the steady diet of racism and tabloid newspapers is rotting your "communist" brain. The post WW2 era refers to the first decade after the war. Take a step back from FOX news and look at one of these papery things commonly known as a book.
https://www.amazon.com/Savage-Continent-Europe-Aftermath-World/dp/125003356X
https://www.amazon.com/After-Reich-Brutal-History-Occupation/dp/0465003389
Good and bad. WWII as an example was followed by a long period of cultural cleansing throughout Europe that was downright devastating. Today, most developed nations embrace cultural diversity. In the case of the Mongol and post-Mongol period, technology and trade came from distant places without the typical stonewalling middlemen; this helped lead to the Renaissance. It's a lot more complicated than that, of course, but I'm not going to write a short novel here.
Isn’t it amazing? I wish I had bought that book back then.
If you find any good material on the Marshall plan in the UK, consider forwarding it to me, if that's not an inconvenience.
The BBC website is often a good source for historical tidbits. :
In case you're ever pressed to explain US loans to the UK @WWII:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4757181.stm
A little something on the Marshall plan being spent on delusions of 'empire':
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/marshall_01.shtml
They’ve expanded their research on this link since the last time I read it. It used to have a bit on how Marshall monies were spent in part on the British social net.
And here's something even many Americans don't know: we are a great and generous people:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4164321.stm
The fact is, we were on our way to national healthcare, a guaranteed income for everyone, and free higher education under Roosevelt until the Europeans got into another one of their interminable wars.
>how little contact there really was between classes until WWI.
Traditional ways really began to unravel during WWI and after. But honestly, until you live out in the countryside, you really have little or no idea of how much feudalism has actually persisted, embedded in the laws, customs and hearts of the British people.
ETA: This is a terribly biased source, but I think the facts, sans the conservative bias, still hold:
>Britain received $3.2 billion in ERP aid between 1948 and 1951 (in addition to several billions before the ERP began) As with other recipients, the aid was given on the condition that Britain balance its budget, control tariffs, and maintain adequate currency reserves. Marshall Plan aid involved new efforts to increase British industrial productivity. The agency that analyzed the situation, the Anglo-American Council on Productivity (1948–52), tended to compare successful American and British industrial features. American planning and production control, plant layout, management, and psychology of work were admired. Despite participation by trade unions on both sides, the analysis was variously called lop-sided in favor of employers, a misunderstanding of the American system, or a helpful industrial study leading in 1953 to the creation of a long-term program by the British Productivity Council.[11] > >During this period, the British Labour government decided to introduce the National Health Service, offering universal health coverage for all citizens, funded out of tax revenues. At first, senior administrators and US leaders supported the Labour Party and its policies, believing that a popular socialist government in Britain was better able to resist Communist influence. However, by 1950, concern was expressed in America that ERP funds were being used to help finance socialist experiments in Britain at the expense of defense spending needed to counter the Soviet threat. British leaders resented what they saw as US interference in domestic politics and in 1951 declared that Britain no longer required Marshall Aid funds.[12]
http://www.conservapedia.com/Marshall_Plan#Britain
If you're interested in the state of the European continent directly after WWII, and why the Marshall Plan was so desperately needed, Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II by Keith Lowe will knock your socks off. V. v. painful to read but an incredible piece of history that no one really knows. If you think you hate the idea of war now ... wait until you read this.
There are many including Savage Continent Europe and After the Reich. There are many many books written on the subject. Google book post ww2.
A great book focused on the realities of post-war Europe from a human level: http://www.amazon.com/Savage-Continent-Europe-Aftermath-World/dp/125003356X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446528467&sr=8-1&keywords=Savage+Continent
Who destroyed what? What are you talking about?
Also, Europe quite likely would still be digging itself out from under the rubble w/o the Marshall Plan, it was only 70 years ago and huge portions of Europe were utterly levelled. And yes, it was of enormous significance to Germany. Read <em>Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II</em> You think that war ended in 1945? It went on for years afterwards, until Marshall money brought some stability and funds to replace infrastructure. You are woefully ignorant if you think Germany didn't Profit from the Marshall Plan.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2012/06/economic-history
eta: i won't cut and paste the economist article, most people can get to it if they haven't used up their economist passes.