Vision and Reality: Central Europe after Hitler

All Hitler’s political opponents in exile sought to devise plans for the post-war future of Germany, Austria or Czechoslovakia. This volume brings together the different, often divergent proposals of groups and individuals in British exile and evaluates their contribution to actual post-war developments. Different essays trace the activities of the Free German Movement and its Austrian counterpart in evolving plans for the future of their countries or deal with the response of individuals such as Kurt Hiller or Friedrich Stampfer. Others consider the return of Socialist exiles to Austria or the involvement of exiles in Britain in the re-education of German prisoners of war. Ultimately, all plans for post-war Europe were trumped by the emerging Cold War, as Germany became the stage for enacting the political ambitions of the rival powers which had conquered it. Against this background, few of the hopes nurtured in exile came to fruition.