Five Germanys I Have Known

Why it’s on the list: Stern left Weimar-then-Nazi Germany as a child and spent a career as its historian; the memoir runs five German states through one life — Weimar, the Third Reich, East, West, and the reunified country.

Where I heard about it

• Replies to @typesfast — named in the answers to his question “What’s the best history book you’ve read?” (the thread, June 2025). The full list of replies is on What’s the best history book… (tweet).

Connections

• History — The form: memoir doing the work of history.
• Ideology — What Stern spent his career explaining.
• World War II — The rupture at the centre.
• What’s the best history book… (tweet) — the thread this recommendation came from.