Educating the Germans examines the role of the British in the 'reconstruction' of education in occupied Germany from 1945 to 1949. It covers war-time planning for a future role in overseeing education at all levels in Germany, looks at policy and its implementation, describes the British personnel involved and their interaction with German authorities, and assesses the lasting effects of the British effort in securing the future development of education from Kindergarten to university in the emerging Federal Republic. Thoroughly researched and employing a wide range of sources in Britain and Germany, this is an important study for anyone looking to further their understanding of Germany, and Britain's relationship with Germany in the immediate post-war era.

"Educating the Germans examines the role of the British in the 'reconstruction' of education in occupied Germany from 1945 to 1949. It covers war-time planning for a future role in overseeing education at all levels in Germany, looks at policy and its implementation, describes the British personnel involved and their interaction with German authorities, and assesses the lasting effects of the British effort in securing the future development of education from Kindergarten to university in the emerging Federal Republic. Thoroughly researched and employing a wide range of sources in Britain and Germany, this is an important study for anyone looking to further their understanding of Germany, and Britain's relationship with Germany in the immediate post-war era."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Edward Aitken-Davies (1899-1981) served as an Education Control Officer in the British Zone of occupied Germany from the early summer of 1945 until December 1949. He thus experienced the implementation of policy in the Zone from the very beginnings of the occupation until the founding of the Federal Republic of German y in 1949. During the period 1945 to 1947 he wrote weekly letters home to his mother. Those letters, together with the many speeches he gave in Germany during his time as a leading British officer in the Hanover region have not hitherto been available to researchers but can now be made accessible in edited form. The letters are placed in the context of developments in British policy and with explanatory notes on the detail. Taken together, his letters and other documents provide insights into the day-to-day lives of the impressive group of individuals who oversaw the development of education in Germany from post-war chaos to the reform and stability which restored the education system of the country to a pre-eminent status in Europe.

German society underwent greater change under the four years of military occupation than it had under Hitler and the Nazis. The issue of reeducation lay at the heart of America's occupation policies. Encompassing denazification, restructuring of the school system, university reform, and cultural exchange, reeducation began as an idealistic (and naive) attempt to democratize Germany by making her over in the American image. For this meticulously researched study, James F. Tent has drawn on a wealth of recently declassified documents and on numerous personal interviews with veterans of the Occupation. He brings to life not only the dilemmas American officials faced in balancing the need for a political purge against the need to rehabilitate a disrupted society but also the paradoxes involved in a democracy's attempt to impose its ideals on another people. His book chronicles the dedicated work of many Americans; it also illuminates America's Occupation experience as a whole.