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Four Germanys

A Chronicle of the Schorcht Family

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Four Germanys

By: Donald S. Pitkin
Narrated by: Kevin Meyer
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About this listen

In this last book by the late Donald Pitkin comes a story of the Schorcht family, through whose fortunes and struggles one can see the transformations of Germany through the long 20th century.

Each chapter of Four Germanys is reflective of generational rather than historical time. In 1922, Edwin Schorcht inherited his family farm, and in part one, Pitkin traces the derivation of this farmstead. Part two focuses on Schorcht's children who came of age in Hitler's Germany. Part three has the Schorchts growing up in the Ulbricht years (1950-1973) of the German Democratic Republic. The book concludes with the great-granddaughter, Maria, looking back to the past in relation to the new Germany that history had bequeathed her.

Ultimately, Four Germanys reflects the impact of critical historical events on ordinary East Germans while it also reveals how one particular family managed its own historical adaptation to these events.

The book is published by Temple University Press.

©2016 Temple University-Of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education (P)2017 Redwood Audiobooks Anthropology Europe Germany Historical Sociology Capitalism Imperialism Soviet Union Socialism Russia

Critic reviews

"A real page-turner...an important case study."(Jane Schneider, City University of New York)
"A very readable, insightful examination...offers a very fresh and welcome perspective to readers interested in the social and political transformations of Europe in the twentieth century." (David Kertzer, Brown University)
All stars
Most relevant
I found this fascinating, especially as my sister and brother-in-law lived in Jena for a few years after they married and I would visit and travel around Thuringia (we are from London) and his family have a history if passing property down the family line.

However, I find it infuriating that the narrator speaks with an American accent when pronouncing German words. Surely it's part of the job to research such things to achieve accuracy? I cringed every time I heard "Deutscha-mark" (it's just Deutschmark) and I some of the place names were so mangled I couldn't find them on the map!

All in all this is a wonderful book, but I would recommend reading it rather than listening to it.

Great story, shame about the pronunciation

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