The Second World War was the most destructive conflict in history, laying waste not only to Europe’s people but also its infrastructure, institutions and its moral foundations. Only at the war’s end was the true scale of human suffering and misery revealed, and so devastating was the scene that Europe was dubbed ‘The New Dark Continent'. But for civilians in particular, liberation often marked not the end of their troubles but the beginning of new ones, with famine and disease widespread and an atmosphere thick with ethnic tension and revenge. This film will re-examine the aftermath of the War to ask if too much stress has been laid on an optimistic view of victory in Europe with celebratory images of VE day and newsreel coverage of the liberation of places like Paris. While narratives of hope and reconciliation are important, are parallel stories showing the darker side of peace yet to receive due prominence? Liberation was bitter, bloody and vengeful, and there were profound and pervasive fears that the peace could be lost. Through rare archive and unique personal testimony, this film reveals the ‘poisoned peace’ of 1945 to throw light on a post-war Europe where civilisation teetered on the brink of chaos, but the story of the transition from war to peace forms the hinge on which modern European history turns.
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