Victor Klemperer was a German-Jewish Professor who somehow survived the Nazi regime, only to find himself under post-war Soviet domination. His diaries (1933-1959) contain the life of Klemperer, his views on Hitler and Germany through to the Soviet era, and contain a window on dangerous events by an intelligent and educated man. He frequently commented on everyday Germans' reactions to major events, the state of mind of the persecuted Jews, the conflicting rumours of the war, the growing knowledge of the concentration camps, and the prohibitions against Jews, with the intensifying persecution and Jewish reaction. Initially an anti-communist he converted to this political philosophy in East Germany and then changes his mind before he died, recognising the German Democratic Republic as the 'lesser evil' but also the 'Fourth Reich'.

There have been many political and military books on the German period of 1933-1959, but this unique insight offers a social history of life in Germany, with the question of morality and everyday ethics constantly between the lines.

Klemperer's 1933-1959 diary, published in English in 1998, ran to three volumes, and more than 800,000 words This book is written with the aim of analysing and presenting the most prominent and significant themes. It will be of interest to historians, sociologists, and students of German-Jewish history before, during and after the Second World War.