Memories of 1945 - 1. The Postwar Generation ”We didn’t ask questions”

It is the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. A good time to exlore different memories and different ways to remember across the generations and, eventually, borders and former enemy lines.
In today's episode I am talking to Steffen Rudolph, a former German diplomat, about his experiences on that day, the years after and how his generation got to learn about the Nazi's crimes. Only 5 years old at the time, we will learn about how he grew up during the war in Chemnitz and how, then, his family escaped from the Soviet occupation zone.
How do individuals experience the years following that day and how do some Germans move from a focus on everyday and present struggles to a more conscientious look at their country's past. I find it worthwhile considering when talking about memory today that the atmosphere in which Steffen Rudolph and my parents grew up differs profoundly from the one I was born into 35 years after the war.
In our conversation I mention a book about the generation of "Kriegskinder" (war children) born between 1930 and 1945. You can find a shortened English introduction and excerpts online. The full title in German is:
Bode, Sabine: Die vergessene Generation. Die Kriegskinder brechen ihr Schweigen, Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 2004.