William L. Shirer didn’t mince words, and we won’t either.

In End of a Berlin Diary, Shirer shows us what postwar Germany looked like—not through rose-colored history books, but straight through the smoke and rubble. From July 1944 to the Nuremberg Trials, he watched the Nazi regime collapse. He saw Hitler’s dream die. But here’s the kicker: most Germans didn’t shed a tear for the victims. They cried for themselves.

They weren’t angry about the death camps or the bodies stacked like firewood. They were angry the Allies made them pay for it. Shirer heard it over and over: “We lost everything. Look what they’ve done to us.” Not a damn word about what they did to the world.

They followed Hitler into hell, every step of the way. And when it all burned down, they wanted sympathy. Shirer didn’t buy it. Neither should you.

He sat through the Nuremberg Trials. He listened to the monsters defend themselves. He watched the truth come out in black-and-white evidence. And still, Germany didn’t want to look in the mirror. They didn’t want justice—they wanted the pain to stop. Their pain.

This isn’t just a story about 1945. It’s a warning for every country, every voter, every citizen too quick to follow a strongman just because he makes them feel powerful. If you follow someone who scapegoats, dehumanizes, and destroys, you don’t get to play the victim when it ends in flames.

So here’s the bottom line:
If you only feel bad because you lost, not because you were wrong, you’re not sorry. You’re just bitter.

And that’s what Shirer saw. Not a nation learning from its sins—just a crowd mad they couldn’t get away with it.