The year of vengeance: How neighbours turned on each other as anarchy erupted in Europe in the aftermath of WWII

Just imagine living in a world in which law and order have broken down completely: a world in which there is no authority, no rules and no sanctions.

In the bombed-out ruins of Europe’s cities, feral gangs scavenge for food. Old men are murdered for their clothes, their watches or even their boots. Women are mercilessly raped, many several times a night.

Neighbour turns on neighbour; old friends become deadly enemies. And the wrong surname, even the wrong accent, can get you killed.

It sounds like the stuff of nightmares. But for hundreds of millions of Europeans, many of them now gentle, respectable pensioners, this was daily reality in the desperate months after the end of World War II.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2119589/The-year-vengeance.html