Germany During and After World War II (I)

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Jennifer Szalai, Sifting Through the Rubble of Postwar Germany; Recounting a nation that was starting anew, yet still clinging to delusions about its past. New York Times, Jan 10, 2022, at page C6 (C is "Arts" section)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/ ... -harald-jahner.html
(book review on Harald Jähner (translated from German by Shaun Whiteside), Aftermath; Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955. Alfred A Knopf, publication date: 01/11/2022)

Note:
(a) from Dictionary of American Family Names, by Oxford Univ Press.
(i)
(A) The German surname Jähner is "from a derivative [the -er suffix] of the personal name Johann(es) (see John).
(B) Harald Jähner
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Jähner  
(1953- ; PhD)
(ii) The English and  Scottish surname Whiteside is "probably a habitational name from any of various minor places named Whiteside, from Old English hwit white + side slope (of a hill)."
(iii)
(A) Alfred A Knopf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_A._Knopf  
("was founded in 1915 by Alfred A Knopf Sr along with [his wife] Blanche Knopf [in Manhattan; the couple were native-born Americans] * * * was acquired by Random House [presently Penguin Random House, whose parent is Bertelsmann (established in 1835 by Carl Bertelsmann in Gütersloh, which is still its headquarters] in 1960)

A city of 100,000 inhabitants, Gütersloh is 150 miles north of Frankfurt -- and Stuttgart, 80 miles south of Frankfurt (both air-distance).
(B) The German and Jewish surname Knopf (also (also Knöpf): "from Middle High German knopf [yes, lower-case k] button, modern German [noun masculine] Knopf, hence a * * * name for a maker of buttons"


(b) " 'No one was a Nazi,' the journalist Martha Gellhorn wrote about the end of World War II in Europe, mordantly recalling how all the Germans she met insisted they * * * The original German title was 'Wolfszeit,' or 'Time of the Wolf.' The postwar Germans were fond of animal metaphors. * * * A recent book by Volker Ullrich, 'Eight Days in May,' minutely chronicled what happened in the days between Hitler's suicide [on Apr 30, 1945] and the Wehrmacht's unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945 * * * Trümmerfrauen * * * the photographs of them [Trümmerfrauen] in their aprons and kerchiefs, surrounded by ruins * * * Cologne;s Cardinal Josef Frings felt moved to tell Germans that they could put the commandment of 'thou shalt not steal' into perspective; they could take what they needed in order to survive. The German language adjusted accordingly, with people calling theft Fringsing, as in 'I Fringsed the potatoes.' "
(i) Martha Gellhorn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Gellhorn  
(1908-1998; American)
(ii) English dictionary:
* mordant (adj; late 15th century from French, present participle of [Modern French has same spelling, too] mordre to bite, from Latin [transitive verb] mordere [to bite]): "(especially of humor) having or showing a sharp or critical quality; biting  <a mordant sense of humor>"
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/mordant
(iii) Wolfszeit was published in 2019 by Rowohlt Berlin (Rowohlt being founder's surname), a division, along with Macmillan, of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group (established by Georg von Holtzbrinck in 1948; based in Stuttgart)
(iv)
(A) book:
Volker Ullrich (translated from German by Jefferson Chase), 'Eight Days in May; The final collapse of the Third Reich. Liveright/Norton, Sept 7, 2021.
(B) The English surname Chase: "for a huntsman * * * from Middle English chase hunt (Old French chasse, from chasser to hunt, Latin [vern] captare [catch]).
(C) chase (etymology)
https://www.etymonline.com/word/chase   
("c 1300, chacen to hunt * * * from Old French chacier * * * Meaning 'run after' for any purpose developed mid-14c")
(v) Trümmerfrauen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trümmerfrau
(vi) The words Fringsing and Fringsed -- both following English, not German, grammar and appearing in English language only (past tense "fringst" in German) -- are word plays with the bishop's surname.

(c) German-English dictionary:
* Gemeinschaft (noun feminine; from gemein +‎ -schaft): "community, collective, syndicate, consortium"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gemeinschaft
   ^ gemein (adjective): "(somewhat dated) having a characteristic in common"
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gemein
* Trümmer (noun masculine, plural of Trumm -- but always used in plural form)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Trümmer
* Frau (noun feminine), plural Frauen): "woman"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Frau
(The English noun woman is from Old English noun masculine (yes, masculine!) wīfmann woman "a compound of wīf ('woman,' whence English wife) +‎ mann ('person,' whence [Modern] English man). For details on the pronunciation and spelling history, see the usage notes below [in the Wiktionary page]."
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/woman
)