In 1943, heavy aerial bombardment destroyed Berlin Zoo and killed most of its animals. But just two months after the end of the war, Berliners had already revived it and reopened its doors and created a symbol of endurance in the heart of a devastated city.

As this episode shows, the Berlin Zoo offers one of the most exotic lenses by which German history can be seen. This very common attraction reflects all the political systems in which it existed: the tyrannical monarchy of the Kaiser, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, and democratic and communist states after 1945.

Gary Bross presents the first English history of the Berlin Zoo since its founding in 1844 until unification In 1990 to zoos in West Berlin and the gardens of East Berlin. In the center of social life in the capital, Berlin Zoo helped shape German views, not only in the animal world but also in the human world for more than 150 years. Due to its enormous reach, the German government used the zoo to spread its political message, from the ethnographic presentation of Africans, Inuit, and other "alien" peoples in the late 19th century to the strange attempts by the Nazis to re-mate to Europe.

cattle. By exploring the intersection between zoology, politics and entertainment, Bruce explains why the Berlin Zoo was the most beloved institution in Germany for a long time: it allowed people to dream of another place, far from a dark reality often.

It is not by chance that the deep connection between the Berliners and their zoo grew during the bloody 20th century. Her exotic and familiar animals - including the elephant's rosette, the hippopotamus, the ivy, the sun, to resemble, even partially, the longing for a better and calmer world..