In partnership with the Centre for German Jewish Studies at University of Sussex, the ACF London presents this lecture in memory of Vienna-born Evi Wohlgemuth. The 70th anniversary of the conclusion of World War II has spurred renewed attention to the long-lasting legacy of the war both in Europe and the wider world. Paul Betts (University of Oxford) will address the often overlooked topic of magical thinking associated with that fateful year, not least in terms of the international efforts to view 1945 as a chance to get to grips with the war¹s legacy of man-made mass death and destruction on an unprecedented scale.