In the past decade there has been a spate of books focusing on the experiences of Germans at the end of the second world war, particularly the brutality inflicted on women by the conquering Red Army. Such trauma forms the backdrop for Meike Ziervogel’s poignant new novel, The Photographer. As the Soviets advance from the east, as 11 million Germans flee, as the Third Reich falls apart, an ordinary family counts the cost.

The photographer of the title, Albert, starts off as a debonair young man blowing smoke rings as he snaps happy families. Later he is forced to take “heroic” pictures for the Nazis, which include “hanged civilians… and mutilated enemy soldiers”. When he returns home, he refuses to put any film into his once-treasured Leica but wants his son, Peter, to learn how to use it. Bearing witness is too painful and must be left to future generations.

Ziervogel’s own grandmother was given an hour to pack up in the winter of 1945 before she and her sons joined a huge column of people tramping for mile after mile through ice and snow. They never made it back home to Pomerania. Nor did they ever discuss the war and its aftermath. But two generations on, Ziervogel, whose previous novel about Magda Goebbels portrayed her as a real woman, shines a humanising light into the dark spots of her country’s history.

• The Photographer by Meike Ziervogel is published by Salt Publishing (£8.99). To order a copy for £7.64 go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99