What is the setting of The Reader by Bernhard Schlink?

In general, the novel is set in post World War II West Germany although the narrator does make one short trip to the United States of America. The setting of West Germany is critical to the success and meaning of the novel as the entire plot development and many thematic elements of the novel are dependant upon the time and location of post-Holocaust Germany. Individual scenes of the novel are set, for example, in a small German town, a university, a nondescript courtroom, and a concentration camp.