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Title: The War of Our Childhood: Memories of World War II by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel ISBN: 1-57806-482-1 Publisher: Univ Pr of Mississippi (Trd) Pub. Date: October, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 (5 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Good book-German Children's view of War, Occupation
Comment: I enjoyed reading this book because I am interested in the social aspects of WWII not tactical battle discussions. This book does a good job a telling what happened in post war Germany through a child's eyes... even though the interviewees are now senior citizens.
The extreme hardships and moral dilemmas that faced women and children in an occupied country come to life. The book does an excellent job of illustrating how often women and children become the victims of war. Starvation, begging and rape, become daily events in the lives of once comfortable middle and working class children.
The difference between the kindness of the Americans soldiers and the often cruelty of the Russian forces is a major point. A shortcoming of the book is that no mention (in the narrative) is made of how most Russian soldiers probably came from villages that had been destroyed by Nazi forces (not that this justified their cruelty, but helps to explain it.) Several other books I have read explained how Russian soldiers entering Prussia were shocked at the apparent prosperity of Germany and wondered how they could be so greedy to take over less prosperous Russian land.
The book is well written and worth a read.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good effort not Great
Comment: If you read Samuel's book "German Boy" you just wanted to know more about that time in German history and the people who lived in it. This book is somewhat perfect for it, because as it's premise it is about the German Children of the war. It is an interesting read because you get an insight into what happened during and after the war to the people in the book. They tell many insighful stories and you find out that they were also good people in Germany and not every one was a Nazi. Something every one needs to learn.
Where this book fails really and it could have been avoided by interviewing either more people, making the book shorter or getting different aspect of the life during and after the war and concentrating there; either way, the stories seem to repeat themselves. If you read three interviews of the people in the book, it seems like you have read most of the other interviews. At times you get confused and think you are reading about the same person you read about 50 pages ago but you don't. It's truly understandable that all these people had the same story to tell but better editing and more detalied interviews could have addeed more to the book.
Even though the Map is very helpful another map would have been welcomed that discribed where these people use to live. But the photos in this book are really touching. You learn many things about the postwar year of Germany and how the war never really ended after all the shots were fired. There was still lots of poverty, starvation, and crimes being commmited because you were of a Different Ethinic backround than the people who were now in Control. Much like it was when the Nazi's were in control. The things, specially, what the mothers' did for the children makes them true heroes.
Overall it is a good book but not a great book. It should go along with "German Boy" after you have read the Battle of Berlin because this leads right after that. One of the great quotes of the book is "Do not think about tomorrow because it has not arrived yet, live for today" There are some really touching interviews in this book and if you are interested in the aftermath of the war and about the Heroes after it, read this book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Out of Hardship, Strength
Comment: In his earlier work, German Boy, Wolfgang Samuel related in excruciating and harrowing detail what it was like to be a German child caught up in the final months of WWII, as the American-led forces came into German soil in the West, while the Russians closed in from the East. Caught in between was a German population composed mostly of children and women, clinging to life without the help of their men, trying desperately to stay alive while keeping together what was left of their families. Life itself became a series of mad flights to dodge the crossfire of battle, and then, when the shooting stopped, it became no better, degenerating into a bleak struggle for survival in a ravaged and impoverished land, where the cruelty of the war itself was replaced by a savage and anarchic quest for daily subsistence.
Samuel, now Colonel Samuel, United States Air Force (retired), has given us his own story in German Boy, how he survived and how he eventually found a fulfilling life and career in the US. As he recalled this phase of his life, he realized that he was part of a larger whole, a generation of children who lived through these same horrors of war and yet somehow went on to become normal and productive persons. The War of Our Childhood is his compilation of first-person stories told by members of that generation. In a series of 27 interviews, Samuel lets each tell his or her story, although some were reluctant to be interviewed, to relive those suppressed memories of long ago. The book is organized into three chapters: Those who faced the war directly on the ground; and those who were either displaced by their conquerors from the East or forced to live under them at war's end. Underlying nearly every story is the constant fear of the Russians, whose cruelty and barbarism were whetted by the additional motivation of revenge. This fear and the flight to the West of millions of Germans in the face of the advancing hordes form the single consistent background throughout this period of chaos and displacement.
In nearly every story a kind of indomitable spirit shines through, especially among the women, who somehow kept on going. Some stories are more shocking than others, but one still wonders how the German nation and culture survived such decimation and onslaught. Yet in spite of their violent and deprived start in life, these children persevered, grew up, and went on to build meaningful lives, somehow made stronger for their hardships and experience. Lessons for the reader need not be expressly articulated; Colonel Samuel lets the people speak for themselves. This reviewer, who as a six-year-old fled Pomerania with his mother and younger brother, just one step ahead of the tanks and with shots ringing in his ears, experienced many of these same events. From reading The War of Our Childhood he now comes away both enligtened and a bit saddened, but reminded one more time never to take for granted the good things he enjoys today.
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Title: German Boy: A Child in War by Wolfgang Samuel ISBN: 0767908244 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 16 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Laughter Wasn't Rationed : A Personal Journey Through Germany's World Wars and Postwar Years by Dorothea von Schwanenfluegel Lawson ISBN: 0967383048 Publisher: Tricor Press Pub. Date: 06 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Barefoot in the Rubble by Elizabeth B. Walter ISBN: 0965779319 Publisher: Pannonia Pr Pub. Date: January, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.50 |
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Title: A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 1944-1950 by Alfred-Maurice De Zayas, Charles M. Barber ISBN: 0312121598 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: October, 1994 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich by Alison Owings ISBN: 0813522005 Publisher: Rutgers University Press Pub. Date: March, 1995 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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