THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP discussion

I have recently become interested in reading about the aftermath of WWII, specifically the generation of children in Germany who grew up immediately following the war and their struggle to understand what happened, how it happened, and the role that their parents/teachers/neighbors, etc. may have played in it all.

Does anyone know of a good book that discusses these issues? It can be a narrative, memoir, or regular non-fiction history-type book. I'm just interested in the idea of the next generation having to deal with what had happened in Germany during the war.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Wolfgang Samuel has a couple of books that you might be interested in. Try this one The War of Our Childhood: Memories of World War II

Thank you for the suggestion. I will definitely check this one out. If anyone else has any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Lydia, you should definitely check out After the Reich: The Brutal History of Allied Occupation for overview. I haven't read it yet but have similar works, and this seems to cover the bases well and includes some interesting slants on things (as evidenced by the somewhat misleading title). I believe it covers everyday life as well as the forced repatriations of Ethnic Germans from the East, a topic that many don't know about. Their arrival in immediate postwar Germany put a strain on an already chaotic situation and changed many lives.

Steve

Noa wrote: "Exodus by Leon Uris is a really great book. It is about people trying to escape the internment camps in Cyprus after the war and the effect that the war had on different people. "

Uris had another novel set in Germany during the post WWII occupation.
Armageddon

If I recall correctly, the protagonist is an American colonel married to a German woman or something like that. It's not his best book, but not bad. It certainly fits the description of what you're looking for.

Donster wrote: "Noa wrote: "Exodus by Leon Uris is a really great book. It is about people trying to escape the internment camps in Cyprus after the war and the effect that the war had on different people. "

Uris..."

I recently reread this. The novel opens in 1944 with the planning for the post war occupation. The main protagonist is an American officer who is put in charge of the occupation of a Southern German city and then it move to Berlin during the airlift. The protaginist gets involved with a German woman ( she isn't his wife )during his time in Berlin.

I recently finished a great book looking at post WWII Germany. byFrederick Taylor

I just found a very interesting book only available on Kindle for only $2.99 and has excellent reviews. The Mousetrap. Here's the synopsis which indicates why the story seems to end abruptly:

Ruth Hanka Eigner (1926 - 2010), who eventually immigrated to the United States and converted to Judaism, was one of many Germans living in the Czechoslovak Republic (Hitler's Sudetenland) for nearly a millenium. In "The Mousetrap" -- winner of the 2003 San Diego Book Award for an Unpublished Memoir -- she tells the harrowing true story of her experiences as a young Bohemian woman in the years after the Second World War ended. She tells of the understandable brutality with which she and her family and friends were treated after the Germans lost the war.

She also tells the story of a mother-daughter relationship that, because of the terrible times in which they lived, threatened to kill them both.

At the time of her death, Ruth had nearly completed the next portion of her autobiography, which is currently being prepared for publication.

Sounds like a very interesting book Christie, thanks for posting the details.

I am still relatively new but I do enjoy being part of this group. I wanted to bring something to your attention that you may find interesting. Most Americans and other westerners who fought in the Pacific theater are not aware that most of the Japanese people were deeply grateful to the allied forces, and American occupation forces, specifically, for ending the war and bringing food, peace, and democracy to their country.

My wife, Reiko, was born in Tokyo just after the war and grew up there, moving to the US as an adult after we married. I had been there for three years in the USAF 1969-1972. She wrote her autobiography and published it last March about her experiences growing up in post-war Japan as well as contrasting of the Japanese and American societies. Since publication, she has realized that one of her key audiences is actually American WWII Veterans, especially those who had served in the Pacific.

She has contacted many of them using Google Alerts and through word of mouth. She has also spoken to WWII Veterans’ groups, including many who have been on Honor Flights www.honorflight.org to the WWII Memorial in Washington DC. She has created a two-minute YouTube video directed to them specifically at www.ThankYouVeterans.net. Her goal is to try to reach as many WWII Veterans and their families as possible with this message before August 15, 2015, the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.

It occurred to me that being in this group indicates that you have an interest in WWII and related topics. Therefore, you may find this of interest and possibly even know some WWII Veterans personally. We would like to ask your help in getting this message out to as many WWII Veterans and their families as possible. When Reiko speaks to Veterans, a lot of them come up afterwards to tell her that they have hated the Japanese ever since the war but, after listening to her, they were finally able to find closure and let it go. Usually, these are quite emotional events as you may imagine. She has even ended up with a few pen pals through her efforts.

Oh, and if you are curious, her book, “To America – With Profound Gratitude: My Journey to Freedom and Independence,” is on GoodReads and more information, including excerpts and how she worked through the self-publishing maze, is available on her website at www.ReikoMcKendry.com. Of course, some book sales would be appreciated but we are not getting rich from that and helping WWII Veterans know that what they did, again, specifically in the Pacific and in Japan after the war, was truly appreciated by most Japanese. She heard that message loud and clear from her parents and their generation as she grew up in Japan and wants to get that message to the Veterans. She was surprised to learn that this appreciation by the Japanese people was little known by American WWII Veterans (or other allied Veterans as well).

We would greatly appreciate any help you can provide to get this word out to WWII Veterans while they are still with us.
Thanks,

Dave

A Woman in Berlin.

Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989

Berlin Noir: March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem

All these books I've posted above relate only to Berlin, a city I love and find fascinating. Its history is astonishing, from its foundation to its current position in the heart of Europe (ironically a position Hitler and the Kaiser could only dream about, and one gained through peace rather than war).
I cannot recommend these books highly enough. They are harrowing and frightening, but also filled with hope and the story of triumph over evil.
If you've not read Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther novels I suggest you drop what you're doing and go get them now.

I wonder if you might like this: Berlin Days, 1946-47. It's not the book the author is known for, which is Last Waltz in Vienna, but it is well worth a read.

Mike wrote: "I wonder if you might like this: Berlin Days, 1946-47. It's not the book the author is known for, which is Last Waltz in Vienna, but it is well worth a read."


I'll certainly check that out, Mike. Thank you!

I may well follow up your Philip Kerr suggestion, that sounds like a good read.

I'd be very interested in finding more books about the British sector in the 1940s under the four-power occupation; so far as I know, there isn't much, and it seems to be a piece of history that is little documented.

These looks pretty comprehensive:

by Tony Judt

by Keith Lowe