Book about German life during WW2?

[Savoir Faire]

I'm teaching a homeschool co-op class in the spring about the Holocaust. I am going to have a "suggested reading" list to go along with the class.

I've been able to find books about the rescuers and those persecuted during the Holocaust...but not anything about German life.

Anyone have a good idea? This needs to be for ages ten and up. Thanks!

[Caneel]

I have one but I can't remember the title. I will look tonight and post.

It was written by a young woman living in Berlin during the war and does describe living conditions and how they got by day to day. I do remember some parts about the Russian soldiers being a bit graphic. She eventually married an American solider and moved to the US.

[KYCat]

Are you looking for non-fiction or fiction? If fiction is OK I really recommend that you read The Book Thief and see if it would be OK for your readers. It might be too much for 10 year olds but my book club read it recently and we all loved it. It's narrated by "Death" and 550 pages which as I type this clearly make it seem like too much for 10 year olds, but the main character is a girl who probably goes from about 10-14. You obviously know the kids in your co-op and would know if this would work for them or not. It's a good excuse to read a good book. )

[Caneel]

The book info:

From the Horrors of World War II to a Great Love Story by Edith V. Landis, published by Trafford Publishing.

ISBN 1-55395-652-4

It is 143 pages and mostly covers her childhood and young adulthood during WWII.

I would think 10 and up would have no problem reading it as it was written by the author, who is not a professional writer. (meaning it is rather basic and easy to read with pictures and inserts of documents and such.

There is a reference to assults on German women by the Russians, the descriptions are not graphic but it does mention rape and assaults as part of the dangers of living in Germany at the end of the war and the occupation until the Americans got settled in her part of Berlin.

My dad got it for me. He was a child in Germany during WWII and many of the places described in the book where neighborhoods where relatives lived and places I had visited with him in our travels together. Knowing the relatives and the limited information they have shared, I think the book is a good representation of everyday German life during that period.

I also PMed you about a possible source for obtaining a copy.

[kangamitroo]

it's not.... German life, but do you have The Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene on your list? i remember being powerfully moved by this book. a jewish girl befriends a german who escapes a prisoner camp in her town in Arkansas. it does a lot to show that whichever side we fight on we are all humans and suffer. I have not read it in a while, but it came right to mind and I wanted to mention it.

i have not read it, but Hans Peter Richter has written I Was There about his experiences in the Hitler youth movement. that may have insights into daily life (and certainly lessons about following the crowd).

[BookGoddess]

How about Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi? It's set in Germany pre, during, and post WWII.

[calpurnia]

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr

The Silver Sword by Ian Serrailier (actually set in occupied Poland)

Tug of War by Joan Lingard

i just did loads of googling trying to track down a book i remember being very moved by, set in berlin. the author's first name was elizabeth - maybe. can't track it down!

[ASusan]

German Boy

[maryeliz]

I would second German Boy as a great book. I know at least one German history professor who uses it in her classes. For high school aged students I would highly recommend it; however, for a ten-year-old student it might be too intense.

[ollyoxenfree]

I have been trying to recall the title of a book that I read and re-read when I was a tween, but so far no luck. If anyone can help, it's set in Germany and the protagonist is a teen girl and her friend Miriam (or perhaps Miryam?) is Jewish. IIRC, the non-Jewish girl becomes involved in the Resistance.

My search for the book did turn up this list, which may interest you:

http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/photopr.../worldwar2.asp

[Amaranth]

Originally Posted by Caneel

I have one but I can't remember the title. I will look tonight and post.

It was written by a young woman living in Berlin during the war and does describe living conditions and how they got by day to day. I do remember some parts about the Russian soldiers being a bit graphic. She eventually married an American solider and moved to the US.

That is "Those Who Save Us", by Jenna Blum - an excellent book, but with a lot of disturbing parts - graphic violent abusive sex, and random violence (even apart from the Holocaust deaths).

One that is better for older kids (though I'm thinking YA, say 14+, and still not right for a 10 y.o.) is Marcus Zusak's "The Book Thief".

Lois Lowry's "Number the Stars" is incredible, perfect for younger kids, but it's set in Denmark.

[lach]

This book is not in print anymore, but it's really interesting. It goes with a documentary that you might be able to find. It's a book for grownups, but it has a lot of pictures and would be accessible to junior high aged kids, I think.

http://www.amazon.com/Nazi-Women-Hit...6161118&sr=8-4

[MissMommyNiceNice]

OH, it's for 10 year olds. I probably wouldn't recommend The Tin Drum, then. It was almost too much for me in college. But it is considered the quintessential literary work regarding the war.

[Theoretica]

Escape From Warsaw

[ribbon]

I read this a few years ago, and it was really very interesting. One thing that would be disturbing for ten year olds is once again the description of the Russian occupation of Berlin, as they basically set out to rape the city. Eleanor's Story: An American Girl in Hitler's Germany by Eleanor Ramrath Garner

From amazon-

One of Garner's haunting childhood memories is the sound of knocking coming from the rubble of newly bombed buildings in Berlin, where she and her family spent the war years. She feared the sound was from doomed victims signaling for help, which could not get to them in time. In this stunning memoir, Garner tells the survival story of civilians in Hitler's Germany, desperately hoping to avoid the wrath of the Gestapo during the war, then facing the cruelty of the postwar Russian occupation. On the eve of World War II, Garner's German-born parents went against the advice of family members and emigrated from New Jersey to Berlin with their two school-age children to enable Mr. Ramrath to take a tantalizing, two-year job offer. Readers follow Eleanor's difficult adjustment to German classrooms, her close and supportive relationship with her slightly older brother, Frank, and her loving but often strained relationship with her parents. As the political scene worsens, the family is plunged into horror, and two years stretches to seven. Not being supporters of Hitler or the Nazi Party, the Ramraths and non-Jewish citizens like them had to be constantly on guard against suspicions of disloyalty. They are dimly aware of the larger Holocaust unfolding around them. This powerful coming-of-age tale is told with intensity and also the freshness of teenage years remembered: there are repeated brutal bombings and countless brushes with death; there are also friends, holiday celebrations, and two babies born to the family during the war, who engage Eleanor's love and protection. There's also a much anticipated return to the U.S. It all coalesces into a must-have memoir about an aspect of wartime survival not often written about in children's literature.

I can't remember reading much that would be really appropriate for ten year olds and teens both, because you're really straddling a line between kid and adult with those ages.

[ribbon]

Hmmmm...another memoir that would be easier for kids to read is On Hitler's Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood by Irmgard Hunt.

Again from amazon:

Hunt, a former executive of various environmental organizations, currently resides in Washington, D.C. She was born and raised in Berchtesgaden, a Bavarian village at the foot of Hitler's mountain retreat, the Eagle's Nest. At the age of three, she was embraced by Hitler on one of his periodic forays into the village. Hunt was only 11 when the war ended, so the "eyewitness" account cannot provide much personal insight into life under the Nazis. However, this is primarily a family memoir in which Hunt, through the experiences of her parents and grandparents, tries to explain (but not justify) why "moral and honorable" Germans tolerated or even supported the Nazis. Her parents, traumatized by the rampant unemployment and hyperinflation of the interwar years, saw in Hitler a hope for stability and regeneration. Despite the protestations of her staunchly anti-Nazi grandfather, Hunt's parents closed their eyes to the deepening depravity. Hunt's later recollections of life under occupation and her personal struggles to cope with the legacy of her parents' generation make this a poignant, valuable account.