Witnesses of War Children's Lives Under the Nazis

Paperback (01 Jun 2006)

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Publisher's Synopsis

Witnesses of War is the first work to show how children experienced the Second World War under the Nazis. Children were often the victims in this most terrible of European conflicts, falling prey to bombing, mechanised warfare, starvation policies, mass flight and genocide. But children also became active participants, going out to smuggle food, ply the black market, and care for sick parents and siblings. As they absorbed the brutal new realities of German occupation, Polish boys played at being Gestapo interrogators, and Jewish children at being ghetto guards or the SS. Within days of Germany's own surrender, German children were playing at being Russian soldiers. As they imagined themselves in the roles of their all-powerful enemies, children expressed their hopes and fears, as well as their humiliation and envy.

This is the first account of the Second World War which brings together the opposing perspectives and contrasting experiences of those drawn into the new colonial empire of the Third Reich. German and Jewish, Polish and Czech, Sinti and disabled children were all to be separated along racial lines, between those fit to rule and those destined to serve; ultimately between those who were to live and those who were to die.

Because the Nazis measured their success in terms of Germany's racial future, children lay at the heart of their war. Drawing on a wide range of new sources, from welfare and medical files to private diaries, letters and pictures, Nicholas Stargardt evokes the individual voices of children under Nazi rule. By bringing their experiences of the war together for the first time, he offers a fresh and challenging interpretation of the Nazi social order as a whole.

About the Publisher

Pimlico

Pimlico

Established in 1991 Pimlico has become leading paperback publisher of specialised, award-winning, high-end non-fiction. Areas of interest cover Politics, for example Bernard Donohue?s Downing Street Diaries Art, such as John Richardson?s prize-winning biography of Picasso Biography, for example Norman Sherry?s 3-part acclaimed biography of Graham Greene, and History, with authors such as Gillian Tindall, Charles Freeman and Anthony Read. Readable, informative, entertaining and important, Pimlico ? with its easily recognizable spines and innovative design ? publishes books that matter.

Book information

ISBN: 9781844130856
Publisher: Random House
Imprint: Pimlico
Pub date:
DEWEY: 940.53161
DEWEY edition: 22
Language: English
Number of pages: 509
Weight: 384g
Height: 197mm
Width: 129mm
Spine width: 34mm