German Boy: A Child in War
by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel
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Book Summary Information
Author: Wolfgang W. E. SamuelEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-10-16
ISBN: 0767908244
Number of pages: 424
Publisher: Broadway
Book Reviews of German Boy: A Child in War
Book Review: Unsung Heroes - the German Women 1945.
Summary: 5 Stars
"The German Boy." A book by Wolfgang Samuel.
As a 12 year as boy, I also experienced the collapse of Germany in 1945. My family joined the endless caravans of refugees who fled before the advancing Red Army in their treck wagons. When we arrived in the British occupation zone, we encountered catastrophic living conditions. Due to massive bombings of all major German cities and the inflow of millions of refugees, housing, food, and the basic necessities for life were so scarce, that my elder brother and I were sent back to a farm in the Soviet occupation zone. - At least, we did not starve there.
Millions of refugees shared similar fates as the author of this book. - Since many German men had died in battle or had become POWs, most trecks were headed by women. - Even today, they remain the unsung heroes - unrecognized and forgotten.
The author guides us from his tranquil, orderly life as a child into a sudden uprooting - full of hardship and danger.
Some 20 thousand civilians drowned in the Baltic sea when four rescue ships were torpedoed during the winter of 1945. Hundreds of thousands burned alive during allied bombing raids. In total, some 14 Million Germans were ethnically cleansed from their ancestral homes within 2 years after WWII. -
Lacking a viable currency and forbidden to engage in manufacturing or trade by the Allies, Germany's economy had been pounded back into the stone age. - In 1948, the western Allies needed German support for the emerging cold war effort. Only then, repressive measures were relaxed, and the `German Economic Miracle' began. - Again, German women accomplished near-impossible tasks.
A final thought: We seem incapable of learning from the past. - May this book help educate mankind about the immorality and foolishness of war. (See also the book "I Can't Forget" by Gudrun Koppe Everett, ( ISBN 1-4196-5070-X )
Die Flucht 1945: Auch humorvolles gab's ... Der Geldschein.
Im Spaetherbst 1945, damals 12jaehrig, machte sich unsere Familie strafbar weil wir unser "Erntesoll" auf unserem kleinen Hoefchen in Kuehlungsborn (Mecklenburg) nicht erfuellt haetten. - Wir sollten nun im Internierungslager in Ruegen dafuer buessen.
Kurz vor unserer Festnahme konnten wir noch fluechten. - In Luebeck angekommen, wurden wir eine Woche lang im Lager Poeppendorf in Quarantaene gesteckt. Wir hausten in Wellblechbuden (Nissenhuetten).
Unser "Klo" war ein "Donnerbalken" fuer zwei Personen unter freiem Himmel. - Es ergab sich, dass ich "donnern" musste. Mit Beinen baumelnd erledigte ich mein Geschaeft als sich ein aelterer Herr sich neben mich gesellte. Scheinbar in Eile, hatte er kein Papier mitgebracht, und sass nun ratlos da. - Er sprach mich an: "Junge, hast du noch ein Stueck Papier?". - Ich hatte keins .. Daraufhin zueckte er sein Portmonnaie, nahm einen Geldschein heraus, und beendete somit die Sitzung.
In der Grube hinter mir lag er nun - der Geldschein. Es kam mir der Gedanke ihn zu "retten". Aber nein ....
Summary of German Boy: A Child in War
?I think German Boy has all the qualities of greatness. I love the book.? -- from the Foreword by Stephen AmbroseAs the Third Reich crumbled in 1945, scores of Germans scrambled to flee the advancing Russian troops. Among them was a little boy named Wolfgang Samuel, who left his home with his mother and sister and ended up in war-torn Strasbourg before being forced farther west into a disease-ridden refugee camp. German Boy is the vivid, true story of their fight for survival as the tables of power turned and, for reasons Wolfgang was too young to understand, his broken family suffered arbitrary arrest, rape, hunger, and constant fear.
Because his father was off fighting the war as a Luftwaffe officer, young Wolfgang was forced to become the head of his household, scavenging for provisions and scraps with which to feed his family. Despite his best efforts, his mother still found herself forced to do the unthinkable to survive, and her sacrifices became Wolfgang?s worst nightmares. Somehow, with the resilience only children can muster, he maintained his youth and innocence in little ways?making friends with other young refugees, playing games with shrapnel, delighting in the planes flown by the Americans and the candies the GIs brought. In the end, the Samuels begin life anew in America, and Wolfgang eventually goes on to a thirty-year career in the U.S. Air Force.
Bringing fresh insight to the dark history of Nazi Germany and the horror left in its wake, German Boy records the valuable recollections of an innocent?s incredible journey.
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