Review:
A captivating panorama of the German personal perceptions of the war painted over the background of the Second World War.
By selecting a whole spectrum of German society, the author managed to illustrate what the individuals had thought about the world and events surrounding them at the time.
While Germans were deporting almost half a million from the Wartheland, the participating young German women, whose task was to check that a homestead was vacated cleaned and with all the property inside unbroken, had felt no qualms about doing this.
The most touching for me was a fate of a German Intelligence officer, Wilm Hosenfeld, who worked in Warsaw and rescued some of the Jews, among them Wladislaw Szpilman – a well-known pianist, whose story was presented in movie “The Pianist” a few years ago. Hosenfeld was captured by Russians in 1945 and sentenced to 25 years of hard labour. Despite pleadings from, among the others, Szpilman and the other rescued Jews, Hosenfeld was never released and died in captivity in 1950.
For those who know the events of the Second World War this book provides an additional human dimension of the cruelties of war.
For those who know the events of the Second World War this book provides an additional human dimension of the cruelties of war.
Inspect the whole History Section -->
During the first year of the war 112 German soldiers were executed, nearly all of them for conscientious objection. During the following five years, a further 118 conscientious objectors were executed.
The murder of psychiatric patients in Germany began as soon as war broke out and continued until the very end. It would claim at least 216,400 victims. The catholic bishop of Munster, Clemens von Galen preached on 3 August 1941 against euthanasia.
The Wartheland became a model of colonial resettlement, or re-Germanisation. Some 435,000 of its Polish citizens were deported to the “General Government”. In total, 619,000 Poles were sent there from the new German territories.
Within the first five weeks of Barbarossa campaign 1,447,000 Red Army soldiers had surrounded to the Germans. By winter of 1941 there were 3.2 million Soviet POWs. By February 1942 at least two million Soviet prisoners had perished in German custody.
The 1.9 million Jewish victims came from the Soviet Union, 2.7 million from Poland, 165 thousand from the ‘old’ Reich, 65 thousand from Austria, 78 thousand from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, 76 thousand from France, 102 thousand from the Netherlands, 28 thousand from Belgium, 1,200 from Luxembourg, 758 from Norway and 116 from Denmark.
In March 1943, 1,800 men married to ‘Aryans’ were arrested in Berlin. For the next week the women congregated in the street outside the building in the Rosenstrasse, where they were held. They were eventually released.
Wilm Hosenfeld was a German intelligence officer, who arrived in Poland in 1939. He gave sanctuary to two Jews in the Wermacht sports school he run. On 17th of November 1944, whilst looking for houses for German officers after the Warsaw Uprising, he came upon a well-known pianist, Wladislaw Szpilman. He regularly brought food for him, while the garrison used the lower floors of the building. Hosenfeld was captured and interrogated by NKVD over the next few months. Despite appeals for his release and personal pleading of Szpilman with the head of Polish secret service, Jakub Berman, Hosenfeld was kept in captivity. On 27th of May, 1950, the military tribunal sentenced him to 25 years in a labour camp. In August 1950, Hosenfeld died of a ruptured aorta.
In summer of 1944 there were just under 8 million foreign workers in Reich.
About 17.3 million soldiers served in the Wermacht. The 3.060 million of them entered Soviet captivity. Further, 3.1 million were taken by Americans, 3.64 million by English and 0.94 million by the French.
In Stalingrad, 113,000 German and Romanian soldiers had been taken prisoner. Only 5,000 of them survived.
As the Allies fixed new borders in post-war Europe, the Soviet Union resettled 810,415 Poles and 482,880 Ukrainians.
Notes:
Food rationing was introduced in Germany on 27 August 1939. The clothing cards for the coming year amounted to 100 points. Socks took 5 points, pyjamas 30 and a coat or suit 60 points.During the first year of the war 112 German soldiers were executed, nearly all of them for conscientious objection. During the following five years, a further 118 conscientious objectors were executed.
The murder of psychiatric patients in Germany began as soon as war broke out and continued until the very end. It would claim at least 216,400 victims. The catholic bishop of Munster, Clemens von Galen preached on 3 August 1941 against euthanasia.
The Wartheland became a model of colonial resettlement, or re-Germanisation. Some 435,000 of its Polish citizens were deported to the “General Government”. In total, 619,000 Poles were sent there from the new German territories.
Within the first five weeks of Barbarossa campaign 1,447,000 Red Army soldiers had surrounded to the Germans. By winter of 1941 there were 3.2 million Soviet POWs. By February 1942 at least two million Soviet prisoners had perished in German custody.
The 1.9 million Jewish victims came from the Soviet Union, 2.7 million from Poland, 165 thousand from the ‘old’ Reich, 65 thousand from Austria, 78 thousand from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, 76 thousand from France, 102 thousand from the Netherlands, 28 thousand from Belgium, 1,200 from Luxembourg, 758 from Norway and 116 from Denmark.
In March 1943, 1,800 men married to ‘Aryans’ were arrested in Berlin. For the next week the women congregated in the street outside the building in the Rosenstrasse, where they were held. They were eventually released.
Wilm Hosenfeld was a German intelligence officer, who arrived in Poland in 1939. He gave sanctuary to two Jews in the Wermacht sports school he run. On 17th of November 1944, whilst looking for houses for German officers after the Warsaw Uprising, he came upon a well-known pianist, Wladislaw Szpilman. He regularly brought food for him, while the garrison used the lower floors of the building. Hosenfeld was captured and interrogated by NKVD over the next few months. Despite appeals for his release and personal pleading of Szpilman with the head of Polish secret service, Jakub Berman, Hosenfeld was kept in captivity. On 27th of May, 1950, the military tribunal sentenced him to 25 years in a labour camp. In August 1950, Hosenfeld died of a ruptured aorta.
In summer of 1944 there were just under 8 million foreign workers in Reich.
About 17.3 million soldiers served in the Wermacht. The 3.060 million of them entered Soviet captivity. Further, 3.1 million were taken by Americans, 3.64 million by English and 0.94 million by the French.
In Stalingrad, 113,000 German and Romanian soldiers had been taken prisoner. Only 5,000 of them survived.
As the Allies fixed new borders in post-war Europe, the Soviet Union resettled 810,415 Poles and 482,880 Ukrainians.
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