Having grown up in Germany during the Third Reich - I was nine when World War II ended- I have read obsessively about this subject. The question, " How did it happen"? has perhaps no answer. But this book offers a salutary counterbalance to Goldhagen's one-sided "Hitler's Willing Executioners." How many of us would follow our conscience into such a prison as Franzl, the Jehova's Witness and Conscientious Objector, Fritz Römer, the Socialist, or Erich Friedrich, the author, endured for their convictions? Friedrich was arrested for not giving the Nazi salute, and for making disparaging remarks about Hermann Goering. The government acted legally, because what these prisoners did was against German law at that time. This book shows the American reader, who has no personal experience of a totalitarian regime, what it means to resist such a government.

Once I picked up this book, I couldn't put it down. I was shocked by the plight of Erich Friedrich and his cell mates. A fascinating and intriguing real life story and account of the "Other" side of Germany that we so rarely hear about. I strongly recommend this book. For other readers please let me know of any other books similar to this one.

Thanks

What a fascinating and spellbinding story about seven men thrown into a prison cell by the Nazis for alleged crimes against the Third Reich. Most were executed, but one, the author survived to tell his story. A touching story that's hard to put down once you start reading it. I highly recommend this book.

This book is basically the author's way of exorcising his personal demons. Manz grew up idolizing a man named Adolf Hitler, whom most Germans believed to be a sort of messiah sent to save them from the devastating poverty and national humiliation following the Treaty of Versailles. The book chronicles how Manz (and many other pro-Nazi Germans then) got to believe in the things he did, and his eventual disillusionment with the Third Reich.

Did the German civilians know about the atrocities of the concentration and extermination camps? Over the recent years, this question has loomed large in works concerning WWII in the European theater. Manz can't answer for every German during that period, but he gives us HIS story as an offering to further understanding in this matter.

This book struck a very personal chord with me. Although I was born decades after WWII, I grew up in a country where the press (in fact, every type of media - books, TV, movies, etc.) was heavily censored by the national government. The government told people what to think, what to say, when to assemble, and throws those who defy their orders in jail under the holy name of "national security". As a result, I totally understand how mind-numbing propoganda can be. A population, after all, is merely a collection of individuals living in a state. An individual's morals and personal biases are largely dependent on what information they have available to them. Hitler understood this very well, and with the help of his propoganda minister, Goebbels, managed to shape the thinking of an amazingly large portion of the German population, including the author's.

Manz is all the more convincing because he doesn't get overly apologetic, but does admit that he's not in any way proud of all that he has done (he was a Hitler Youth, and later a soldier in the German army). He feels very strongly for the victims of the Third Reich (the book is dedicated to them), and although he was never in direct contact with any official programs dealing with the "Jewish problem", regrets that he couldn't have done more.

It is very touching to read books by those who were on the "wrong" side of the war, especially those with a sense of morality (however late it surfaced) like Manz. This book is an important reminder to us of how dangerous bigotry can be, especially when it is led by an eloquent and convincing tyrant.

Dr. Bruno Manz has written an honest, searing story of his experiences growing up in the Third Reich with a father who he loved but who was an enthusiastic Nazi. First person accounts of this quality are rare and valuable, giving those of us who are curious as to how a civilized nation like Germany could turn itself into the soulless, mechanistic killing machine it became under Hitler a look at how ordinary people contributed, by omission or commission, to the coming horror. Dr. Manz has more than atoned for his own omissions by writing this excellent, gripping book, which I recommend to anyone interested in this perplexing episode of history.

Over the years I have read several books on Hitler's rise to power and the effects his rule had on the German people and the Jews of Europe. Many, like William Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" approached the subject from a historical point of view while "The Diary of Anne Frank" and "The Hiding Place" dealt with the personal stories of Hitler's victims. In his book "A Mind in Prison", Bruno Manz shows us a new perspective: what it was like for a young boy to grow up in Germany during the Hitler years. In this very personal autobiography, Dr. Manz describes the dominating influence of not only the social order imposed by Hitler but the anti-Jewish prejudice of a father he loved and respected. From his early years at the dawn of the Hitler era, through his time with the Hitler Youth and the German Army, to his disillusionment and subsequent redemption, Dr. Manz recounts his journey with depressing, humorous, and poignant stories. I highly recommend this book not only for those still seeking an understanding of how Hitler could have captured the minds of an entire nation, but also for those who love a well-written, personal story told with passion and compassion.

Resistance of the Heart : Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi Germany by Nathan Stoltzfus is a well written book about the unsuccessful attempt by the Nazi's to exterminate Jews who married Germans of the Christian faith. The fact that the attempt was unsuccessful and that the overwhelming majority of the intermarried Jews were never sent to the death camps and survived the war leaves one with a withering feeling of "what if."

The central thesis of the book is that Hitler and Goebbels worry about the reaction of the Christian spouses led them to refuse to forcibly remove the Jewish spouse. They instead resorted to social pressure to force a divorce, so that the Jewish spouse could then easily be sent to the death camps. The social pressure was unsuccessful not because it was not intense, but because the Nazi's failed to give sufficient consideration to the bond between the spouses and the German antipathy toward divorce.

A central part of the story focuses on the attempt to round up the intermarried Jews in Berlin for transport to the camps. After the round up, but before their transport, they were housed in a building on Rosenstrasse. When word of this got back to the Christian spouses they surrounded the building and refused to leave until their husband or wife was freed. Amazingly, the Nazi's who murdered millions of Jews, Poles, Gypsies and others let thier prisoners go free. Goebbels reasoned that it was better to not force a confrontation with Christian Germans.

What is clear is that the Nazis were extremely concerned about German public opinion and were willing even to ignore their plans for the final solution where it ran counter to the public opinion of even a small part of Germany's populace. The "what if" relates to what would have happened if the greater part of Germany populace had taken the lessons of the Rosenstrasse Protest and attempted to stop the final solution. Certainly the conventional wisdom that they would have been ignored, or worse, must be rethought. In fact, the Rosenstrasse Protest was not an isolated incident, and numerous successful protests altered Nazi behavior. If more Germans, or the Vatican, had learned this simple lesson maybe millions of person would not have perished in the gas chambers of the death camps. It certainly puts to rest the excuse that there was nothing that cold have been done.

The book is very well researched and written. It is well worth reading.

An account of the protest wages by the Protestant spouses of German Jews. Because of the tumultuous emotions of my surviving relatives, so much of this history was never discussed in my home. Now I know that the reason for my grandfather's survival was the protest in which my grandmother participated. This book created a starting point to open discussion with my mother on this part of her life. I found the book so powerful that I am purchasing another as a gift.

This is a remarkable book on an even more remarkable event: the
public protest, in Berlin, in 1943, of the German ("Aryan") women married with Jews against their deportation to the East. A notable history of resistance and courage that saved the life of some seventeen hundred jews by preventing their deportation and by forcing the Nazi leadership to return to Germany a few that had been already deported to Auchwitz.

Very rarely do you have the chance to glimpse into a person's mind, see what one's thinking and what brings this one to doing and acting the way this one does. When you do have this rare chance, it's like having a key to understanding this person, where s/he comes from and where s/he is going.

"Birth of a Tumbleweed" gives us a rare glimpse into a young girl's mind, which is a facinating thing every period of time, but especially when exploring the effects of the darkest years of humanity. Getting to know this unique girl, from the very moments she starts shaping a mind of her own, through the moments she becomes a young woman, until the time she makes her most important choices in life, is not something you encounter everyday.
More than that - her stories, as personal as they are, do not reflect the shaping of a single person, but through her we learn of an entire generation which was raised upon the guilt, shame and destruction the Nazi regime has left behind. We suddenly learn that there's an entire generation which, not by a choice, had to take upon itself the shame of the prior generation's doings, and had to deal with it - both within itself and with the the rest of the world.

This window to the mind of an entire generation is facinating and a glimpse through it is a must for conscientious citizen of our world.

"Birth of a Tumbleweed" is a triumph on many levels. Ms. Perreault reveals the human side of a country emerging from the ashes of WWII. We all know the history...Nazis, War, Occupation, Reconstruction...but what of the individuals that survived, whose families did not, to find themselves alone in a country destroyed and torn in half? And what of the children, born during, or after, the War, that found themselves strapped with the tremendous burden of "collective guilt"?

"Birth of a Tumbleweed" is the gripping tale of a bright-eyed, young woman born into a traumatized family and a world that wanted to punish her. With raw honesty, Ms. Perreault paints her life for all to see. She shares her tale of tragedy, joy, humiliation, absolution, discrimination, perseverance, and personal victory.

"Birth of a Tumbleweed" is the story of a woman and a country, simultaneously struggling to earn their dignity and to stand on their own two feet. It will move you to tears, fill you with hope, bring you face to face with the consequences of guilt and blame in our society, and show you the power or optimism.

Please read and share with friends and relatives, for the story of Inge Perreault is the story all-too-often left untold.

While reading this book, I felt very much a part of the places and events being described. I came away with a better understanding of the German people, their customs, and the hardships they endured in WW2 and during the occupation that followed. It made a strong impression, and shed light, on the permanent devastating effect war has on the noncombatant population. Reading this book was a vicarious experience as I shared the hopes and fears of a little girl caught up in a war that was not of her making. The peace that followed did not end her struggle to survive, but added additional burdens - one being that of Guilt. The entire nation, including the children, felt guilt and shame for the atrocities committed by Hitler and his henchmen. The portion devoted to East Germany living under Communism was very enlightning. Learning what life was like in a Communist society explains why many tried to flee from it. The Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall has much more meaning for me now.
My thanks and appreciation to the author for adding so much to my understanding of another culture and of the long term effects of War. The latter will greatly influence my thinking concerning the present day problem of Iraq and how to deal with it.
This story makes the point that all human beings have a great deal in common, and that all share the same hopes and fears. It was delightful, and came as a great surprise, when learned how a little girls' courage and determination enabled her to achieve a seemingly impossible goal.

This book is the WW2 memoir of a Waffen-SS soldier written while in American captivity immediately following the war. Johann Voss, a pseudonym, is a thoughtful, intelligent young man from a prominent family that joins the Waffen-SS in 1943 out of patriotism and the idealistic desire to protect Europe from Communism. One of his main purposes in writing the book is to counter the evil reputation of the Waffen-SS (deservedly earned by such divisions as Tötenkopf) and show that not all Waffen-SS soldiers were cruel murderers but that some were motivated by quite selfless and altruistic goals.

The book is well written, fast-paced, and quite an interesting read. It is fascinating to see how the soldiers described do not see themselves as evil world-conquering monsters, but rather as noble heroes. It did strike me as a bit too sugarcoated ' the suffering of the soldiers in the cruel winter environment of Finland is not really covered, and the focus tends to be on his positive experiences, rather than the negative. This was obviously written by an idealistic 20-year-old who had not yet been exposed to the horrible crimes of the Nazis and the SS. Still, it is worthwhile to read an account from the other side of the war and learn about their motivations for fighting ' not really that much different from the American boys over there.

A first rate memoir, in which the author crystalizes his wartime experiences and reflections in a direct and thoughtful manner. As the publisher and editorial reviews have stated so well, there is fresh and added-value to this memoir, since it was largely written at the conclusion of WWII. It is free of the 'rationalization' and detachment typical of many memoirs written years later, and largely by the German Officer Corps.

The author addresses a number of the painful questions facing German WWII veterans in general, and Waffen-SS veterans in particular. Although, a number of the reasons cited by the author for his volunteer enlistment in the Waffen-SS, and support for the Nazi regime's war effort, may sound stereotypical, the context and timely record of his judgements transcend these well-worn cliches. The author was able to clearly and concisely translate his personal value system against the backdrop of Nazi Germany, and honestly open his life to the reader's inspection, free of rationalization and ready answers. He draws the conclusion that sometimes there are no answers of 'why' to pressing questions of personal value judgements, but that some values remain constant and must be used to face the future.

In sum, this memoir presents more of a common man's 'thinking' perspective - a middle-class and average German viewpoint. Again, not to be understated, is the value of this memoir as written at the end of WWII, and the honest insight captured within. Read and enjoy!

As noted in the other reviews, this is one of the best war memoirs around, perhaps the best German memoir of WWII. Unlike so many other accounts written only years after the fact, Black Edelweiss was penned within the first years after the war and not originally meant for publication. I suspect the author, with a strong sense of family, wanted to have something to present to his decedents, something that he had completed as a young man still with the full emotion and confusion of the initial bewildering and catastrophic events that were the fate of his generation.

This memoir is interesting on a variety of levels. One is the account of mountain infantry training the author received as a young volunteer for the Waffen SS. Far from politically indoctrinated fanatics, we see an elite military organization preparing men for combat in modern war. I suspect that the emphasis on political and racial indoctrination was more a product of the pre-war years, when the Waffen SS was seen as a force against potential enemies within the Reich, not after say 1941 when large numbers of new replacements were needed to man an expanding number of divisions fighting in foreign theaters of operations. That and the fact that many foreign volunteers, some from ethnic groups lower on the SS pecking order, where filling the ranks of these formations as well. The emphasis went from "elite order of racial Uebermenschen" to "cadre of the common European struggle against Bolshevism". This latter attitude is mentioned by the author numerous times and obviously was one of his main reasons for joining the organization.

On another level is the sociological perspective of various views common among Germans during 1941-3. He sees his own class in school as divided between the idealists and the pragmatists. Some, like the author, saw the war as a personal challenge and were eager to commit themselves, while others saw it as the business of others and hoped to survive the chaos as best as possible, which is hardly the usual view we have of German youth of that time. Interesting in that the author shows us how universal this conflict of views is. One need only think of the attitudes of the generation of young Americans confronted with the Vietnam War and how they reacted, although in some cases in later life only to adopt the opposite view when it no longer required a personal commitment.

So some of us can respect the author's decision to serve his country as a soldier in wartime. But the branch he chose to serve with was the Waffen SS, part of the larger SS, which was to be branded a criminal organization by the Allied courts due to their administration of the Holocaust among other crimes. The author admits the crimes and the guilt of the SS (he found out about the death camps and other atrocities as a POW after the war), but can't condemn all his comrades, most of whom are dead, as criminals in serving a cause which they believed in, which the author never thinks included common knowledge of the criminal character of the SS. It is a quandary for which the author never finds an answer, perhaps because no answer is possible. That the author saw the Nazis as having perverted all the values that his generation had believed in, of destroying his country in a senseless war while pursuing the most inhuman crimes imaginable is tempered by the fact that he doesn't see the defeat of Germany as a liberation. . . See page 133.

The mistake was in not overthrowing the criminal regime themselves, which was a "disgrace", but in having to have their enemies do it for them. Furthermore, the final outcome of the National Socialist swindle was not inevitable, "All the same one lesson is clear: never again must there be any public authority without active popular control". Page 71.

There are others points the author mentions as well such as the belief common in Germany after the First World War that a new movement which would do away with the old distinctions of class and status, create a Volksgemeinschaft, was necessary for national rebirth. Also of special note are his interesting and gratifying comments concerning US troops in action and his description of Operation Birke, the German evacuation of their Lapland Army from Finland to Norway in the fall of 1944, an arduous trek of over 1600 kilometers conducted in good order under pressure from both the Red Army and later the German's former allies, the Finns. I doubt that this unique military achievement of the Lapland Army will ever be repeated.

This book should be of interest to all readers interested in the Eastern Front in World War II, particularly since it is one of the few accounts available of fighting on the Karelian sector, those interested in the history of the Waffen SS or those interested in a sociological perspective of Germany during World War II.

This is not an apologetic memoir, Dorothea von S. Lawson writes in an unsentimental style, recounting details of a life lived during grim, grey times, seen from the other side of the looking glass. If you have ever wondered who the dreaded Hun was, here you will see one portrait of his mother & father, sister & children, & you may be surprised at how recognizable everyone is.

While LAUGHTER WASN'T RATIONED: A Personal Journey Through Germany's World Wars & Postwar Years is a remarkable effort, deeply absorbing & insightful, it could have done with some editing which would have cut out many of the repetitions.

Nonetheless, it is well worth reading, a profound record of the will to survive, the unblinking opinions of a woman who saw the worst & the best of both her own people & others, certainly a treasure deserving of a place in your library.

"Laughter Wasn't Rationed" is a must read for anyone interested in the effects of Nazism and World War II on the German people behind the front lines. Dorthea von Schwanenflugel Lawson tells her story, and that of her family, from the viewpoint of a proud non-Nazi German. Her identification with the best of all things in the German cultural tradition comes through on nearly every page. There is pride amid her struggle and sometimes desperation. Yet she never surrenders to despair and her book is punctuated by humorous little jokes circulating beneath the surface of the Nazi overlords in proof of the power and persistence of the human spirit.

As one who believes that World War II in Europe was, in a sense, a civil war in the West for the soul of Western civilization, I can easily identify with her anti-Nazi German pride. Her book weaves modern German history and her own life story in a unique and compelling way. Seeing Germany through that tapestry makes one realize the importance of American-German relations so that the many strands of mutual friendship spawned by the defeat of Nazism shall ever flourish and grow.

I learned of "Laughter Wasn't Rationed" through a military history discussion group in Alexandria, Virginia. I read it and subsequently heard the author discuss it with the group. She is a spry and lively lady at eighty-seven and a living testament to the gist of her story, endurance and staying power.

I also discovered, in reading the book and meeting her, that we have much in common, Dorthea and I. We have both written about our lives; she in "Laughter Wasn't Rationed" and I about my tribulations as an infantry soldier fighting the Nazis during World War II. We came of age in trying times; she in between-the-wars Germany and I amid the Great Depression in America. Early on in the book I fell in love with the high-spirited young teenager who was once Dorothea Schmidt. She was much like several young women I adored in high school.

As her story progressed I realized that as adults we were both involved, in our own way, in similar struggles for survival against circumstances beyond our control; she among the perils of the Nazi regime destined to lose the war and I, as a combat soldier, determined to be alive at the end. That we were to meet within the pages of this delightful book, as well as in person, was beyond prediction as is most of the fascinating story of "Laughter Wasn't Rationed."

This book is a must for people interested in history and personal experiences you do not find in any textbook. Since I lived in Germany during the war I can identify with Dorothea's writing. It describes so vividly the very positive attitude which enabled people to survive the hard times. I bought over 20 copies for my friends.
Waltraut D. Nelson, Florida

The overwhelming feeling you get when reading this book is the desperate struggle for short term survival. The background is a German city (possibly Cologne) in the first
Days and weeks after the capitulation of the German army in 1945. Every conversation is focused on bread - not even full meals, just slices of bread. The city is bleak and devastated, the characters are transient figures struggling, dazed and nauseous, into whatever the future may hold. Their pasts are briefly mentioned, but the conditions in which they find themselves allow for almost total dislocation from their past lives.

The language of the book is austere, the characters are not clearly distinguishable, the colours mentioned - apart from grey destruction - are greenish and yellowish hazes. These tune in with the bilious, nausea of the characters as they continuously search for food and shelter. Throughout the story each character is portrayed as exhausted, struggling, nauseous.

The novels main character has deserted the German Army in the final days of the war, and under a certain sentence of death for desertion, has assumed numerous identities as he flees. He has, however, promised a dead comrade that he will return a coat to his comrade's widow. A will is discovered in the lining of the coat and this yields an subplot of intrigue and corruption. The main character meanwhile meets and briefly lives with a dazed, tragic woman who has been psychologically damaged by the war.

The novel's main impression is the exhaustion of emotion, the breakdown of society brings about a breakdown of morality and order. Stealing and dishonesty of all kinds are part of daily life, as are small gestures of generosity. In the broken cityscape, there is neither trust nor complete anarchy, just a meandering from one slice of bread to the next. Towards the end of the book , the main character has established a certain routine which allows him to steal coal from trains, which gives him some power to barter.

Boll's austere tale, gives us a view of the amoral aftermath of a societal dislocation. While neither describing nor moralizing, he shows us a set of normal characters and the lives they adopt to survive in the much reduced circumstances.

I am not a book reviewer; nor do I know how to write a good review. But I cannot let it pass without wanting to share this book with anyone who is interested in reading about the human suffereing due to the ravages and results of war. This book describes so well the aftermath of war; the hopelessness; the futility. It is gaudy, despressing, poignant, shocking, realistic. The Silent Angel leaves you, at times, as you are reading, speechless. Sentences that are shocking; that end abruptly symbolising the crudeness of war;

I enjoy reading Heinrich Boll in part because he offers a perspective of WWII through the eyes of an every day German. Most German perspectives of WWII seem to be written by someone who wants you to know that they are one of the "good guys". In his books I have been given a glimpse of what it was like to be on the losing side. In "The Silent Angel" we get a glimpse of what it is like to return to a home that doesn't really exist any more. The vivid depictions in this novella are the works not only of one whose knows of what he speaks, but also of one gifted to tell the world. Boll is no apologist for Germany but he conveys the world as he experienced it. The destruction and the despair are overwhelming but there is hope in the relationship between the common sufferers. Many will read this book in a single sitting but the impressions will last long afterwards.

You won't be sorry if you buy this book. Kurt Meyer delivers an emotional and psychological gem. Meyer's expertise in psychology, classical music and Nazi Germany are beautifully intertwined within the story. Jewgirl is chalked full of such artful description and detail that you will feel like you are right beside the main character, Kitty, sharing in her thoughts, tragedies, and triumphs. I was on the edge of my seat wondering if the next page would bring Kitty the happiness that so long eluded her or if she would be done in by her tormentors. "They Called Her Jewgirl" is the best book I have read in years.

Couldn't put the book down. It's a spellbinder. You'll want to finish it in one night. The life of tragedy one woman endured will leave you with an unforgettable image. An image that will stay with you long after you finish the book. A tragic story written with grace. Very powerful.

This story will make any reader reflect upon what it means to have a "Good Life" and that sometime, a person's destiny has very little to with their actions. I could not put this book down because I wanted kitty to survive and heal. Her journey wasn't over until I completed the last page.

Though the title implies that this is the story of a single bomber crew over Germany in 1943, "Bomber" goes farther - much farther, only starting with the crew of the heavy bomber "Joe for King". Deighton proceeds to cover the families of the crew, other crew members and their superiors before cutting across the channel to the enemy - night-fighter pilots, their controllers in German air defense, various suspicious characters from across the spectrum of Germany's military - from "respectable" Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht personnel to shadowy types from the "Abwehr" and the SS. We also meet the civilian residents of Altgarten, a Ruhr-area town nobody would think of bombing, but which manages to get plastered all the same. It's mid-summer 1943, when "Joe for King" is sent into the Ruhr as part of a massive night-time raid against the industrial centers of Krefeld. Lacking night-vision goggles, RAF pilots drop their bombs on targets marked by flares left by directing aircraft - in this case, specially equipped Mosquitoe night-fighters. When the marking aircraft for the Krefeld raid is shot down too early, its flares are released over Altgarten. This error is compounded by inherent flaws in RAF tactics (like targeting bombs in the center of cities, where bombs are more likely to hit civilian homes than factories and military installations), and the town becomes the unintended target for the massive strike. "Bomber" is to RAF's wartime bomber command what "Traffic" is to the DEA - a story of massive scale borne by wide cast if characters that never stops growing. Deighton doesn't let something meaningless as nationality get in the way of determining who is good or evil (the Germans get the bombs here, but Nazi genocide also gets prominent mention, with plenty of nasty Waffen SS to remind us why people were fighting). On the British side, we see officers acting less like gentlemen than soldiers. Political correctness is the rule (this is the country that gave us "1984"; "Joe for King"'s commander is suspected of incipient Bolshevism - it's very name hints at Stalin). Those who won't fall in line risk being labeled as LMF (Lacking Moral Fiber) - officially branded as cowards. Though books with such a command of detail normally favor the efforts of those they depict, Deighton is uniformly negative on the subject, a tone reinforced by his many subplots. Lambert, "Joe for King's" rebel pilot, plays the best cricket in Bomber Command - leading his odious superior to compel his participation in an upcoming tournament on pain of getting LMF'd. (Worse - the commander puts pressure on Mrs. Lambert after her husband has departed for the big raid). The bombers fly from Warley Fen, a once verdant field seized from its original owners who now stare at the airfield, mourning for what they know they will never have again. In Germany, ADF is managed by August Bach, an aged warrior preparing to marry his young son's nanny, not knowing how her youthful looks have made her the target of vicious rumors through Altgarten. The pilots of a night-fighter squadron (nichtjagdeschwader), preparing for a feared RAF attack on the Ruhr, are thrown into turmoil when Abwehr and Gestapo appear in search of a stolen classifed memo. The memo, it turns out, details hypothermia experiments on concentration camp prisoners (this may be same memo mentioned early in Robert Harriss' superb "Fatherland"). The corrupt assistant to Altgarten's Burgomeister arranges for the downgrading of the town's remaining Jews (from 1/3rd to 2/3rd "Jewishness" - though these jews are even more likely to face deportation and certain death, they will have greater freedom to marry other jews). Altgarten itself is flooded with profiteers funneling goods looted from conquered parts of Russia and the Netherlands. It seems that war is the only thing keeping the world safe because it occupies all the amoral typed who have to fight it. The only morally just adults are the TENO - the civil safety personnel who dig people out of bombed buildings. Because they are stationed in Altgarten, they get the biggest break: when the raid comes, they have the shortest commute. With so much going on, you just know you're bound to miss something. This is the sort of book that speed-readers hate. You'll probably lose count of all the characters that Deighton throws at you, though this doesn't hurt the plot as much as make the book one you'll want to re-read. Be warned - once you pick up bomber, you'll probably be spoiled for any other novel on the war in the skies over Europe.

The best fictional account of the "Other Side's" (German) view of being the "attacked". Mr. Deighton obviously has done his homework in showing how one massive,confused attack on a German town in the Summer of 1943 devastates everyone involved from the British RAF planners and pilots, politicians, and even more the German civilian home front, not to mention just about everyone else on the German side,from the SS,Luftwaffe, to the totally innocent on the ground. When the air raid alarms go off in the ficticious German town to the inevitable,terrifying end, mistakes and all, you know you're reading from a master. The ending is as terrible as you can imagine...

In this meticulously researched and finely-wrought novel, author Len Deighton interweaves the stories of a large cast of characters, German and British, in the hours leading up to a night bomber attack on a fictional Germany city. Due to crew error, a small German town is accidentally bombed by part of the bomber force. The story revolves around the men who fly the heavy British bombers, the men on the ground in Germany who must deal with the carnage of the bombs, and the German airmen and radar men who try to stop the bombers short of their tragic attack. Deighton writes that he read over 200 books to prepare for this novel. He also interviewed many British and German veterans and civilians and flew in most of the planes described in the book. The result is a book that favors neither side but instead focuses on the individual humanity of the characters, with all their strengths and weaknesses. Thousands upon thousands of warriors and civilians on both sides died horrible deaths and in a war that was, without a doubt, hell on earth. Though there is no glory in war, the book is filled with individual acts of selflessness and heroism that elevate the participants above the slaughter. Their heroism is not without great price, though, from the fireman battling the blazes to the British pilot who fights to bring his plane home only to suffer a breakdown, and the German pilot who is being hunted down for disagreeing with Nazi policy. I highly recommend this book. It is a must-read especially for those who desire to learn more about the air war over Germany.

I have always been fascinated by the events of WW II. No other incident in modern history has left us with such a dreadful, and far reaching legacy.
"Born into Turmoil" will offer the English speaking reader something different and fresh. Mr. Lange chronicles his experiences as a child growing up in Germany during the Second World War. Together with Mr. Lange you will experience the dreadful bombing raids, and the daily struggle to survive during an unbearable hardship. The theme which keeps surfacing throughout his book is his families love, and how this love managed to preserve the family through the war.
When the war ends we witness the resourcefulness of Mr. Lange and his family as they try to survive while being threatened with starvation, and roaming hoards of "liberated" criminals. As time progresses we are given an insight into what things were like in post war Germany through Lange's eyes.
No serious student of these times should be without their copy of "Born into Turmoil", It will give the reader a better understanding of the "other sides" story, and a more complete picture of a larger whole.

I just finished reading Bruno Lange's book, Born Into Turmoil.
The book is universally appealing in its portrayal of young boys in search of adventure in a world of chaos and/or peace.
Reading it reminded me of the many stunts pulled by Tom Sawyer as written by Mark Twain.
Bruno gives a refreshing, yet solemn biography of what it was like to grow up as an indoctrinated, Nazi youth. His father was drafted into the German Army as a medic in Poland while Bruno, himself, was drafted into the Hitler Youth movement. Hiding Jews and helping Poles were only a few examples in the book of the kindness of his parents.

Bruno gives examples from a Nazi propaganda book, The Poisoned Mushrooms, in which Jews are depicted as animals and thieves and slaughterers of innocent animals...not to be trusted. One can only imagine the effects it had on the minds of young German youth at the time.
Luckily, with the advance of the Allies into Germany, Bruno's family is captured and re-indoctrinated...able to let go of the hate that was sown into a country so full of beauty and promise.

As a German teacher, I will make it a must read for my students. I feel it is a story they would be able to relate to on a personal level.
Bruno tells of having lied about having appendicitis in order to skip school, and ends up with his appendics actually being removed! He finds a bazooka in the woods and fires it into a tree...knocking him and the tree to the ground and setting the surrounding grass on fire. He is starving for food and invents ingenious ways to feed his family, including making himself potato pancakes. Lacking lard or butter to fry them in, he resorts to using Singer sewing machine oil...only to discover that it turned out quite delicious.

From leaping onto a moving Allied train to steal coal to keep his family warm or bicycling with a buddy across Europe on $3.85, he keeps the reader intrigued and squealing in delightful laughter the whole way through. It took me six hours to read and I recommend it to anyone who wants to see war from the German side.
This is a MUST READ for those who would believe that HATE is the only way to resolve conflict.

Bruno Lange's story of a child caught up in the ravages of WWII and his struggle to survive the deadly bombings and the war's aftermath, will touch your heart and lift your spirits. The account of this young boy's wartime experiences will make you laugh, smile and cry, but is never boring. And like a bird fluttering against the wind, young Bruno's struggle moved him upward and onward. With the strong will and determination of a Rhinelander, Bruno emerges from his wartime experiences a whole person; a person who leaves the normal scares of hatred and resentment behind. Bruno Lange's book, "Born Into Turmoil" will inspire and strengthen all who read it.