Witnesses of War

By Nicholas Stargardt,

Book cover of Witnesses of War: Children's Lives Under the Nazis

Book description

Even in this most murderous of European wars, children were not merely passive victims of genocide, bombing, mechanised warfare, starvation policies and mass flight. They were also active participants, going out to smuggle food, ply the black market, and care for sick parents and siblings. As they absorbed the brutal


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Why read it?

1 author picked Witnesses of War as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Nick Stargardt’s Witnesses of War is the kind of book I’d love to write – it’s really one of the most comprehensive and accessible studies of children’s experiences under Nazism out there. The author doesn’t shy away from describing the lives of the Third Reich’s youthful victims in harrowing detail, but he also explores the lives of children who were seduced by the Nazi dictatorship. "In war," he writes, "all children are victims." 

From Helen's list on childhood in Nazi Germany.

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