I Was There

by Hans Peter Richter, Edite Kroll (Translator)

From winner of Winner of the Mildred L. Batchelder Award for Friedrich and for readers of Number the Stars  and If I Should Die Before I Wake . 

Hans and his friend Gunther, are just trying to get through life with Adolf Hitler being elected in Germany. Gunther's father was against Hitler, but eight-year-olds Hans and Gunther join the SS youth program, and later enter the military, where they are swept away by Hitler's regime.

Genres: History, Holocaust, World War II, Nonfiction, Germany, Childrens, Historical

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Hans Peter Richter (1926–1993) was a German author. Born in Cologne, Germany, went to school in Germany, went to the university of Hannover, and graduated in 1968. He also spent some of his life in the German army. Richter wrote many books for children and young adults. Notable among them is the novel Friedrich (in German Damals War Es Friedrich), about the persecution of Jews in Germany during the Holocaust. Friedrich (published in 1970) was the subject of an American Library Association 1972 ALSC Batchelder Award. -- Richter also published several books on sociology and psychology.

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Horrifying. Not in the content because for the subject matter, it's tastefully done. But in the attitudes of the adults & the way events are seen through the eyes of a young boy who grows to a teen. His sense of naivete about the entire situation is very, very real sounding & there's the horror. It makes the reader feel as though it could happen again and again. The story is told over the course of several years as Hitler rises to power & slowly things change in Germany. The author focuses on several events that happen to him in each year so it's a connected narrative made up of many individual stories. It was riveting & a really great read. My copy is an original paperback edition so the cover doesn't look as slick as the one pictured here. I couldn't find my edition as it has no ISBN. So I can see a modern reader dismissing it out of hand, but I guarantee they would find much to think about after reading it.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wirklich ein erschreckender Einblick in das Leben von 3 Jungen, die während der Machtergreifung Hitlers aufgewachsen sind

[Tineke Geelhoed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessant maar soms moeilijk te volgen.

[Trixi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This follows the lives of 3 boys as Hitler took power in the early 30s through 1943. Hans, Gunther, and Heinz all are growing up in Germany and have decidedly different upbringings. Hans parents seem to be a typical German family, not really for Hitler, but not against him either, and have Jewish friends. Heinz's father is an early member of the Nazi party, and Gunther's father has been arrested for publicly speaking out against Hitler. Hans looks up to Heinz and eventually joins the Jugenvolk so that he can be with Heinz. Gunther does not join up right away and is eventually shunned at school for not belonging. The book is broken up into years and then has little stories that happen each year. As the children grow older, readers learn about how Germany is changing and how the boys are changing as well. Readers get glimpses into the lives of the families and how their thoughts have also changed. The boys eventually join the Hitler Youth and finally become soldiers during the war.

[Eris · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a very emotive story showing a era involving Germany under Hitler's power

[Liesel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ce livre a marqué mon adolescence. Un roman magnifique à faire lire aux adolescents.
L'auteur raconte l'histoire de la séparation idéologique et physique de deux enfants allemands au cours de l'époque hitlérienne. Je tiens à préciser qu'il s'agit d' un récit autobiographique qui témoigne avec précision l'engrenage dans lequel beaucoup de jeunes Allemands se sont retrouvés pris sous le Troisième Reich. L'histoire est vécue à travers l'enfance et l'adolescence.
De 1933 à 1943, le lecteur suit le destin de trois amis : Hans, Günther et Heinz. Les jeunes garçons viennent de milieux sociaux différents. Chacun a reçu une éducation différente et n'ont pas le même caractère, personnalité. Heinz, plaçant toute sa confiance dans les promesses d'Adolf Hitler, rêve de revêtir sa première chemise brune et voir l'Allemagne sortir de son marasme. Günter, en rejoignant les jeunesses hitlériennes, espère ainsi protéger son père, contestataire, de la répression nazie. Quant à Hans (Hans Peter Richter, l'auteur), souhaite juste faire comme ses copains. Pendant dix ans, ils vont se fondre dans le mouvement des jeunesses hitlériennes. Un livre dont je conseille vivement la lecture. La chronologie est parfaite et d'une réalité accablante!

[Sus_my_baka · Rating 2 out of 5]

My rating of I Was There by Hans Peter Richter is a 2/5. I'm giving it this rating because I thought it was quite boring and slow until near the end of the book. One element of this book that I did like is that it was told through the perspective of a German boy as opposed to the usual perspective of a Jewish person in WW2 books.
I thought the book was boring because there were a bunch of boring chapters that shouldn't have been included with boring sentences like "We huddled more into ourselves to better withstand the cold. Each hid behind the other to get better cover from the wind." (59). Another boring sentence that should not have been included is "We sat by the light of one dim bulb. Before each of us lay a mountain of socks" (161).
The only saving grace of this book was that it was told through the eyes of a German kid unlike the usual perspective of a Jewish person in most ww2 books. How I know this is that the author put a not before the book started by saying "I am reporting how I lived through that time and what I saw no more. I was there. I was not merely an eyewitness. I believed-and I will never believe again.
In conclusion, I give this book a 2/5 because it was very boring and slow. The only good thing was that it was told from the perspective of a German kid.

[TJ Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read as far as language as concerned, but given the events of today with echoes of warmongering, it was less than comfortable to see so many comparisons. This book is really cleverly written with three boys (one ultra competent, one just average, and one hopeless) and their various struggles. For me, I found the book ended rather abruptly and it didn’t feel like an ending but maybe three-quarters of the way to a full story. I checked online and could not find a sequel, so it will end with more questions than it answered. Still, a wildly important read.

[Krystal Loverin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book gives you a light insight into time turmoil of being a youth during Hitler's rise to power. I felt like it needed to include more back story within the story instead of the glossary at the back of the book. A good leeway into reading more information about WWII.

[Johanna Bondevik · Rating 4 out of 5]

God og lettlest bok, som gjer et realistisk og usentimentalt innblikk i tysk ungdoms opplæring og involvering i krigen. Ærlige framstillinge av opplevelsa i mange nyansa. På alle måta klassisk «krigslitteratur», men også en varm historie om vennskap og fellesskap.

[Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plus de souvenir

[Elfi Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative read about Hitler Youth. Disappointed with the abrupt ending.

[Ellen Morris · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be honest, this book was a bit boring for me. It was extremely simple and easy to read but I didn’t get the kind of insight into the mindset of a Hitler’s Youth that I would have liked. Maybe part of the literary angle was to keep it in line with the depth a child would have felt about it all anyway, but I still would have liked more insight into their psyche.

[Kyle Pefley · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I Was There”, by Hans Peter Richter, Is a story about a boy growing up during the years before and during World War 2 in Germany. The narrator and his friends join the Hitler Youth and devote their childhood to Germany. The narrator had to decide between doing what he thought was right and what other people thought was right. As the story progresses, he must survive in a world full of hate, nationalism, and discipline.
I would recommend this book who like to read about the time period, but that’s about it. I liked how the book gave a background to the people who blindly followed the ideas of Hitler and were only doing it because it was what they were told. Another thing I liked was how it progressed from when he was a little kid, all the way up to him being a young adult. Something I didn’t like was how the chapters are all separate events with large gaps of time between them. A couple times I found myself confused when it would switch from one event to another. It felt like the book didn’t flow together well.

[Eric The]

So far I had read the book up to page 40. I know that Hitler started off as a nice guy then ended up being a terrible man. So one of themes I think would be cleverness. Another thing is that Hans was suspicious and does not like Hitler from the start. So another one I think would be questioning. Because he makes an assumption that he is a bad man. I also thing there will be another one, judgmental because Hitler thinks that all Jews are bad. I also think that Something bad will happen soon with WWII starting. I would suggest this book to someone who is interested interested in WWII or the Hitler youth.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A companion novel to Richter's Friedrich. Where Friedrich told the story of the friendship between the narrator and his childhood pal Friedrich, this story tells of the narrators compulsory membership in the Hitler Youth.

[Alan Hughes]

I found this childrens' book when I had no book on the go. I was surprised that it was an engaging read which tackles an important subject well. It gives some useful insight into the generation who grew up under Hitler's tutelage.

[Carrie Skelton]

Read this with my 6th grader for his LA class. very interesting and gives a good view into the Hilter Youth.

[Melainebooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

La jeunesse dans les jeunesses hitlériennes d'Hans Peter Richter avec ses deux amis Heinz et Günther.
Roman autobiographique.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

made a big impression on me as a teenager.. keen to track down a copy and see if I still love it as an adult.

[Maeya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Found it a little bit boring to be honest