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The Boy Who Went to War: The Story of a Reluctant German Soldier in WWII Hardcover October 11, 2011
A powerful and true story of warfare and human survival that exposes a side of World War II that is unknown by many— this is the story of Wolfram Aïchele, a boy whose childhood was stolen by a war in which he had no choice but to fight. Giles Milton has been a writer and historian for many years, writing about people and places that history has forgotten. But it took his young daughter’s depiction of a swastika on an imaginary family shield - the swastika representing Germany - for Giles to uncover the incredible, dark story of his own family and his father-in-law’s life under Hitler’s regime.As German citizens during World War II, Wolfram and his Bohemian, artist parents survived one of the most brutal eras of history. Wolfram, who was only nine years old when Hitler came to power, lived through the rise and fall of the Third Reich, from the earliest street marches to the final defeat of the Nazi regime. Conscripted into Hitler's army, he witnessed the brutality of war - first on the Russian front and then on the Normandy beaches.Seen through German eyes and written with remarkable sensitivity, The Boy Who Went to War is a powerful story of warfare and human survival and a reminder to us all that civilians on both sides suffered the consequences of Hitler’s war.
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First published February 1, 2011
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About the author
Giles Milton
40 books584 followersBritish writer and journalist Giles Milton was born in Buckinghamshire in 1966. He has contributed articles for most of the British national newspapers as well as many foreign publications, and specializes in the history of travel and exploration. In the course of his researches, he has traveled extensively in Europe, the Middle East, Japan and the Far East, and the Americas.
Knowledgeable, insatiably curious and entertaining, Milton locates history's most fascinating—and most overlooked—stories and brings them to life in his books.
He lives in London, where he is a member of the Hakluyt Society, which is dedicated to reprinting the works of explorers and adventurers in scholarly editions, some of which he uses in his research. He wrote most of Samurai William in the London Library, where he loves the "huge reading room, large Victorian desks and creaking armchairs". At home and while traveling, he is ever on the lookout for new untold stories. Apparently he began researching the life of Sir John Mandeville for his book The Riddle and the Knight after Mandeville’s book Travels "literally fell off the shelf of a Paris bookstore" in which he was browsing.
Copyright BookBrowse.com 2007
Knowledgeable, insatiably curious and entertaining, Milton locates history's most fascinating—and most overlooked—stories and brings them to life in his books.
He lives in London, where he is a member of the Hakluyt Society, which is dedicated to reprinting the works of explorers and adventurers in scholarly editions, some of which he uses in his research. He wrote most of Samurai William in the London Library, where he loves the "huge reading room, large Victorian desks and creaking armchairs". At home and while traveling, he is ever on the lookout for new untold stories. Apparently he began researching the life of Sir John Mandeville for his book The Riddle and the Knight after Mandeville’s book Travels "literally fell off the shelf of a Paris bookstore" in which he was browsing.
Copyright BookBrowse.com 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
February 13, 2012
I have probably given all of Giles Milton's books five star ratings due to the fact he happens to be one of my favorite authors. This is the latest book by the English writer and historian. It is the story of his father-in-law Wolfram Aichele who was a German conscript during the second world war. Today, he is eighty-six and lives in Paris. He survived both the eastern and western fronts and was a prisoner-of-war. The story is so well-told and intriging from the standpoint of a young reluctant conscripted soldier whose interests were in the arts and nature and anything but war.
September 30, 2022
I would have given this book five stars: for its readability as a history of the Nazi period, incorporating facts with stories of peoples’ lives; for the way it reads as a narrative, with a narrative arc of several characters’, opps peoples’ lives; for the distinct voices and creation of people that come through; for how it shows how ordinary people become caught up in totalitarian regimes, or the “Mephistophelian nightmare”.
I haven’t given it five stars because there’s a splinter of apologist to the book. OK, I haven’t had the misfortune of living in a violent totalitarian regime, I’m not particularly politically active in defending democracy (aside from being an active unionist, a debater/challenger with family, friends and colleagues, a commenter on newspaper articles, a strident voter and defender of mandatory voting in Australia as part of our defence and cost of democracy, an occasional marcher at rallies). And yes, I know that to speak up in the Nazi era was to invite swift retribution. But the lack of remorse afterwards! Similar to how my Oma would say, when the conversation about Hitler highlighted his mass murder, “That’s enough talk about that.” Way to shut conversation when it becomes uncomfortable, Oma!
Full or partial disclosure: my step-father’s father was an SS officer. My step-father would never talk about him. My German cousin says no one in the family would talk about him. They hated him, apparently - a violent, cruel father. My mother was born in 1938 - her parents were not in the party - lower working class who were evacuated to the country - never had any power and avoided all politics.
I haven’t given it five stars because there’s a splinter of apologist to the book. OK, I haven’t had the misfortune of living in a violent totalitarian regime, I’m not particularly politically active in defending democracy (aside from being an active unionist, a debater/challenger with family, friends and colleagues, a commenter on newspaper articles, a strident voter and defender of mandatory voting in Australia as part of our defence and cost of democracy, an occasional marcher at rallies). And yes, I know that to speak up in the Nazi era was to invite swift retribution. But the lack of remorse afterwards! Similar to how my Oma would say, when the conversation about Hitler highlighted his mass murder, “That’s enough talk about that.” Way to shut conversation when it becomes uncomfortable, Oma!
Full or partial disclosure: my step-father’s father was an SS officer. My step-father would never talk about him. My German cousin says no one in the family would talk about him. They hated him, apparently - a violent, cruel father. My mother was born in 1938 - her parents were not in the party - lower working class who were evacuated to the country - never had any power and avoided all politics.
August 2, 2016
Remembrance of an artistic boy, born in 1924 in a small Bavarian village, and drafted into the German army in 1942, who survived, by luck. The same for the rest of his family. But the details of the Nazi's gaining power and the impact of war time life, especially on all civilians, is always an important story to read again and never forget.
March 2, 2015
Well told story mainly of Germans who hated national socialism and Hitler, but "wanted to preserve their own lives. They had young children to protect; they were scared of the Gestapo. They did not want to end their days in Dachau."
October 30, 2025
I was killing time in the Kirkwood library before an appointment and happened to spot this book, so glad I did. I had not previously read a World War II book written from the German perspective, the main character being a gentle peaceful youth who only wanted to be an artist and was dumped right into the shit storm. The book was written by his son-in-law who was already an accomplished author, and was difficult to read in sections because of the hardships and horrors inflicted all throughout Europe including the German citizenry. And, like pretty much any World War II book you pick up, the Nazi leadership were cruel, barbaric assholes. The book begins around the time of the Great Depression and helps explain why the nut job Hitler was so appealing to normal Germans, helped them feel pride and a sense of hope for the future until of course things turned out about as badly as you could imagine.
June 6, 2024
Wolfram Aïchele and his family lived in the small village of Eutingen just three miles outside Pforzheim. The author of his biography is actually his son-in-law, and that intimacy is reflected in the retelling of Wolfram's life.
Born in 1924, Wolfram was two years older than my mother, who grew up in Pforzheim, and would have shared some of the same experiences growing up. It was fascinating to read what life and the rise of Hitler was like for the Jews in Pforzheim, what the locals knew about what was going on (both with the Jews and with the war itself), how Hitler Youth became established there, and what rationing during the war was like. Wolfram was drafted into the army, where he served as a radio operator. He almost died of diphtheria but was sent back to the front after his recovery, ending up in Normandy during the D-Day Invasion. After his surrender, Wolfram experienced a series of POW camps, eventually landing in one in Oklahoma, of all places.
Of particular interest to me was the powerful telling of the bombing of Pforzheim, perhaps the best description I've read (although only a couple of chapters in the book). Also, a chapter or two describes the grueling first few years after the war when there was no food and little housing. It was a powerful, emotional read for me as I thought about my mother's experience.
This is a great book to get a little bit more of the average German person's point of view about the pre-war through post-war years in their country. There were many things that I did not expect, and others that I had already heard from my mother.
Born in 1924, Wolfram was two years older than my mother, who grew up in Pforzheim, and would have shared some of the same experiences growing up. It was fascinating to read what life and the rise of Hitler was like for the Jews in Pforzheim, what the locals knew about what was going on (both with the Jews and with the war itself), how Hitler Youth became established there, and what rationing during the war was like. Wolfram was drafted into the army, where he served as a radio operator. He almost died of diphtheria but was sent back to the front after his recovery, ending up in Normandy during the D-Day Invasion. After his surrender, Wolfram experienced a series of POW camps, eventually landing in one in Oklahoma, of all places.
Of particular interest to me was the powerful telling of the bombing of Pforzheim, perhaps the best description I've read (although only a couple of chapters in the book). Also, a chapter or two describes the grueling first few years after the war when there was no food and little housing. It was a powerful, emotional read for me as I thought about my mother's experience.
This is a great book to get a little bit more of the average German person's point of view about the pre-war through post-war years in their country. There were many things that I did not expect, and others that I had already heard from my mother.
January 25, 2013
The Boy who went to war is one of the finest true stories about how ordinary Germans coped with the rise of Nazism and the second world war.
The author traces Wolfram's childhood in a happy artistic home in South West Germany (near the Black Forest)and, with some small cultural difference, this is no different from most countries in Western Europe. The creeping menace of Nazism is illustrated not with innocent people being dragged off to concentration camps but with the growing control of people's everyday lives by the state.
When Wolfram goes to war, the full horror of the Eastern Front becomes evident, not so much through the action, but the atrocious conditions - hunger and disease - that formed most of their daily lives. Wolfram's colleagues are, like him, conscripts, and do their utmost to maintain some degree of dignity in the face of the horror of war 'my country, right or wrong.'
The action takes place in Normandy, in the immediate aftermath of the D Day landings, and is terrifyingly described.
The finest chapter in a book full of gripping story telling, is the one that deals with the firebombing of Pforzheim, Wofram's home town. Of course, the Nazis did it to the Poles, the Dutch and the British who retaliated by bombing, amongst others, Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Dresden and Pforzheim. But reading Milton's description of the RAF's raid on Wofram's home town, made me convinced for ever that there cannot ever be any justification for the indiscriminate bombing of civilians, whatever the provocation.
A superlative book.
The author traces Wolfram's childhood in a happy artistic home in South West Germany (near the Black Forest)and, with some small cultural difference, this is no different from most countries in Western Europe. The creeping menace of Nazism is illustrated not with innocent people being dragged off to concentration camps but with the growing control of people's everyday lives by the state.
When Wolfram goes to war, the full horror of the Eastern Front becomes evident, not so much through the action, but the atrocious conditions - hunger and disease - that formed most of their daily lives. Wolfram's colleagues are, like him, conscripts, and do their utmost to maintain some degree of dignity in the face of the horror of war 'my country, right or wrong.'
The action takes place in Normandy, in the immediate aftermath of the D Day landings, and is terrifyingly described.
The finest chapter in a book full of gripping story telling, is the one that deals with the firebombing of Pforzheim, Wofram's home town. Of course, the Nazis did it to the Poles, the Dutch and the British who retaliated by bombing, amongst others, Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Dresden and Pforzheim. But reading Milton's description of the RAF's raid on Wofram's home town, made me convinced for ever that there cannot ever be any justification for the indiscriminate bombing of civilians, whatever the provocation.
A superlative book.
August 17, 2011
Brilliant, insightfull. Many times I stopped reading just to collect myself. Left me with a deep sense of appreciation of the current peace we enjoy, the price paid and just the lives lost and the lives that were disturbed. Very educational especially about the world and what it looked like pre, during and post world war 2. It was an honest account, nothing heroic but something really exceptional.
February 9, 2018
The Disease of Hitlerism and its MANY malign Manifestations gradually asserted itself ,
until like a heavy suffocating blanket it had managed to cover even the most private and secluded locations that made up the Nation of Germany.
Those who hoped and expected to ignore, make themselves not obvious, decline without fuss to participate in Nazi events, were soon to realise that it would not be so simple or easy to carry on with a Safe Parallel Existence. Those who refused to join the National Socialist Family found that other methods, ways of co-existence would not do, that participation was inevitable, the only way to stay safe and alive. Rubbing shoulders with keen and fanatical Germans could not be avoided...from schools attended to armed combat to what books you read and what art you prized, to shopping in Jewish shops, going to your Jewish doctor, having Jewish friends or a Jewish spouse - a Stand was demanded, expected...toeing the Line was a Must.
Not to belong was nothing less than a Crime.
The provincial market town of Pforzheim in the northern part of Baden was a charming, thriving , rich but insignificant place. Those who people this story lived there. None were spared the Burning of books (1933) not approved of by the New Government. Their Jews were suddenly vilified and any association with them soon tabu. One could not trust...anyone really. Pforzheim's Jews were being deported as early as October 1940. What you did or failed to do became a matter to be pointed out by both friend and foe. The old town had been dragged well into the Whirlwind. No one was immune or safe. To participate was essential. Clubs, Groups, Associations from Butchers to Religious to Young people with sport, health and radical jazz music, whatever their title, membership or purpose might soon find that their existence was totally tied in with Nazi Government rule and their group dissolved or penalised...even executed.
Yet some changes came late AND forcefully.
Pforzheim was among cities which fell into the lowest of five categories potentially targeted as a candidate for bombardment. Its watch-making industries fell under suspicion of being used to produce precision weapons. Now on the 23 February 1945, 379 aircraft carrying almost half a million high-explosive bombs created a firestorm with a staggering temperature of around 1,600 degrees centigrade. Metal beams and girders turned liquid.
People in underground bunkers in the city's centre died of heat and smoke en masse , many reduced to small piles of ashes. 17,000 people had perished.
Pforzheim had become a Sister City to Dresden.
This is a rivetting book simply and clearly told.
Rivetting because of the huge number of people who never embraced Hitler's outrageous, immoral and cruel policies - People from all walks of life and of every age group. Fanatic and Humanist fought along side each other in the Cause of Germany; in the effort to save and protect the Jews, although how many ever really knew their unbelievable Fate. Many came from Pforzheim, young and old , male and female. They did not see themselves as heroes although their actions were often heroic and demanded belief in themselves. We meet these families, these individuals.
"Ordinary" is the most appropriate word to describe each one and it is done with admiration.
Read their stories...these people still exist. You could even know some ...and be one.
See...ORDINARY can be an EXTRAORDINARY word !!!
until like a heavy suffocating blanket it had managed to cover even the most private and secluded locations that made up the Nation of Germany.
Those who hoped and expected to ignore, make themselves not obvious, decline without fuss to participate in Nazi events, were soon to realise that it would not be so simple or easy to carry on with a Safe Parallel Existence. Those who refused to join the National Socialist Family found that other methods, ways of co-existence would not do, that participation was inevitable, the only way to stay safe and alive. Rubbing shoulders with keen and fanatical Germans could not be avoided...from schools attended to armed combat to what books you read and what art you prized, to shopping in Jewish shops, going to your Jewish doctor, having Jewish friends or a Jewish spouse - a Stand was demanded, expected...toeing the Line was a Must.
Not to belong was nothing less than a Crime.
The provincial market town of Pforzheim in the northern part of Baden was a charming, thriving , rich but insignificant place. Those who people this story lived there. None were spared the Burning of books (1933) not approved of by the New Government. Their Jews were suddenly vilified and any association with them soon tabu. One could not trust...anyone really. Pforzheim's Jews were being deported as early as October 1940. What you did or failed to do became a matter to be pointed out by both friend and foe. The old town had been dragged well into the Whirlwind. No one was immune or safe. To participate was essential. Clubs, Groups, Associations from Butchers to Religious to Young people with sport, health and radical jazz music, whatever their title, membership or purpose might soon find that their existence was totally tied in with Nazi Government rule and their group dissolved or penalised...even executed.
Yet some changes came late AND forcefully.
Pforzheim was among cities which fell into the lowest of five categories potentially targeted as a candidate for bombardment. Its watch-making industries fell under suspicion of being used to produce precision weapons. Now on the 23 February 1945, 379 aircraft carrying almost half a million high-explosive bombs created a firestorm with a staggering temperature of around 1,600 degrees centigrade. Metal beams and girders turned liquid.
People in underground bunkers in the city's centre died of heat and smoke en masse , many reduced to small piles of ashes. 17,000 people had perished.
Pforzheim had become a Sister City to Dresden.
This is a rivetting book simply and clearly told.
Rivetting because of the huge number of people who never embraced Hitler's outrageous, immoral and cruel policies - People from all walks of life and of every age group. Fanatic and Humanist fought along side each other in the Cause of Germany; in the effort to save and protect the Jews, although how many ever really knew their unbelievable Fate. Many came from Pforzheim, young and old , male and female. They did not see themselves as heroes although their actions were often heroic and demanded belief in themselves. We meet these families, these individuals.
"Ordinary" is the most appropriate word to describe each one and it is done with admiration.
Read their stories...these people still exist. You could even know some ...and be one.
See...ORDINARY can be an EXTRAORDINARY word !!!
March 18, 2021
Centred around the boy of the title, Wolfram Aïchele, Giles Milton has reconstructed the true story of the life of a small German town, Pforzheim, during Hitler's rise to power and through the Second World War. The account follows Wolfram from his boyhood years to the commencement of his studies as a wood carver. Then at the age of eighteen his conscription into the German army, his eventual capture by the Allied Forces and his time as a POW. But the account contains much more than Wolfram's life under Hitler, there are records too of others who endured this period as reluctant citizens under the Nazi rule, some of whom were also conscripted in various roles. In fact Wolfram's experiences occupy only a part of this record.
This is a fascinating account and one which touches on an area not often considered, that of the position of the ordinary German citizen, including those who did not support Hitler, but nonetheless had little choice but to serve. It is not a glamorous tale, and while Wolfram's family and friends do their best to maintain their integrity, there are few heroics here, just otherwise decent people who try to make the best of a bad situation. Among other things it is a real reminder that in any war there are many young men who find themselves reluctantly in the front line facing adversaries who under different circumstance might be their friends.
What it does really highlight is that there are no winners here, there were atrocities perpetrated on all sides, it is easy to point the finger at where the worst of these occurred, but it really brings home that almost anyone put in a position of power over the helpless is capable of inhumanity.
It does not always make for easy reading, although Milton's rather detached narrative is at times clinical in its descriptions, which perhaps make it a little easier than it might be otherwise. However this detachment does prevent one from really coming to know the true characters, we never truly feel involved with them.
Milton bases his account on many hours of recorded interview with his now elderly father-in-law Wolfram. He also interviewed other family members along with friends and contemporaries from Pforzheim. While it shows the German side of the war from the perspective of just one family and a few friends, it is yet a remarkable record. It would be easy to pick holes, for example while it makes frequent mention of the internment of the Jews and a few dissenters, it makes little or no reference to the many thousands of others who Hitler put into concentration camps and murdered, minority groups and members of some other religions.
As one who grew up in the aftermath of WWII when all Germans were 'bad' I found this a very readable and interesting book, all the more so as like myself Wolfram is an artist whose interests lie far outside this otherwise materialistic and power hungry world.
This is a fascinating account and one which touches on an area not often considered, that of the position of the ordinary German citizen, including those who did not support Hitler, but nonetheless had little choice but to serve. It is not a glamorous tale, and while Wolfram's family and friends do their best to maintain their integrity, there are few heroics here, just otherwise decent people who try to make the best of a bad situation. Among other things it is a real reminder that in any war there are many young men who find themselves reluctantly in the front line facing adversaries who under different circumstance might be their friends.
What it does really highlight is that there are no winners here, there were atrocities perpetrated on all sides, it is easy to point the finger at where the worst of these occurred, but it really brings home that almost anyone put in a position of power over the helpless is capable of inhumanity.
It does not always make for easy reading, although Milton's rather detached narrative is at times clinical in its descriptions, which perhaps make it a little easier than it might be otherwise. However this detachment does prevent one from really coming to know the true characters, we never truly feel involved with them.
Milton bases his account on many hours of recorded interview with his now elderly father-in-law Wolfram. He also interviewed other family members along with friends and contemporaries from Pforzheim. While it shows the German side of the war from the perspective of just one family and a few friends, it is yet a remarkable record. It would be easy to pick holes, for example while it makes frequent mention of the internment of the Jews and a few dissenters, it makes little or no reference to the many thousands of others who Hitler put into concentration camps and murdered, minority groups and members of some other religions.
As one who grew up in the aftermath of WWII when all Germans were 'bad' I found this a very readable and interesting book, all the more so as like myself Wolfram is an artist whose interests lie far outside this otherwise materialistic and power hungry world.
July 13, 2017
True story about Giles Milton's father-in-law, German conscript during the second world war. An artsy boy who loved drawing historic beauty/artifacts and he loved nature. His parents were intellectuals and not the Nazi german ideal.. Heart wrenching. My first read about how ordinary Germans coped with the rise of Nazism and the second world war.
There were also historic perspectives that I did not realize even tho I have read countless stories about Nazi germany and WWII. The situation inside Germany had not been clear for me, the ordinary German's perspective on the devastation of the WWI restoration payments, the failures of the Weimar govt and its fledgling democracy, the fact that Germans did not majority vote for Hitler and the story describing how he 'stole' the elections. And, that H burned the Reichstag to create fear of the communists. Actually, I did not realize the extent of the fear of communism.
It was interesting that H knew how to awake the Germanic traditions and "ethnicity." From other books that I have read, the GERMAN superiority mentality started back in the 1400s with the Teutonic knights. H knew how to tap into that. And, Goebbels propaganda machine was, sadly, phenomenal; he did not want mere conformity. "Rather, we want to work on people until they have capitulated to us, until they grasp ideologically what is happening in Germany today."
And, the explanation for the nazi block leaders in every city neighborhood in Germany! I had never heard of that. And, the justification for 'unifying' Austria, Czech territory, Poland, etc...it was for the ethnic germans in those lands, as if they were being mistreated!
And, the world reaction that led to H believing that he could get anything he wanted!
It was a very revealing story for me...and true.
There were also historic perspectives that I did not realize even tho I have read countless stories about Nazi germany and WWII. The situation inside Germany had not been clear for me, the ordinary German's perspective on the devastation of the WWI restoration payments, the failures of the Weimar govt and its fledgling democracy, the fact that Germans did not majority vote for Hitler and the story describing how he 'stole' the elections. And, that H burned the Reichstag to create fear of the communists. Actually, I did not realize the extent of the fear of communism.
It was interesting that H knew how to awake the Germanic traditions and "ethnicity." From other books that I have read, the GERMAN superiority mentality started back in the 1400s with the Teutonic knights. H knew how to tap into that. And, Goebbels propaganda machine was, sadly, phenomenal; he did not want mere conformity. "Rather, we want to work on people until they have capitulated to us, until they grasp ideologically what is happening in Germany today."
And, the explanation for the nazi block leaders in every city neighborhood in Germany! I had never heard of that. And, the justification for 'unifying' Austria, Czech territory, Poland, etc...it was for the ethnic germans in those lands, as if they were being mistreated!
And, the world reaction that led to H believing that he could get anything he wanted!
It was a very revealing story for me...and true.
December 15, 2025
Wolfram: The Boy Who Went to War by Giles Milton is a quietly powerful account of how ordinary people experienced the Second World War from the inside.
What struck me most is Milton’s portrayal of civilians trying desperately not to be captured—morally or psychologically—by Nazi doctrine. Many resisted in small, human ways, yet at times were forced to compromise simply to survive. It’s an honest and unsettling reminder of how blurred the line between resistance and compliance could become under totalitarian pressure.
Running alongside this is the deeply personal story of Wolfram himself, drawn into the war at an impossibly young age. We watch him get swept up by events far bigger than himself, shaped by ideology, fear, and momentum rather than choice. And yet, the most important part of his story is that he survives. He goes to war, and he comes back.
This isn’t a tale of battlefield heroics so much as a story of endurance—of a soldier, and a society, navigating impossible circumstances. Thoughtful, humane, and quietly haunting, this book stays with you long after the last page.
What struck me most is Milton’s portrayal of civilians trying desperately not to be captured—morally or psychologically—by Nazi doctrine. Many resisted in small, human ways, yet at times were forced to compromise simply to survive. It’s an honest and unsettling reminder of how blurred the line between resistance and compliance could become under totalitarian pressure.
Running alongside this is the deeply personal story of Wolfram himself, drawn into the war at an impossibly young age. We watch him get swept up by events far bigger than himself, shaped by ideology, fear, and momentum rather than choice. And yet, the most important part of his story is that he survives. He goes to war, and he comes back.
This isn’t a tale of battlefield heroics so much as a story of endurance—of a soldier, and a society, navigating impossible circumstances. Thoughtful, humane, and quietly haunting, this book stays with you long after the last page.
November 11, 2017
The author provides a very detailed and well-written account of his father-in-law's experiences (along that of his family and family friends) during the reign of Hitler and World War II.
I appreciated learning more about how Hitler came into power, and the means he used to gather support. I also feel the narrative was accurate, and not biased. There was lots of detail made available through written materials, and from the first-hand account of his father-in-law, Wolfram, who is still living (or at least was at the time of the writing).
I felt it dragged a bit at first with a lot of detail about Wolfram's childhood that wasn't entirely pertinent to the WWII experience. Other than that, an interesting read, including a number of photos that really enhanced the story.
I appreciated learning more about how Hitler came into power, and the means he used to gather support. I also feel the narrative was accurate, and not biased. There was lots of detail made available through written materials, and from the first-hand account of his father-in-law, Wolfram, who is still living (or at least was at the time of the writing).
I felt it dragged a bit at first with a lot of detail about Wolfram's childhood that wasn't entirely pertinent to the WWII experience. Other than that, an interesting read, including a number of photos that really enhanced the story.
June 9, 2020
Αυτό το βιβλίο το αγόρασα κατά τύχη σε μια επίσκεψή μου σε ένα βιβλιοπωλείο. Η ιστορία του μικρού Wolfram που μεγάλωσε τα χρόνια του τρίτου ράιχ, μου κίνησε το ενδιαφέρον και το βιβλίο δε με απογοήτευσε. Πρόκειται για την αληθινή ιστορία του Βόλφραμ Άιχελε, πεθερού του συγγραφέα Τζάιλς Μίλτον, η οποία περιγράφεται εξαιρετικά απλά, χωρίς συναισθηματισμούς και λογοτεχνικές εξάρσεις, πλαισιομένη από μαρτυρίες, φωτογραφίες εποχής και ιστορικά στοιχεία.
Η υπόθεση του βιβλίου μπορεί τελικά να συνοψιστεί στη φράση που αποδίδεται στον Edmund Burke, "Για να θριαμβεύσει το κακό, αρκεί οι καλοί άνθρωποι να μην κάνουν τίποτα" ("All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing").
Η υπόθεση του βιβλίου μπορεί τελικά να συνοψιστεί στη φράση που αποδίδεται στον Edmund Burke, "Για να θριαμβεύσει το κακό, αρκεί οι καλοί άνθρωποι να μην κάνουν τίποτα" ("All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing").
November 9, 2017
3.5 stars. Slow to start, spending a lot of time on child-Wolfram's interests in art, but gives an interesting view into how ordinary Germans experienced and thought of the rise of Nazism and its increasing intrusions into everyday lives, as well as lesser-known items like the Lebensborn program, the handling of German POWs, and how the activities of the death-camps were kept secret from the general populace for so long. Wolfram comes from an anti-Nazi family, but he can't escape the draft forever and eventually gets sent to war with other teenagers, first on the Eastern front and then to Normandy, just in time for D-Day. A thought-provoking glimpse into a less often seen and told side of the Second World War.
March 25, 2018
For many years I have read books, both fiction and non-fiction, about WWII and the holocaust; the stories of the Jews and the concentration camps, the hiding, the torture, the killing.
I had never read about the normal, ordinary German, trying to live each day throughout the rise and fall of Hitler.
I was born in 1940; I was alive on this earth during such a horrific time, but safely lived in the US, and unaware of what was happening across the vast Atlantic Ocean.
This book tells the details of the war, both pre and post years, how it affected the lives of a family, especially one young boy who was only nine years old when Hitler came to power.
I had never read about the normal, ordinary German, trying to live each day throughout the rise and fall of Hitler.
I was born in 1940; I was alive on this earth during such a horrific time, but safely lived in the US, and unaware of what was happening across the vast Atlantic Ocean.
This book tells the details of the war, both pre and post years, how it affected the lives of a family, especially one young boy who was only nine years old when Hitler came to power.
January 13, 2021
An account of the author's father in law, and his experiences growing up under the shadow of the Nazification of Germany, through to his war experiences, capture and eventual release ... Milton is a really good writer of historical events, and this book is as enjoyable as many of his others in taking the reader on a little journey through the lives of it's protagonists. Interesting for me, as the German side of the period is relatively unknown to me, and unlike his awful fiction attempts, this well researched story flows naturally across the pages.
December 28, 2022
For a man writing a book about his in laws war Experience this is remarkable in its ability to delve deep into the heart of the average German experience of the Third Reich, the choices they faced and the deals they made with the devil to merely exist on a semi recognisable way as they had before. Giles Milton is a fantastic writer and we’re just lucky Wolfram had such a talented son in law so the story could be told this way.
June 30, 2020
This is a wonderful detailed report of a families experience during WWII, told from the German perspective.
My father in law gave me this book and said it mirrored his experience. He has since passed. I wish I was able to have more conversations with him.
This is a story that need to continue tho be told.
My father in law gave me this book and said it mirrored his experience. He has since passed. I wish I was able to have more conversations with him.
This is a story that need to continue tho be told.
October 29, 2018
The book started out slowly, but from about page 80 on I found it increably interesting. It gives an interesting account of a German army soldier that leaves one thinking how could the German army last so long.
August 6, 2017
Very good book.
Not one that I would allow a young person to read, but only because of the gruesome details of WWII. Definitely one I would recommend to adults.
Not one that I would allow a young person to read, but only because of the gruesome details of WWII. Definitely one I would recommend to adults.
January 21, 2019
Very interesting to read a story from the German side. Well written as usual.
June 11, 2019
I loved this book.
June 30, 2019
loved this book, it was so readable and had so much information in it.
Loved it would read it again
Loved it would read it again
November 7, 2024
4.5 stars
January 12, 2025
Slow start, but overall was it an enjoyable book to read.
December 24, 2025
Giles Milton is a superb writer and I've now enjoyed all the books of his that I have got my hands on - he has a bit of a Midas touch. This is the story of a German boy (his wife's father) who was born in the wrong era. He wanted to be an artist, but ended up being conscripted in the Nazi war machine, 'fighting' in Ukraine and then in Normandy. The story of the British bombing of Pforzeheim at the end was horrible.
October 13, 2016
A very sad insight into the plight of ordinary people whose lives were overtaken by war. Everyone should read this book.
March 31, 2013
This was outstanding and I recommend it to everyone. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed "Wolfram: The Boy Who Went to War." This book was the (fortunate) product of an experienced writer (Giles Milton) with a German father-in-law (Wolfram Aichele) who fought for the Third Reich in WWII. This is Wolfgang's story, from his boyhood in a small German community to his conscription to fight on the Russian front and in Nomandy, to his capture and time as a prisoner of war in the US. The book focuses on Wolfram but also follows many of Wolfram's family members and friends. The book describes an idyllic life in a small town in pre-Nazi Germany, and takes the reader though its evolution to a community of German citizens living in terror and fear under the Nazis. There is not much here about the people resisting this...they felt powerless to do so, having to go with it and conform or be killed.
I don't think one can criticize the ordinary German citizens for this unless one has faced something similar. The stories of Wolframs war experiences were many and terrible but also made engaging reading. I finished this book in one day...very unusual for me!
I don't think one can criticize the ordinary German citizens for this unless one has faced something similar. The stories of Wolframs war experiences were many and terrible but also made engaging reading. I finished this book in one day...very unusual for me!
October 8, 2014
The book is a biographical account of Giles Milton’s father-in-laws experiences during the rise of Nazism and subsequent ordeal as a soldier of the Wehrmacht. The text appears to fall into two main concurrent narratives – first, dealing with Wolfram’s experiences and second, historical background details of events in Germany at the time, presumably to put Wolfram’s experiences in context. The blurb inside the dustcover says ‘The Boy Who Went to War overturns all the clichés about life under Adolf Hitler’. I have doubts about the claims of the dustcover – however surprising or eye-opening the narrative is, there is nothing new here that is not in many other publications on the subject. The accuracy of the experiences themselves is at times suspect – the dates of events from June to August 1944 just do not make sense, and not due to misprints. There are misprints and mistakes in addition to this, although some appear to be repeating mistakes from the sources listed in the bibliography. The photographs provided of the young Wolfram, key events in his town, and of him during his Wehrmacht service are remarkable. An enjoyable, if flawed biography.
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