What do you think?
Rate this book
Voices From The Other Side: Inspiring German WWII Memoirs
Living in the US during World War II (AND Korea, AND VietNam, AND Iraq AND Afghanistan) was/is safe and comfortable for most people. But war is ugly wherever it occurs, not only on the battlefield but also for the populations living in the countries living on or near the belligerents and their corresponding combat zones. They can be subjected to destructive aerial bombardment, displacement, vital life shortages, political intimidation, occupation by foreign troops, and all the fear and suffering that accompanies those wartime situations.
The German stories in this book are a sample of such conditions, as told by civilian "victims" as well as military personnel describing hardship and suffering unknown to American civilians. They also offered stories of when they came to America-the "Promised Land"-and their successes here. These subjects were mostly from the Front Range of Colorado. The memoirs presented here are a fraction of what is out there waiting to be recorded; every American city and state could likely publish its own version from their immigrant residents. Don't wait. Time is getting short as these valuable chroniclers age.
The German stories in this book are a sample of such conditions, as told by civilian "victims" as well as military personnel describing hardship and suffering unknown to American civilians. They also offered stories of when they came to America-the "Promised Land"-and their successes here. These subjects were mostly from the Front Range of Colorado. The memoirs presented here are a fraction of what is out there waiting to be recorded; every American city and state could likely publish its own version from their immigrant residents. Don't wait. Time is getting short as these valuable chroniclers age.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
348 pages, Hardcover
First published April 2, 2014
About the author
Jean Goodwin Messinger
8 books4 followersAuthor Jean Messinger was born and raised in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, graduated from Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin, and has lived in Colorado since 1952. Colorado Springs was home to Jean and her husband for nearly forty years. After teaching school for several years, at age fifty, she earned a master’s degree in art and architectural history from Denver University.
She considers herself doubly blessed to live in Colorado near her large extended family, which includes seven grandchildren.
She considers herself doubly blessed to live in Colorado near her large extended family, which includes seven grandchildren.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 23, 2022
This is a companion book to one I read several years ago called Same War Different Battlefields which was about the people who stayed home during WWII. What life was like in Northern Colorado (the author is a local) during the war. That book also tells the story of several German POWs who lived at the POW camp west of Greeley and ended up not only moving back once they were released but were often trusted farmhands while incarcerated. This book tells many of the same stories from the German perspective. Families who managed to get out before the war started in Europe as well as families who were separated and never saw each other again. The book ends with a long profile of a young German soldier enduring the Battle of the Bulge and his several year long process of getting back home to Germany after his capture. Both these books are excellent for WWII devotees but I guess I preferred the first book over this one although I am recommending both.
December 8, 2014
When there is a modern war between two nations, one of the essential things is for each side to demonize the other. Therefore, there are no inconvenient feelings of remorse when citizens of one side hear of the the deaths of women and children due to the indiscriminant bombing of cities in the other nation. The rationalization that the people on the other side must be evil and less deserving of life must be applied for it all to make sense. Of course the reality is always different; the people in both nations have the same aspirations and emotions and suffer from the same hurts.
This book is a demonstration of how similar both sides in World War II were by giving voice to the experiences of many German people during World War II. The people featured in this book tell their own stories of their experiences during the war, how they felt about it, what they did to survive and how they managed to end up in the United States.
The people telling their stories came from many different backgrounds within the pre-war German community. Some of them are Jewish; others were from Austria, Germanic colonies in the Soviet Union and other pockets of German culture in Eastern Europe. One person was born in the U.S., moved to Germany before the war and survived it to return to the U. S. afterward. While the death camps are mentioned, the extermination is generally secondary to the process of surviving the bombing and then the ground war as it moved through Germany from both sides.
Readers that understand the history of the Second World War in Europe will not find anything new here, for these are stories that could have been told by millions of people. Enormous numbers of people moved around Europe during the war years and then afterward as forms of ethnic cleansing took place. That does not diminish the power of these stories, for they are some of the most engaging stories of survival in an environment that made that a very difficult endeavor.
This book was made available for free for review purposes and this review appears on Amazon.
This book is a demonstration of how similar both sides in World War II were by giving voice to the experiences of many German people during World War II. The people featured in this book tell their own stories of their experiences during the war, how they felt about it, what they did to survive and how they managed to end up in the United States.
The people telling their stories came from many different backgrounds within the pre-war German community. Some of them are Jewish; others were from Austria, Germanic colonies in the Soviet Union and other pockets of German culture in Eastern Europe. One person was born in the U.S., moved to Germany before the war and survived it to return to the U. S. afterward. While the death camps are mentioned, the extermination is generally secondary to the process of surviving the bombing and then the ground war as it moved through Germany from both sides.
Readers that understand the history of the Second World War in Europe will not find anything new here, for these are stories that could have been told by millions of people. Enormous numbers of people moved around Europe during the war years and then afterward as forms of ethnic cleansing took place. That does not diminish the power of these stories, for they are some of the most engaging stories of survival in an environment that made that a very difficult endeavor.
This book was made available for free for review purposes and this review appears on Amazon.
January 16, 2015
A number of memoirs have been written by Jewish survivors of WWII, but rarely do we see a collection of the stories of ordinary Germans who also lived through those years. Jean Messinger has collected a couple dozen stories and recollections, mostly from those she has met living in Colorado. Most of the stories are from those who were children or came of age during the war. Some grew up in homes that supported Hitler (usually due to the economic prosperity that came after many years of hardship), but most were ambivalent or against him. Some are told in the person's own words and some are told by the author, and in some stories I thought it interesting the facts that were left out. The question of what happened to Jewish neighbors was often not a something anyone felt safe wondering too much about, and several talked of being turned in to authorities over trivial statements. (Incidentally, two of the stories in this collection are from Jews.) And overall, this was actually quite an interesting book to read. Many of the memoirs show hardship after losing homes or family members. I'm not the only one who's wondered how such an atrocity could happen among an entire population, and while this book doesn't try to offer an answer it's interesting to see the recollections of people who lived through such a fascinating and terrible chapter of history. (I received a free copy of the book from the author in exchange for an unbiased review.)
September 30, 2014
Voices From the Other Side, Inspiring German WWII Stories is an interesting and valuable book.
Most histories provide the reader with tons of cold statistics of the horror of war.
Ms Messinger puts a human face on the cold statistics by presenting a series of short memoirs by Germans who experienced the War on the home front. These are stories of those who grew up in a Nazi world that went from grandiose to wasteland during a few short years.Here are stories of average Germans, most were ,as they say, non-political tradesmen, students or children; they and their parents had to live under the close eye of a powerful state. They saw Jewish friends disappear, parents arrested,their homes and schools destroyed.They survived hunger, cold, homelessness and terror. The survivors tell their stories in this book.
Some memoirs are of Party members or their children, but most are of average people whose main concern was survival. All lost everything and some lost nearly everyone around them. All made it to the USA, for which all are deeply grateful.
That is the interesting part of the book. The valuable part is that the books reminds us that there are real people on the receiving end of the bombs and bullets. People not so very much different from us.
Most histories provide the reader with tons of cold statistics of the horror of war.
Ms Messinger puts a human face on the cold statistics by presenting a series of short memoirs by Germans who experienced the War on the home front. These are stories of those who grew up in a Nazi world that went from grandiose to wasteland during a few short years.Here are stories of average Germans, most were ,as they say, non-political tradesmen, students or children; they and their parents had to live under the close eye of a powerful state. They saw Jewish friends disappear, parents arrested,their homes and schools destroyed.They survived hunger, cold, homelessness and terror. The survivors tell their stories in this book.
Some memoirs are of Party members or their children, but most are of average people whose main concern was survival. All lost everything and some lost nearly everyone around them. All made it to the USA, for which all are deeply grateful.
That is the interesting part of the book. The valuable part is that the books reminds us that there are real people on the receiving end of the bombs and bullets. People not so very much different from us.
June 3, 2015
Here are true stories from German civilians and military personnel during the 1930s and '40s describing hardship and suffering unknown to the outside world. They also offered descriptions of their coming to America - the "Promised Land". These contributors mostly settled in the Front Range region of Colorado."
I really enjoyed this book. It was very interesting to read of the problems experienced by "the enemy" during World War II. There are only two Jewish contributors as the author thought Holocaust stories were already well documented and presented. Not all the stories describe extreme suffering as we have come to associate with the Holocaust era.
If you are from or know someone from the Front Range Area in Colorado, this book may be of interest to you. Surnames of contributors are Baumgartner, Boyer, Brett, Charleston, Feist, Finzel, Griffith, Heinrichdorff, Holzapfel, Justin, Kelly-Bach, Lani, Merten, Muetlein, Niedermayr, Pfeffer, Pfeiffer, Roisin, Schendel, Scholl, Smith, Spierling, Stack, Tavernier, White, and Wuest.
I would recommend this collection of bio shorts to anyone wanting a different "been there" perspective of WW2 - the Axis side. Also a fine addition to a Colorado theme shelf.
In the end end, we truly see that war IS hell.
I really enjoyed this book. It was very interesting to read of the problems experienced by "the enemy" during World War II. There are only two Jewish contributors as the author thought Holocaust stories were already well documented and presented. Not all the stories describe extreme suffering as we have come to associate with the Holocaust era.
If you are from or know someone from the Front Range Area in Colorado, this book may be of interest to you. Surnames of contributors are Baumgartner, Boyer, Brett, Charleston, Feist, Finzel, Griffith, Heinrichdorff, Holzapfel, Justin, Kelly-Bach, Lani, Merten, Muetlein, Niedermayr, Pfeffer, Pfeiffer, Roisin, Schendel, Scholl, Smith, Spierling, Stack, Tavernier, White, and Wuest.
I would recommend this collection of bio shorts to anyone wanting a different "been there" perspective of WW2 - the Axis side. Also a fine addition to a Colorado theme shelf.
In the end end, we truly see that war IS hell.
October 5, 2014
This is a collection of remembrances by Germans who were children or young adults at the time of WW II. They talk about their experiences in the pre-war, war, and post-war eras. Very touching and painful look at war through the eyes of the very young.
A few of the stories leave questions and a few don't feel entirely chronological, but I think that's natural when dealing with the memories of children who wouldn't have necessarily understood all that was going on around them and for whom time does often seem less orderly. It adds a sense of genuineness.
I was given this book through the goodreads first-read program.
A few of the stories leave questions and a few don't feel entirely chronological, but I think that's natural when dealing with the memories of children who wouldn't have necessarily understood all that was going on around them and for whom time does often seem less orderly. It adds a sense of genuineness.
I was given this book through the goodreads first-read program.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews