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We Were Young and at War: The First-Hand Story of Young Lives Lived and Lost in World War II
Never before have the diaries and letters of young people from all sides of World War Two been woven together to provide an account of what it was like to grow up amidst the daily struggles and horrors of this devastating war. We Were Young And At War follows the stories of sixteen teenage boys and girls who write with a disarming directness about their reactions to and experiences of a very adult war. They are British, French, American, Japanese, Polish, German and Russian, each with a unique and heart-rending tale to tell. Only two of them are alive today. Some of them fought and died in the war, others starved to death; many were separated from their families. All were forced to grow up quickly, their lives changed beyond all recognition by their experiences. This is their story.
345 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2009
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December 14, 2018
*حصلت بعض مذكرات ضحايا و معاصري الحرب العالمية الثانية على شهره واسعه مثل مذكرات آنا فرانك في المقابل فإن قصص آخرين ظلت منسية او منتشره على نطاق ضيق. الكتاب يحاول إيصال هذه القصص لنا عن طريق نشر أجزاء من مذكراتهم.
*ينقسم الكتاب إلى ١٢ جزء،كل جزء يغطي فتره مختلفة او جبهه مختلفة.
*من خلال المذكرات يمكننا أن نرى الفرق في التعامل النازي مع مختلف الأعراق، فمن جهه كان التعامل افضل مع الفرنسيين حيث أنه الحياه عادت شبه طبيعية، تحكي ميشيلين سنجر الفرنسية من باريس عن حياتها تحت الإحتلال و كيف انها رغم كرهها الألمان الا انها صادقت بعضا منهم، في الجبهه المقابله تم تهجير عدد كبير من السلاف (عرق أغلب الروس و الشرق اوروبيين) و توطين الألمان في مناطقهم واستعباد الباقيين. فيما تم جمع عدد كبير من اليهود في محاكر لتتم تصفيتهم.
*لا اعرف اذا كان اليهود البولنديين يدركون سخرية القدر التي كانت تطالهم فكثير منهم يتحدثون ان الحل الوحيد لإيقاف معاناه الشعب اليهودي هو في دوله يهوديه في فلسطين متغاضين عن حقيقة أن فلسطين هي دوله لها شعب غير يهودي الذي يستحيل أن يقبل بأن يعطي أرضه ليهود أوروبا فهم بذلك يريدون أن ينفذوا السياسه التانيه العنصريه على شعب اخر.
*اكثر ما أثر فيني كانت مذكرات يورا ريبينكين، ١٦ عاما. الذي انقلب حياته عند محاصره القوات النازية لمدينة ليلينجراد، حيث تتحولت شخصيه الفتى اللطيف الخلوق إلى سابق طماع، حيث نرى الصراع الداخلي بين شخصيته القديمه و الجديده الذي يجعله يفكر في الإنتحار طوال الوقت. يفقد يورا قواه بسبب المرض قبل ساعات قليله من عمليه إخلاء تقوم بها القوات السوفيتية لبعض سكان المدينه.
*احتوى الكتاب على مذكرات ألمان و يابانيين عاصروا الحرب و عارضوها رغم البروباجاندا الهائله التي يتعرض لها مواطني هاتين الدولتين فمثلا كلاوس جرازو الذي ضل غير مقتنعا بالنازية رغم كل المحاولات لتحويله للنازية و هاشيرو ساساكي الطالب المتفوق من جامعه طوكيو الذي رغم معارضته للحرب منذ بدايتها الا انه انظم كطيار كازيكاجي للدفاع عن وطنه عندما بدأت اليابان بخساره الحرب.
.*لكن لم يعجبني حصر مصادر الكتاب على أوروبا و اليابان بينما كانت الحرب مستعره في شتى انحاء العالم فهنالك الكثير ممن حارب من عرب و هنود و افارقة فمذكراتهم اهم من مذكرات فتى يهودي امريكي اقرب ما عايشه من الحرب هو مقابلته لأقاربه الهاربين منها.
*ينقسم الكتاب إلى ١٢ جزء،كل جزء يغطي فتره مختلفة او جبهه مختلفة.
*من خلال المذكرات يمكننا أن نرى الفرق في التعامل النازي مع مختلف الأعراق، فمن جهه كان التعامل افضل مع الفرنسيين حيث أنه الحياه عادت شبه طبيعية، تحكي ميشيلين سنجر الفرنسية من باريس عن حياتها تحت الإحتلال و كيف انها رغم كرهها الألمان الا انها صادقت بعضا منهم، في الجبهه المقابله تم تهجير عدد كبير من السلاف (عرق أغلب الروس و الشرق اوروبيين) و توطين الألمان في مناطقهم واستعباد الباقيين. فيما تم جمع عدد كبير من اليهود في محاكر لتتم تصفيتهم.
*لا اعرف اذا كان اليهود البولنديين يدركون سخرية القدر التي كانت تطالهم فكثير منهم يتحدثون ان الحل الوحيد لإيقاف معاناه الشعب اليهودي هو في دوله يهوديه في فلسطين متغاضين عن حقيقة أن فلسطين هي دوله لها شعب غير يهودي الذي يستحيل أن يقبل بأن يعطي أرضه ليهود أوروبا فهم بذلك يريدون أن ينفذوا السياسه التانيه العنصريه على شعب اخر.
*اكثر ما أثر فيني كانت مذكرات يورا ريبينكين، ١٦ عاما. الذي انقلب حياته عند محاصره القوات النازية لمدينة ليلينجراد، حيث تتحولت شخصيه الفتى اللطيف الخلوق إلى سابق طماع، حيث نرى الصراع الداخلي بين شخصيته القديمه و الجديده الذي يجعله يفكر في الإنتحار طوال الوقت. يفقد يورا قواه بسبب المرض قبل ساعات قليله من عمليه إخلاء تقوم بها القوات السوفيتية لبعض سكان المدينه.
*احتوى الكتاب على مذكرات ألمان و يابانيين عاصروا الحرب و عارضوها رغم البروباجاندا الهائله التي يتعرض لها مواطني هاتين الدولتين فمثلا كلاوس جرازو الذي ضل غير مقتنعا بالنازية رغم كل المحاولات لتحويله للنازية و هاشيرو ساساكي الطالب المتفوق من جامعه طوكيو الذي رغم معارضته للحرب منذ بدايتها الا انه انظم كطيار كازيكاجي للدفاع عن وطنه عندما بدأت اليابان بخساره الحرب.
.*لكن لم يعجبني حصر مصادر الكتاب على أوروبا و اليابان بينما كانت الحرب مستعره في شتى انحاء العالم فهنالك الكثير ممن حارب من عرب و هنود و افارقة فمذكراتهم اهم من مذكرات فتى يهودي امريكي اقرب ما عايشه من الحرب هو مقابلته لأقاربه الهاربين منها.
March 24, 2017
War through the eyes of the young who were witnesses and victims of the horrors that occurred in their lives and countries in WWII. A must read for all.
Relevant still today, especially as the world seems to have forgotten the horrible events and seems to be set on repeating them.
Many of these young people perished, only the words they wrote, revealing their lives and existence in the world.
Many survived, going on to make new lives for themselves, their words memories of their past struggles.
Relevant still today, especially as the world seems to have forgotten the horrible events and seems to be set on repeating them.
Many of these young people perished, only the words they wrote, revealing their lives and existence in the world.
Many survived, going on to make new lives for themselves, their words memories of their past struggles.
September 12, 2018
Acho que o melhor aspecto deste livro é a visão global dos fatos. Não existe um foco, temos a visão íntima e a convicção de diversos lados sobre os acontecimentos da 2° Guerra Mundial. Temos alemães, poloneses, japoneses, ingleses, russos, americanos... Acredito que isso dá uma visão única sobre os sentimentos de nacionalismo e honra, mas também do medo, do desconhecido, da escuridão que englobou o mundo. Diferentes pessoas com diferentes visões sobre os mesmo acontecimentos.
May 20, 2018
It was surreal to read real letters and diaries from people in the past from different countries with different ideologies. The greatest lesson that I got: War is not easy and it affects people's lives very much. Avoid wars.
July 28, 2018
Really a must read. I am considering donating this book to a school library so more young people can read this too.
The diary are compiled chronologically and some are hard to read, especially the one facing starvation.
The diary are compiled chronologically and some are hard to read, especially the one facing starvation.
April 7, 2022
Very interesting book about young people and their experiences during World War 2. The diaries in the book were from the English, Americans, Polish, French, German and Japanese people. Some of the people entries were short because they either stopped writing or died during the war.
November 26, 2022
A very readable book about diary entry’s of the diaries of youths from various countries, throughout WWII. The perspective of youth is so often forgotten in accounts of this war. A book I would recommend all to read.
August 23, 2018
Fabulous book which gives an insight into how horrendous it must have been growing up during the war.
May 16, 2020
Absolutely fascinating. Especially as it includes children from all countries so you get a real perspective. What really comes through is the sheer pointlessness if it all.
February 19, 2023
Very insightful, eye opening with such sad realisation of people’s experiences world wide throughout the war .
September 22, 2013
I picked this book up after watching the World War 2 mini-series - Generation War (or Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter), a fictional drama about five youths in times of war. Unable to keep my mind off the circumstances these youths were put through, I decided to read this book to find out realities that these teenagers had to go through during the war. Wallis and Palmer, the compilers of these series of diaries have done a splendid job, arranging the writings chronologically, and keeping different diaries by different sides of the war together. It brought our the similarities that these young lives were somehow the same, just young teenagers being put through war time, where they have no control over.
The perspectives of these diarists gives readers an insight of how some young people can be easily indoctrinated with ideals, how these same youths have ideas of their own, and how just like anyone put in such difficult times, we are all subjected to the test of courage and bravery in making the moral and upright decisions.
As with many writings about world war two, this book will stir much emotions in its readers with victories and losses, but to me, it reminded me not to pass judgement too quickly just based on nationalities, for each everyone has their own experiences which shapes their ideas and affects their decisions. I'll say that it didn't take much to make me feel sorry for the lives lost prematurely, to make me respect young people who were brave enough to fight against human instincts for survival and sacrifice for their beliefs, and to salute these young lives for keeping a journal or writing letters so that one day, someone who has never been through the war can relive it, however little of it, again, to learn from it and understand its atrocities.
Lastly, I love that Wallis and Palmer gave closure to the book by including the prologue that fills the readers in on the aftermath of these young people in their later postwar years.
The perspectives of these diarists gives readers an insight of how some young people can be easily indoctrinated with ideals, how these same youths have ideas of their own, and how just like anyone put in such difficult times, we are all subjected to the test of courage and bravery in making the moral and upright decisions.
As with many writings about world war two, this book will stir much emotions in its readers with victories and losses, but to me, it reminded me not to pass judgement too quickly just based on nationalities, for each everyone has their own experiences which shapes their ideas and affects their decisions. I'll say that it didn't take much to make me feel sorry for the lives lost prematurely, to make me respect young people who were brave enough to fight against human instincts for survival and sacrifice for their beliefs, and to salute these young lives for keeping a journal or writing letters so that one day, someone who has never been through the war can relive it, however little of it, again, to learn from it and understand its atrocities.
Lastly, I love that Wallis and Palmer gave closure to the book by including the prologue that fills the readers in on the aftermath of these young people in their later postwar years.
May 11, 2020
É uma experiência maravilhosa saber o que a juventude que estava vivendo a guerra, tinha em mente e no coração naquele tempo. Eu sempre quis saber o que se passava na cabeça daqueles que viviam durante uma guerra, seus medos, anseios, por que torciam para quem torciam, por que acreditavam no acreditavam e de certa forma, o que a parte mais íntima de cada um dizia - ou gritava.
Nesse livro, temos essas cartas e diários que nos conta tudo isso, quem essas crianças e adolescentes realmente eram, quem pensavam ser e quem se tornaram com o curso da guerra.
É uma experiência emocionante e forte, mas uma obra de valor inestimável, que os organizadores fizeram um excelente trabalho.
Recomendo fortemente.
-
It's an amazing experience to know what youth around the globe, who were living the war thought at that time. I always wanted to know what was through people's mind and why did they cheer for the germans, why did they believe, where were the humanity of them.
And in this book, we have these letters and journals who tells us who these kids truly are, what they are anxious about, what they love, how they see what's going on and most important, how they changed with the war and so did their visison.
I recommend this reading for everyone.
Nesse livro, temos essas cartas e diários que nos conta tudo isso, quem essas crianças e adolescentes realmente eram, quem pensavam ser e quem se tornaram com o curso da guerra.
É uma experiência emocionante e forte, mas uma obra de valor inestimável, que os organizadores fizeram um excelente trabalho.
Recomendo fortemente.
-
It's an amazing experience to know what youth around the globe, who were living the war thought at that time. I always wanted to know what was through people's mind and why did they cheer for the germans, why did they believe, where were the humanity of them.
And in this book, we have these letters and journals who tells us who these kids truly are, what they are anxious about, what they love, how they see what's going on and most important, how they changed with the war and so did their visison.
I recommend this reading for everyone.
July 14, 2016
There's always some 'must read' book you haven't read and in my case, a strong candidate would be the Diary of Anne Frank. Should I never do so, this volume may well fill that gap amply.
The book uses a variety of diaries written by teenagers of many nationalities to move through the war years. I was particularly fascinated by the long correspondence of one English boy with his female penfriend in the US (and by the epilogue which tells what happens afterwards... not what you would think) Some, of course, were very tough to read, perhaps especially the anonymous diary found in the Lodz Ghetto, and Yura, who minds so very much the effect starvation is having on his personality.
It was a good decision to include those who lived relatively unscathed, or who were almost entirely outside the conflict.
I had expected to see more 'propaganda' then there was but it was clear that some teenagers flip-flopped according to what they sensed the 'right' way to think might be at any particular time, and occasionally you read phrases that they seem to have adopted rather than generated. More often, they seemed puzzled, conflicted.
The book uses a variety of diaries written by teenagers of many nationalities to move through the war years. I was particularly fascinated by the long correspondence of one English boy with his female penfriend in the US (and by the epilogue which tells what happens afterwards... not what you would think) Some, of course, were very tough to read, perhaps especially the anonymous diary found in the Lodz Ghetto, and Yura, who minds so very much the effect starvation is having on his personality.
It was a good decision to include those who lived relatively unscathed, or who were almost entirely outside the conflict.
I had expected to see more 'propaganda' then there was but it was clear that some teenagers flip-flopped according to what they sensed the 'right' way to think might be at any particular time, and occasionally you read phrases that they seem to have adopted rather than generated. More often, they seemed puzzled, conflicted.
December 15, 2013
Diary entries from teens during World War 2. From the trivial (American boy who is full of silly slang and talks about parties) to well educated Jewish boy in a Polish ghetto who just as the war ended was sent to Auchwitz. The profound observations of those in the war zone, worried about their safety, their friends, their family, contrasts with those on 'the other side' who are fervent for their cause, as well.
Experiences, propaganda, and the realities of war make this a valuable read for anyone who would like to move beyond The Diary of Anne Frank and explore a wider variety of experiences.
Experiences, propaganda, and the realities of war make this a valuable read for anyone who would like to move beyond The Diary of Anne Frank and explore a wider variety of experiences.
August 12, 2015
This is a poignant as they get. Many people have either read or heard of the famous Anne Frank diary but this collection of diary extracts demonstrates the wide and monumental impact of WW2 on the lives of children all around the world in different countries in different war-affected regions. It's saddening to see the lives of individuals fade away as the excessive abuses and torture take their toll and the stains that wartime creates taint a generation.
Well edited to maximise the impact of these diaries, this is a book that should be read far and wide.
Well edited to maximise the impact of these diaries, this is a book that should be read far and wide.
March 5, 2012
Definitely a book for anyone who's interested in diaries. Its greatest success is bringing together a whole range of children, from all over the world, with all the different perspectives; but all wanting the same peace and an end to war. Emotional and heartwarming, definitely a book for your shelf.
November 24, 2014
I love that many different voices are included, from the Allies' side, as well as the Axis. There were soldiers, freedom fighters, and Holocaust victims alike. I also really liked they included a follow-up at the end, telling what became of each child after the journal entries/letters finished. A very important read to get a good feel on all aspects of such a tragic part of history.
January 24, 2011
poignant, REAL first hand diary accounts from real people who experienced the war.
understand it from the ground, from ordinary people, not from the victors who sat behind their desks and cowered before the Germans. heh.
understand it from the ground, from ordinary people, not from the victors who sat behind their desks and cowered before the Germans. heh.
September 30, 2020
The many POVs gave a good overview of how many people around the world experienced the war. Especially at the beginning it was a bit confusing but you get used to it quickly. That it were all letters or diary entries made it personal which I enjoyed a lot.
April 21, 2013
Exelent book! True stories from those who have lived during WW2.
June 16, 2013
Must read.
July 17, 2014
Awesome book, if you are interested in true life stories, writing their diary experiencing their journey during the war. A great read, recommended for those enjoy the history during the war years.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews