"The Things They've Seen" covers the eyewitness accounts of 8 Germans who lived in Germany during WWII and the Cold War, giving a glimpse of a side that is not often accessible to the English speaker.
The information is written in a way that is both accessible to the casual reader as well as informative to the more avid history fan. Where else will you find a first hand account of the Soviet invading Berlin, the loss of a father to the concentration camps, a political prisoner of the Stasi, a Jewish woman fleeing Germany to Australia in 1939 or even a soldier all in one book?
Go beyond the start and end dates of the war, to see what the real impact was on the society.
- Learn how people grappled with the political turmoil
Get details of what it was really like to live under the dictatorship of Hitler and under the watchful eye of the Soviet-controlled East Germany.
- Getting both sides of the story
Learn about topics that are rarely discussed. Read Ms Genin's account of working for the Stasi and then, read Mr Toepfer explain the horrors of being imprisoned in isolation for 192 days in East Germany.
- Get a glimpse of the cultural pressures
In a field where the topic is often overwhelmed by numbers, facts and figures, the subtleties can be lost. The stories here bring a sharp reminder to the impact to civilian populations in those uncertain times.
- A popular topic from a different angle
We all know the popularity of the topic, with all sorts of media covering the era. From podcasters like Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, to Film and Documentaries and, of course, books, this is a genre that continues to hold the interest of the public. However, normally it is from the view point of the American or British soldiers, or, when from Germans, from those in the concentration camps. "The Things I've Seen" takes a different approach, looking at the impact of the ordinary citizen.
Stories like these should be available to everyone to ensure that they get a fuller understanding of these important events and to ensure the atrocities committed during those times are never repeated. Dive in and get a closer look at the things they've seen.
