Witnesses of War
Witnesses of War: Children’s Lives Under the Nazis
Nicholas Stargardt
Jonathan Cape xvii+ 509 pp £20
ISBN 0-224-06479-7
Witnesses of War examines the effects of Nazi rule during the Second World War on the lives of children and teenagers. Based in part on extensive interviews with now middle-aged and elderly survivors, it is an outstanding book, often deeply moving and gripping, which might well become a contemporary classic. Nicholas Stargardt, now at Magdalen College, Oxford, makes a point of describing himself as the son of a German-Jewish father and an Australian mother, who was brought up in Australia, Japan and Britain. He brings to this work the right mixture of erudition, intelligence, and compassion which is never maudlin or sentimental – a real danger with such a tragic topic – and is always in control of the daunting range of sources he uses.
Nicholas Stargardt
Jonathan Cape xvii+ 509 pp £20
ISBN 0-224-06479-7
Witnesses of War examines the effects of Nazi rule during the Second World War on the lives of children and teenagers. Based in part on extensive interviews with now middle-aged and elderly survivors, it is an outstanding book, often deeply moving and gripping, which might well become a contemporary classic. Nicholas Stargardt, now at Magdalen College, Oxford, makes a point of describing himself as the son of a German-Jewish father and an Australian mother, who was brought up in Australia, Japan and Britain. He brings to this work the right mixture of erudition, intelligence, and compassion which is never maudlin or sentimental – a real danger with such a tragic topic – and is always in control of the daunting range of sources he uses.
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