Book recommendations

[jackconnor]

Hello, I am Jack, I am 14 and really interested in the Hitler Youth and Edelweiss Pirates.
I have read the two Edelweiss Pirates novels, they are my favorite. I have read the following and want to know if their are any more books suitable for my age. (My mom made me put that bit in).
So far I have read;

EDELWEISS PIRATES #1 'Operation Einstein' By Mark A. Cooper
EDELWEISS PIRATES #2' Edelweiss Express; By Mark A. Cooper
The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas; By John Boyne
The BOOK THIEF; By Markus Zusak
Number The Stars; By Lois Lowry
The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank
The White Rose; By Inge Scholl
Hitler Youth by Michael H. Kater.
Sophie Scholl and the White Rose by Jud Newborn

Some are fiction, some are factual and some like Edelweiss Pirates is part fact/part fiction. I like all sorts and want to learn more about it.

If you can suggest some more I would be very thankful.
Thank you.
Jack

[Gorque]

Hi Jack:

Welcome to the forums. ☺

How about "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse

[Larso]

Hi Jack, good on you and good on your mum too!

I'm a teacher so I'm impressed by your interest in reading. Can you tell me though what the Edelweiss Pirates series is about?

John

[jackconnor]

Hi Jack:

Welcome to the forums. ☺

How about "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse

Thank you Sir, I have ordered it from the library.
Jack

[jackconnor]

Hi Jack, good on you and good on your mum too!

I'm a teacher so I'm impressed by your interest in reading. Can you tell me though what the Edelweiss Pirates series is about?

John

Hello Sir.
The Edelweiss Pirates novels are great. They start off in current day, and the old man is telling his grandson about the Hitler Youth. Then it switches to when he was a 14 year old boy. Although he was in the HJ, that was just a cover because he was actually the leader of the Edelweiss Pirates of Wurzburg.

It's really funny at parts, they put Epsom Salts in the water tank at the Hitler Youth camp, ( It gives them the shits) they painted 'Edelweiss Pirates rule' and stuff like 'Hitler has a small dinky) on walls and on the Hitler Youth's car and plastered him in eggs. One of the Pirates has an older brother is a strict HJ member. He is a bully.

They find a 6 year old Jewish girl and have to hide her and try to get her to Switzerland.

At one part they came across a concentration camp. One scene was horrific what the Nazi's did to a woman and her baby. It stuck with me for a while, it was horrific.

Book 2 I just finished, that was the best one so far, one point you are laughing the next is scary and the next you almost cry.

Granpa Gunthire is the best character, he is a poacher and deals on the black market, he is the grandfather of the head Pirate and lets then use his shed as a base.
What I like about the series is that is shows us that German teenagers were not too blame for the war, many hated the Nazi's, they could not even listen to jazz music, and were forced to join the HJ. Plus many died at the hands of the British bombers and they suffered as much as the others in Europe did.

Jack

[DougW60]

Welcome to the forum Jack, it is great to see a young man reading and actually coming to a forum like this. If there is one thing I learned through life, learning never stops and reading is a skill that allows you to learn.

Your last paragraph identifies a truism. You speak of the indoctrination and peer pressure of the children/teens growing up in Nazi Germany, and it is true. You can add that they were also restricted to what books they were allowed to read. The author is giving a life lesson - it was easy for the German youth to be duped into following the Nazis and how easy it is to do the same to today's youth though with different beliefs, philosophies, etc. Now I ask you to look at your school - how similar are you to the students in the books you are reading? I am not speaking specifically of the subjects being taught, per say, but how you are to accept what the teacher says to be true and if you question it, how the teacher and your peers respond. Even though you are reading fiction, you can learn real life lessons from it.

Continue your love for reading, it will be a great asset for your future.

[Larso]

Thanks Jack. I can't remember the book but one of the German memoirs I read talked a bit about teenagers getting into fights with the HJ. It probably depended on where you lived as some communities would've been more Nazified than others.

[HerrLyppe]

Welcome aboard Jack,

I think that I speak for many others when I say how nice it is to see someone your age with an interest in reading, and history.
The whole 'age appropriate' could be a bit of a minefield, and I'd hate to raise your mum's ire but I think that 'Flakhelfer to Grenadier' by Karl Schlesier would be a safe bet. I enjoyed it and it painted a good picture of what it was like for these kids that were relegated to go out and help on the Flak batteries.
'Berlin Dance of Death' by Helmut Altner was quite good and covers the experiences of a boy about your age who fought in the defense of Berlin. It might pay to wait a bit before reading this one as it recounts fairly harrowing experiences for anyone, let alone someone so young.
There are quite a few memoirs available that are well worth the read and don't place too much emphasis on the violent aspects of their experiences.
I think that reading this kind of thing helps set a healthy foundation for any future reading that you might do on TR history. It illustrates the true face of 'glory' and the struggle of these soldiers/ people that is so romanticised and glorified in so many places all over the internet.
Happy reading
Allan

[grayson]

Hi, I'm very interested in the auschwitz concentration camp period. Can someone rec some good books about this topic?

[DougW60]

Grayson,

Are you looking specifically at Auschwitz or are you looking at the entire camp infrastructure?

Here are two books covering personal accounts

Witness to the Holocaust by Azriel Eisenbert (over 100 eyewitness accounts)

The Theory and Practice of Hell by Eugen Kogon

The new The Nazi Death Camps Then and Now (After the Battle Books)

And The SS, Alibi of a Nation 1922-1945 by Gerald Reitlinger (more of a big picture / administrative overview of the role played by the SS). This title has been around for quite some time so I cannot verify the accuracy. First printed in 1956, I have the 1981 edition, well before the opening of the archives in Eastern Europe.

[grayson]

Grayson,

Are you looking specifically at Auschwitz or are you looking at the entire camp infrastructure?

Here are two books covering personal accounts

Witness to the Holocaust by Azriel Eisenbert (over 100 eyewitness accounts)

The Theory and Practice of Hell by Eugen Kogon

The new The Nazi Death Camps Then and Now (After the Battle Books)

And The SS, Alibi of a Nation 1922-1945 by Gerald Reitlinger (more of a big picture / administrative overview of the role played by the SS). This title has been around for quite some time so I cannot verify the accuracy. First printed in 1956, I have the 1981 edition, well before the opening of the archives in Eastern Europe.

Hey, thanks for the recommendation. I do like to read personal accounts. I will def. check these out!