Category: Field Studies

In Chapter 12 of Berlin at War, Moorhouse touches upon the differences in burials between those taking place at Berlin’s Invaliden cemetery and those taking place at Weissensee. Invaliden became a burial ground for prominent members of the military, whereas Weissensee “became a last refuge for the desperate” (262). In Invaliden, angels and eagles predominated….

As WWII progressed, so too did the death toll. Whereas in normal times all families would be able to place death notices in the local paper, with the increase in demand for notices, it became more difficult to obtain a mention. At the beginning of the war, the wording of the notices was chosen by…

I find it absolutely incredible the number of groups that opposed the Nazi Party during their rise to power in the 1930s and during the Second World War of the 1940s. Protests were especially strong in the German capital, where Hitler failed to capture a third of the votes in any single election. Berlin at…

Ich zeige dich an, junger Mann! (“I’ll have you arrested, you impudent young man!”) Even if the Nazis couldn’t control, know, and watch over everything, they still wanted to. So, they asked the general population in Berlin and large metropolitan areas to help them out. Any suspicious activity was to be reported if seen. For…

We’re all used to almost international programs on our TVs. But what type of broadcasts were available to those with the resources to purchase a personal radio or go to a bar or restaurant with a radio when the technology was just emerging in Germany? Certainly not programs with as international a scope. In Germany,…

It’s funny and sad how the V-Men and the Gestapo treated Germans in contrast to the prejudice the system had against other ethnicities. The story in which a young woman was let off for singing an offensive song reminds me of a recent happening in which an underage white girl at a music festival was…

I am curious to know what the differences were between the KLV children and the British children evacuated to the countryside. Were both groups as oblivious to the danger of the war?  What sort of experiences would each have had in their respective new homes? I’m especially curious to know how the ideas of the…

Through my history classes I have learned about the war but what I really like about this book is that is gives diary entries and has people talking about their experiences. For example, I failed to think about the civilians living in Berlin and the air raids and how it affected people that were simply…

It has now been about a week, since I arrived back home to the States. I find myself still adjusting to being back here. I feel as though mentally I am here, but physically, I am still in England, if that makes any sense. I am so happy to be back home with my parents…

The atmosphere in Germany had been changing around us. Like the seasons go, our world around us began to fade from a warm and welcoming summer into a crisp autumn, we knew it was going to be a long winter. When the Nazi’s came to power we had no idea what that would mean for…