Through The Eyes Of Innocents Children Witness World War II

by Werner, Emmy E

• ISBN13: 9780813338682
• ISBN10: 0813338689
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-04-26
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

World War II was the first modern war in which more civilians than soldiers were killed or maimed: When it ended in August 1945, more than thirty-nine millions civilians had died as a direct result of the war, and some thirteen million of these were children. InThrough the Eyes of Innocents,Emmy Werner tells the story of the children of World War II through their own words. Drawing on diaries, letters, and journals kept by youngsters caught up in the war, Werner shows the universality of their experience. Children and teenagers from a dozen countries - England, Germany, France, Japan, the former Soviet Union, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Poland and the United States - are all represented in some 200 eye-witness accounts. Werner focuses on their shared reactions to the war, the hardships they endured, how they coped, and how the war experience shaped their lives. The message they share with other children in contemporary wars is an extraordinary affirmation of life and the sustaining power of hope and human decency.

Author Biography

Emmy E. Werner is a developmental psychologist and research professor at the University of California at Davis. She is the author of many books, including Through the Eyes of Innocents (Westview Press 2000); Reluctant Witnesses (Westview Press, 1998); Pioneer Children on the Journey West (Westview Press 1995).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Acknowledgments and Credits	xiii
Prologue	1	(6)
War Breaks Out	7	(18)
Meeting the Enemy	25	(14)
Leaving Home	39	(22)
So Far and Yet So Near	61	(18)
Behind Barbed Wire	79	(22)
The Schoolgirl and the General	101	(16)
In Harm's Way	117	(24)
Surviving the Firestorm	141	(22)
We Regret to Inform You	163	(14)
Picking Up the Pieces	177	(14)
The Kindness of Strangers	191	(20)
Whatever Happened to the Children?	211	(20)
Select Chronology of World War II	231	(4)
Notes	235	(12)
Bibliography	247	(10)
Index	257