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Hitler’s Boy Soldiers: How My Father’s Generation Was Trained to Kill and Sent to Die for Germany
A shocking personal memoir and a new perspective on World War II that follows the author’s journey in the footsteps of her father’s youth as one of Hitler’s child soldiers—bringing to light the untold story of the 300,000 German children who served in Hitler’s army
When Helene Munson finally reads her father, Hans Dunker’s, wartime journal, she discovers secrets he kept buried for seven decades. This is no ordinary historical document but a personal account of devastating trauma.During World War II, the Nazis trained some three hundred thousand German children to fight—and die—for Hitler. Hans was just one of those boy soldiers. Sent to an elite school for the gifted at nine years old, he found himself in the grip of a system that substituted dummy grenades for Frisbees. By age seventeen, Hans had shot down Allied pilots with antiaircraft artillery. In the desperate, final stage of Hitler’s war, he was sent on a suicide mission to Závada on the Sudetenland front, where he witnessed the death of his schoolmates—and where Helene begins to retrace her father’s footsteps after his death.As Helene translates Hans’s journal and walks his path of suffering and redemption, she uncovers the lost history of an entire generation brainwashed by the Third Reich’s school system and funneled into the Hitler Youth.A startling new account of this dark era, Hitler’s Boy Soldiers grapples with inherited trauma, the burden of guilt, and the blurred line between “perpetrator” and “victim.” It is also a poignant tale of forgiveness, as Helene comes to see her late father as not just a soldier but as one child in a sea of three hundred thousand forced onto the wrong side of history—and left to answer for it.
When Helene Munson finally reads her father, Hans Dunker’s, wartime journal, she discovers secrets he kept buried for seven decades. This is no ordinary historical document but a personal account of devastating trauma.During World War II, the Nazis trained some three hundred thousand German children to fight—and die—for Hitler. Hans was just one of those boy soldiers. Sent to an elite school for the gifted at nine years old, he found himself in the grip of a system that substituted dummy grenades for Frisbees. By age seventeen, Hans had shot down Allied pilots with antiaircraft artillery. In the desperate, final stage of Hitler’s war, he was sent on a suicide mission to Závada on the Sudetenland front, where he witnessed the death of his schoolmates—and where Helene begins to retrace her father’s footsteps after his death.As Helene translates Hans’s journal and walks his path of suffering and redemption, she uncovers the lost history of an entire generation brainwashed by the Third Reich’s school system and funneled into the Hitler Youth.A startling new account of this dark era, Hitler’s Boy Soldiers grapples with inherited trauma, the burden of guilt, and the blurred line between “perpetrator” and “victim.” It is also a poignant tale of forgiveness, as Helene comes to see her late father as not just a soldier but as one child in a sea of three hundred thousand forced onto the wrong side of history—and left to answer for it.
336 pages, Hardcover
Published May 24, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
November 10, 2023
There are many books dealing with the youth that grew up under heavy indoctrination in Nazi Germany, but this is the first book in English I find from the perspective of a Kriegsenkel, one of the "grandchildren of war" that live haunted by the legacy of the childhood trauma suffered by their Kriegskinder ("children of war") parents, and comes to fill a gap in WWII history that's not that well-studied in the Anglophone sphere, although there are already some books of this kind in German.
Hitler's child soldiers were boys (and many girls) that were forced to fight in the war either as Flak (anti-aircraft) helpers or as regular soldiers in SS and Wehrmacht units when aged ranging from 12 to 17, hardly old enough to finish school but cynically used by the Nazi hierarchy as cannon fodder. Because you can't call these children anything but that in view of how callously they were groomed to defend the Nazi ideology & regime in the Hitler Youth groups and elite schools, where they often were subjected to insidious brainwashing without the knowledge or consent of their parents. The author's father, Hans, is used as the poster child of this indoctrination process, describing through his diary entries, pictures, eyewitness accounts of other child soldiers that crossed his path, and primary and secondary sources the author consulted, thoroughly chronicling his life story from a sweet child growing up in South America to his being dropped off in Germany by his trusting parents to get an education that would turn him into a soldier.
The process is subtler than you'd think. To us, with our knowledge and hindsight, it looks so obvious what the Nazis were doing. Their techniques and methods look so easy to spot and refute. But that's the distance of time and history. Back then, for the generation born in the pre-war years, it wasn't that obvious. These children didn't know any better. Two passages in particular struck me because they underline how innocent those kids were: Helene Munson says that when he arrived in Germany at age 9, her father didn't know people used to greet each other with "Good morning" before because all he heard was the "Heil Hilter!" salute; and the testimony of former very young Hitler Youth members that they didn't know what the songs they sang so merrily meant. How is that even possible? Because the Nazis had aptitude for control of the masses, and quickly saw that the way was progressive: start with the songs with more innocent lyrics first, then increase the belligerence, ultra-nationalism, racial hate, etc., progressively as the child ages.
The poor children were ripe for the plucking, and plucked they were, by the thousands and thousands. By the end, Germany had the unenviable record of having mobilised the largest-ever number of child soldiers: 200,000 to 300,000 young boys and girls. It's a shocking amount; no army ever since has mobilised that many children to fight and die senselessly in war.
Such tragic experience that early in life comes at a price: trauma. Helene Munson tells about the trauma her father carried on his shoulders for the rest of his life, trauma that affected her and her siblings. She describes in detail how, and in what ways, her father's untreated PTSD as well as her mother's horrible experiences in the war permeated everything in her life. I appreciate her willingness to ask the tough questions, and to admit to discomfort with certain realities of life at the time, her willingness to look inward, and the ability to call out those who aided and abetted the sweeping under the rug of this topic of child war victims of Nazism, those that preferred silence to providing an outlet, to the cover-up of the lasting trauma of the children that underwent Napola, Adolf Hitler schools, Feldafing elite boarding school, Hitler Youth, BDM, etc., in preparation to take over as soldiers for a brutal regime. At one point, Munson says that, although Germany has been willing to face the atrocities it committed during the war, it's been very unwilling to address the fact that it misused and warped the mind of its own children for nefarious ends. This book, hopefully, will help bring it to the public square for discussion and debate.
Hitler's child soldiers were boys (and many girls) that were forced to fight in the war either as Flak (anti-aircraft) helpers or as regular soldiers in SS and Wehrmacht units when aged ranging from 12 to 17, hardly old enough to finish school but cynically used by the Nazi hierarchy as cannon fodder. Because you can't call these children anything but that in view of how callously they were groomed to defend the Nazi ideology & regime in the Hitler Youth groups and elite schools, where they often were subjected to insidious brainwashing without the knowledge or consent of their parents. The author's father, Hans, is used as the poster child of this indoctrination process, describing through his diary entries, pictures, eyewitness accounts of other child soldiers that crossed his path, and primary and secondary sources the author consulted, thoroughly chronicling his life story from a sweet child growing up in South America to his being dropped off in Germany by his trusting parents to get an education that would turn him into a soldier.
The process is subtler than you'd think. To us, with our knowledge and hindsight, it looks so obvious what the Nazis were doing. Their techniques and methods look so easy to spot and refute. But that's the distance of time and history. Back then, for the generation born in the pre-war years, it wasn't that obvious. These children didn't know any better. Two passages in particular struck me because they underline how innocent those kids were: Helene Munson says that when he arrived in Germany at age 9, her father didn't know people used to greet each other with "Good morning" before because all he heard was the "Heil Hilter!" salute; and the testimony of former very young Hitler Youth members that they didn't know what the songs they sang so merrily meant. How is that even possible? Because the Nazis had aptitude for control of the masses, and quickly saw that the way was progressive: start with the songs with more innocent lyrics first, then increase the belligerence, ultra-nationalism, racial hate, etc., progressively as the child ages.
The poor children were ripe for the plucking, and plucked they were, by the thousands and thousands. By the end, Germany had the unenviable record of having mobilised the largest-ever number of child soldiers: 200,000 to 300,000 young boys and girls. It's a shocking amount; no army ever since has mobilised that many children to fight and die senselessly in war.
Such tragic experience that early in life comes at a price: trauma. Helene Munson tells about the trauma her father carried on his shoulders for the rest of his life, trauma that affected her and her siblings. She describes in detail how, and in what ways, her father's untreated PTSD as well as her mother's horrible experiences in the war permeated everything in her life. I appreciate her willingness to ask the tough questions, and to admit to discomfort with certain realities of life at the time, her willingness to look inward, and the ability to call out those who aided and abetted the sweeping under the rug of this topic of child war victims of Nazism, those that preferred silence to providing an outlet, to the cover-up of the lasting trauma of the children that underwent Napola, Adolf Hitler schools, Feldafing elite boarding school, Hitler Youth, BDM, etc., in preparation to take over as soldiers for a brutal regime. At one point, Munson says that, although Germany has been willing to face the atrocities it committed during the war, it's been very unwilling to address the fact that it misused and warped the mind of its own children for nefarious ends. This book, hopefully, will help bring it to the public square for discussion and debate.
June 27, 2022
“Various military historians have put forward earlier, de facto dates of when the war was lost, linking them to different German military defeats. To me, the war was lost the day it was decided to use children as soldiers.”
‘The past cannot be undone, but we can try to make the future better."
It can rightly be said that the Nazis committed a multitude of unforgivable crimes. Against the Jews. Against the Poles. Against the Russians. Against countless innocent civilians both in Germany and the countries they ravaged.
It can also perhaps be said that the greatest and most unforgivable crime perpetrated by the Nazis was the destruction of an entire generation of German children who unlike other victims of the Nazis, were forced to continue on living with the guilt and horrors of what they had done while also bearing the scorn of other Germans who saw them as war criminals.
This book deals with that generation of children drafted into the Reich’s service in the final and futile days of WW2. Many of them had since the 1930’s been indoctrinated into a Nazi ideology that had no room for being a child or feeling emotions. Instead they systematically drilled everything that made them human, and more importantly children, out of them until they were ready to throw their bodies into the Nazi meat grinder.
The true horrors these children experienced are well documented here via the diary of the author’s father who describes in great detail what it was like to be a child soldier for Hitler. The constant fear of death, mental and physical abuse from the adults ostensibly there to care for them, hunger, cold, and an eventual sense of disillusionment that no child should ever have to suffer.
As we read more of his diary, we realize just how tragically the adults have failed these children. Instilling a kind of cruelty and willingness to sacrifice your life for Hitler and then running away and abandoning them at the front during battles. It is not merely shocking to read of hypocritical Nazi commanders of Hitler Youth brigades simply running away and leaving children to fend for themselves:
“Where were their unrelenting Nazi leaders now that true leadership was required to solve this monumental logistical problem of defeat? Where was Baldur von Schirach who had made his boys sing, ‘The flag is more than death’. He abandoned his unit of juveniles as they were fighting to defend Vienna. Schirach, afraid of bombs, had built himself an impressive bunker underneath the city and escaped totally unharmed.”
It leaves the reader with the sense that even when you thought the Nazis couldn’t be any more despicable than they already were, we discover we were sorely mistaken.
As these children became adults in the postwar, many of them like the author’s father, struggled to integrate back into society. Under the constant cloud of their own sense of guilt, as well as the constant fear of losing one’s career or family if their deeds came to light, many of them simply didn’t talk about those years.
Others like the author Gunter Grass, himself a child soldier, apologized for his deeds as a child after being exposed by the German media.
Personally, I have a difficult time blaming children who were compelled by force to join the war. Not only their own lives were threatened but those of their families and friends. It in fact can be hardly be called a choice at all. As the author notes:
“By 1939, about 90 percent of children classified as Aryan belonged to Nazi youth groups, and it became compulsory to attend Hitler Youth events….The Nazi regime rounded up between two hundred thousand and three hundred thousand child soldiers. To this day, it is the largest mobilization of underage combatants by any one country, more than all the countries in the world put together are using today.”
When we call someone like Grass a war criminal, we cheapen the title that truly despicable men and women who consciously and enthusiastically fought for Hitler deserve.
These were children had not only their childhoods stolen from them, but their futures as well.
It is the worst kind of tragedy and as the author points out, one that continues with child soldiers around the world today.
February 6, 2022
I would like to thank The Experiment and Workman Publishing for an eARC of this book.
Prior to changing my undergraduate major to anthropology, I was a double major in both German language education and historical preservation. There is no doubt in my mind that had I continued on with my previous plan, I would have a Ph.D. in history rather than in anthropology. This was confirmed when I absolutely could not put down Munson's HILTER'S BOY SOLDIERS: HOW MY FATHER'S GENERATION WAS TRAINED TO KILL AND SENT TO DIE FOR GERMANY.
Munson focused on how the Nazi bureaucracy systematically took over every aspect of children's lives, warping both their emotions and their intellect in order to exploit children for the Nazi's own gain. To illustrate this, Munson used her own father's life as an example. As only a teenager during the Nazi era, he and other children were continuously bombarded with Nazi rhetoric and propaganda by the very adults who were supposed to be responsible for their welfare.
The author used her father's diary, along with incredible research on her own part, to reveal exactly how children were groomed: by weeding out individualism, emotions, and compassion; by minimizing the role of the children's families; and by playing on the emotions of young children (and adults), about their so-called superiority over others.
Munson's book on children during the Nazi era is not the first. The author provided citations and resources to others, some of whom published their works even before the US became involved in World War II. But the author's book is different because she approached her research, and her writing, as a child survivor of another child survivor and related how this transgenerational guilt, and silence, affected (and continues to affect) German people.
The book provides glimpses into Munson's father's life during his childhood in Nazi Germany, stating that, "...Germany's children were truly the last forgotten group of Nazi victims..." Throughout the text, Munson physically follows her father's footsteps from Chile, to Germany, and then into what is now the Czech Republic; from school days where the children were groomed to be foot soldiers, to the battlefields where many lost their lives.
Munson asks herself, and her readers, difficult questions that often do not result in black-and-white answers. I completely understood this because anthropologists understand that the world itself is not black-and-white, but rather various gradations of gray.
The author included several appendixes, and although I appreciate those additions, the author's writing was so clear that I never needed to consult them. This was a beautifully written book and timely, given both the current fighting over the content taught in schools. The author pointed out that Germany incorporated the largest number of child soldiers into their army--more than any other country to date. The warnings that her book highlights are important, given the ongoing use of child soldiers in the present era. I strongly recommend this book be placed in every library around the world.
**This review appears on both Goodreads and Edeweiss+**
Prior to changing my undergraduate major to anthropology, I was a double major in both German language education and historical preservation. There is no doubt in my mind that had I continued on with my previous plan, I would have a Ph.D. in history rather than in anthropology. This was confirmed when I absolutely could not put down Munson's HILTER'S BOY SOLDIERS: HOW MY FATHER'S GENERATION WAS TRAINED TO KILL AND SENT TO DIE FOR GERMANY.
Munson focused on how the Nazi bureaucracy systematically took over every aspect of children's lives, warping both their emotions and their intellect in order to exploit children for the Nazi's own gain. To illustrate this, Munson used her own father's life as an example. As only a teenager during the Nazi era, he and other children were continuously bombarded with Nazi rhetoric and propaganda by the very adults who were supposed to be responsible for their welfare.
The author used her father's diary, along with incredible research on her own part, to reveal exactly how children were groomed: by weeding out individualism, emotions, and compassion; by minimizing the role of the children's families; and by playing on the emotions of young children (and adults), about their so-called superiority over others.
Munson's book on children during the Nazi era is not the first. The author provided citations and resources to others, some of whom published their works even before the US became involved in World War II. But the author's book is different because she approached her research, and her writing, as a child survivor of another child survivor and related how this transgenerational guilt, and silence, affected (and continues to affect) German people.
The book provides glimpses into Munson's father's life during his childhood in Nazi Germany, stating that, "...Germany's children were truly the last forgotten group of Nazi victims..." Throughout the text, Munson physically follows her father's footsteps from Chile, to Germany, and then into what is now the Czech Republic; from school days where the children were groomed to be foot soldiers, to the battlefields where many lost their lives.
Munson asks herself, and her readers, difficult questions that often do not result in black-and-white answers. I completely understood this because anthropologists understand that the world itself is not black-and-white, but rather various gradations of gray.
The author included several appendixes, and although I appreciate those additions, the author's writing was so clear that I never needed to consult them. This was a beautifully written book and timely, given both the current fighting over the content taught in schools. The author pointed out that Germany incorporated the largest number of child soldiers into their army--more than any other country to date. The warnings that her book highlights are important, given the ongoing use of child soldiers in the present era. I strongly recommend this book be placed in every library around the world.
**This review appears on both Goodreads and Edeweiss+**
March 19, 2022
I swore I’d never read another book about Nazis. I never would give them any additional reading time. Yet when I saw this book, I requested an ARC, and I’m not sure why. Maybe because it was dealing with children who were sent off to fight in a lost war. How pathetic is that? Some were as young as 15. The author’s father was 17 and had been in a Hitler school since he was 10. Germany had all sorts of Hitler schools indoctrinating children in Nazism and Hitler worship. Some children never knew a life before Hitler.
Much of the book has excerpts from the journal the author’s father kept as a boy, which included the time period when he was sent to the front to fight in the spring of 1945. Any reader looking for lots of military information may be disappointed. There is no shortage of those sort of details, but her father, Hans Dunker, was an introspective teenager who also often wrote about nature. Nature was the only thing that still had any real beauty during the war. Everything else was ugly or quickly turning ugly, except for friendship with the other boys Herr Dunker went to school with at Reichsschule der NSDAP Feldafing (RSF).
Like many who fought in WWII, Helene Munson’s father only talked of those days in a very limited way. After he died, she regretted not trying to get him to talk more. That was one reason for this book–-trying to tell the story of the indoctrinated German children and how that indoctrination affected their whole lives. Of course, the author has many concerns about guilt. Not only her father’s guilt, but the guilt she considered the children of Nazis possibly had, due to their parents’ lives. Guilt by association. Guilt by blood.
In addition, like her father, she felt trying to describe his suffering was possibly going to be seen as minimizing the suffering of Holocaust victims, and all the others the Nazis harmed. It’s a real concern, too. While reading the story, it was hard not to think whatever bad things happened to the Germans during and after the war was deserved. They brought it all on themselves with their arrogance and cruelty. I admit that thought occurred to me more than once, and I felt guilty thinking like that at times, too.
The indoctrinated boy soldiers living at a Nazi school and sent off to the front actually believed their cause was good, their fighting was just. It’s not really fair to think they should have thought otherwise. Yet it was impossible for me to feel full compassion, to fully recognize their suffering. The Nazis did so much harm to people and property. The Germans chose an insane, cruel leader, believed his insanity and carried out his cruelty. They believed they truly were a superior race. Not all Germans, of course, but I still can’t feel the compassion for the author’s father that I think I should feel. I simply cannot do so, even after reading this well-written, empathetic book. I simply cannot do so.
(Note: I received a free e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher or author.)
Much of the book has excerpts from the journal the author’s father kept as a boy, which included the time period when he was sent to the front to fight in the spring of 1945. Any reader looking for lots of military information may be disappointed. There is no shortage of those sort of details, but her father, Hans Dunker, was an introspective teenager who also often wrote about nature. Nature was the only thing that still had any real beauty during the war. Everything else was ugly or quickly turning ugly, except for friendship with the other boys Herr Dunker went to school with at Reichsschule der NSDAP Feldafing (RSF).
Like many who fought in WWII, Helene Munson’s father only talked of those days in a very limited way. After he died, she regretted not trying to get him to talk more. That was one reason for this book–-trying to tell the story of the indoctrinated German children and how that indoctrination affected their whole lives. Of course, the author has many concerns about guilt. Not only her father’s guilt, but the guilt she considered the children of Nazis possibly had, due to their parents’ lives. Guilt by association. Guilt by blood.
In addition, like her father, she felt trying to describe his suffering was possibly going to be seen as minimizing the suffering of Holocaust victims, and all the others the Nazis harmed. It’s a real concern, too. While reading the story, it was hard not to think whatever bad things happened to the Germans during and after the war was deserved. They brought it all on themselves with their arrogance and cruelty. I admit that thought occurred to me more than once, and I felt guilty thinking like that at times, too.
The indoctrinated boy soldiers living at a Nazi school and sent off to the front actually believed their cause was good, their fighting was just. It’s not really fair to think they should have thought otherwise. Yet it was impossible for me to feel full compassion, to fully recognize their suffering. The Nazis did so much harm to people and property. The Germans chose an insane, cruel leader, believed his insanity and carried out his cruelty. They believed they truly were a superior race. Not all Germans, of course, but I still can’t feel the compassion for the author’s father that I think I should feel. I simply cannot do so, even after reading this well-written, empathetic book. I simply cannot do so.
(Note: I received a free e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher or author.)
May 24, 2022
Unimaginable
What a superbly written title in Hitler’s Boy Soldiers: How My Father’s Generation Was Trained to Kill and Sent to Die for Germany by Helene Munson. I just became fan of this author! Whatever this author writes, I read. I haven't read work from this author before, and I more than enjoyed this story. It probably sounds strange that I enjoyed this story of the life that Munson's father, amid the destruction of the boy soldiers, that he was, but it was eye-opening, and I couldn't put it down. I am fan of WWII history, and love to the memoirs of those who were there, and how they survived. Sometimes they didn't survive, but someone did to tell their story. Munson read her father's journa, and discovered some terribly, unimaginable treatments of her father. Once a boy soldier for Nazi Germany. Once of the things that caught my eye when reading this was how the young generation was permanently scarred by brainwashing. It's a very saddening, emotional, and even at times, you have to put it down to take a break, true story. Munson now has a different perspective of her late father, and she was heartened enough to translate his journal and share it with all those who read it. I recommend that everyone reads this title. Hitler’s Boy Soldiers is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews. I look forward to reading more titles by this author. I read this book to give my unbiased and honest review.
What a superbly written title in Hitler’s Boy Soldiers: How My Father’s Generation Was Trained to Kill and Sent to Die for Germany by Helene Munson. I just became fan of this author! Whatever this author writes, I read. I haven't read work from this author before, and I more than enjoyed this story. It probably sounds strange that I enjoyed this story of the life that Munson's father, amid the destruction of the boy soldiers, that he was, but it was eye-opening, and I couldn't put it down. I am fan of WWII history, and love to the memoirs of those who were there, and how they survived. Sometimes they didn't survive, but someone did to tell their story. Munson read her father's journa, and discovered some terribly, unimaginable treatments of her father. Once a boy soldier for Nazi Germany. Once of the things that caught my eye when reading this was how the young generation was permanently scarred by brainwashing. It's a very saddening, emotional, and even at times, you have to put it down to take a break, true story. Munson now has a different perspective of her late father, and she was heartened enough to translate his journal and share it with all those who read it. I recommend that everyone reads this title. Hitler’s Boy Soldiers is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews. I look forward to reading more titles by this author. I read this book to give my unbiased and honest review.
July 12, 2021
I had a chance to read a pre-publication copy:
This book is a must-read for the now-adult children of Hitler's other victims, who struggle with a shameful legacy due to 'Transgenerational Trauma.'
World War II scholars and historians may also increase their understanding of the plight of these previously unexplored victims.
"Boy Soldiers" is based on the diaries written by the author's father, Hans, during the rise of the Third Reich. A bright boy, his expatriate parents, sent him to a German boarding school so he could benefit from what they believed would be a superior education. Unbeknownst to them, the school focused on preparing the boys to become soldiers, not intellectuals. Systematically exposed to unrelenting harsh treatment, the boys were indoctrinated to fight for Hitler's regime. Young Han's words, written shortly after the war ended, are heartbreaking and chilling. In particular, he switches from first to the third person when describing the most horrific acts of brutality in which he participated.
Ms. Munson incorporates the details of her exhaustive research that support her father's journey from an innocent schoolboy to a shattered young man, raising the readers' understanding of the German people's terrifying living conditions, particularly the children, during Hitler's regime. The insidious grasp of Hitler's hold over every aspect of German life defies understanding. Yet, Ms. Munson's personal narration requires the reader to stand as witness to the dire conditions in which people lived.
This book is a must-read for the now-adult children of Hitler's other victims, who struggle with a shameful legacy due to 'Transgenerational Trauma.'
World War II scholars and historians may also increase their understanding of the plight of these previously unexplored victims.
"Boy Soldiers" is based on the diaries written by the author's father, Hans, during the rise of the Third Reich. A bright boy, his expatriate parents, sent him to a German boarding school so he could benefit from what they believed would be a superior education. Unbeknownst to them, the school focused on preparing the boys to become soldiers, not intellectuals. Systematically exposed to unrelenting harsh treatment, the boys were indoctrinated to fight for Hitler's regime. Young Han's words, written shortly after the war ended, are heartbreaking and chilling. In particular, he switches from first to the third person when describing the most horrific acts of brutality in which he participated.
Ms. Munson incorporates the details of her exhaustive research that support her father's journey from an innocent schoolboy to a shattered young man, raising the readers' understanding of the German people's terrifying living conditions, particularly the children, during Hitler's regime. The insidious grasp of Hitler's hold over every aspect of German life defies understanding. Yet, Ms. Munson's personal narration requires the reader to stand as witness to the dire conditions in which people lived.
April 11, 2022
This extraordinary story brings a new angle to Nazi history and WWII seen from the perspective of a boy who is sent from South America to Germany to attend a Nazi elite school. His daughter uses his previously unpublished diaries from school and later on as a juvenile soldier to tell this story. She embarks on a trip to understand who her father really was, a journey that leads her halfway around the world. A must read book for all those interested in new angles of a well documented field and an emotional read.
October 10, 2022
When I was a kid my maternal aunt dated a German man. How he ended up in Iowa was never explained. However he got here, though there has always been a sizable German-American presence in Iowa, he intended on setting up a dental practice. The Iowa Dental Board would not license him unless he completely retrained at the University of Iowa Dental School. This was in the early 1960´s.
Everyone in the family liked him and were sad when he decided to return to the Federal Republic of Germany. My dad, when he was on assignment with Bell Telephone, caught up with him in the 1970´s where he had a successful dental practice in Frankfurt.
Later on my father became friends with a couple in West Berlin. The husband owned a Standard Oil gas station in the downtown area, his wife a nurse. I met them when they come to Iowa for a vacation. Very lovely couple. They loved my dad´s pickup.
The reason I bring these two men up is, they both admitted to being members of the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) and being involved in combat the final years of World War II. But that was as far as they would go. I doubt if they were members of an elite school, but I´m thinking their experiences were similar to author Helene Munson´s father travails. He, I must add, was a remarkably good writer for a 17-year-old in a distressful situation. He grew into an admirable man.
Heartbreaking is a word that readily comes to mind. And despite centering on events nearly 80 years past, I detected glimpses of what some in this country envision for our battered, bruised and underfunded public school system. This is a memorable and important little book that I encourage all to read.
Everyone in the family liked him and were sad when he decided to return to the Federal Republic of Germany. My dad, when he was on assignment with Bell Telephone, caught up with him in the 1970´s where he had a successful dental practice in Frankfurt.
Later on my father became friends with a couple in West Berlin. The husband owned a Standard Oil gas station in the downtown area, his wife a nurse. I met them when they come to Iowa for a vacation. Very lovely couple. They loved my dad´s pickup.
The reason I bring these two men up is, they both admitted to being members of the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) and being involved in combat the final years of World War II. But that was as far as they would go. I doubt if they were members of an elite school, but I´m thinking their experiences were similar to author Helene Munson´s father travails. He, I must add, was a remarkably good writer for a 17-year-old in a distressful situation. He grew into an admirable man.
Heartbreaking is a word that readily comes to mind. And despite centering on events nearly 80 years past, I detected glimpses of what some in this country envision for our battered, bruised and underfunded public school system. This is a memorable and important little book that I encourage all to read.
April 26, 2022
An incredibly interesting story. The author traced her father’s movements as a teenaged German soldier. She explored many nuances of her family history, paralleled with German history. I liked all the photographs that were included. She also examined the aftermath of the war on her family and her generation.
Thanks to Edelweiss and the Experiment for the advance read.
Thanks to Edelweiss and the Experiment for the advance read.
January 30, 2023
This book has become very topical with the war in Ukraine where once again young soldiers are sent into combat. It is chilling reminder of what will happen to us if we do not fight such atrocities. Munson's book will become a classic for this little covered aspect of history
July 8, 2022
The author's father, who was one of Hitler's Boy Soldiers, asked his daughter this thought-provoking question: "What would your generation do with the country that my generation had re-built for you?"
In an epilogue at the end of the book, the author answers that question. "Your generation removed the physical ruble and destruction that shaped your youth. You went on to apply what you had learned in such painful lessons by raising us children in an open, democratic society. My generation had to clear away the lingering psychological wreckage of your childhoods. But now, we are ready to show the world the importance of living in a democracy that welcomes everyone. Because we have to stop amplifying our perceived differences and embrace our shared humanity."
I love that statement at the end of the book. This explains one reason I feel passionate about reading and learning about such events in our world's history--my desire to embrace our shared humanity.
Munson's book was a result of her detective work uncovering her father's diary of his youth, enlisted in a "Hitler's youth school" and sent to battle at far too young of an age. The devastating systems set in place, the details of what he and his comrades suffered, what became of those who survived. This is the first I've heard about these boys, who were also victims in WWII.
I read a few WWII memoirs/non-fiction books a year, sprinkled with a few historical fiction novels. I always want to know more about the immediate post-war stories, and this book includes some of those challenges, too, as Hans tries to make it back home, become educated and survive as a refugee with a post-WWII soviet-controlled East Germany.
In an epilogue at the end of the book, the author answers that question. "Your generation removed the physical ruble and destruction that shaped your youth. You went on to apply what you had learned in such painful lessons by raising us children in an open, democratic society. My generation had to clear away the lingering psychological wreckage of your childhoods. But now, we are ready to show the world the importance of living in a democracy that welcomes everyone. Because we have to stop amplifying our perceived differences and embrace our shared humanity."
I love that statement at the end of the book. This explains one reason I feel passionate about reading and learning about such events in our world's history--my desire to embrace our shared humanity.
Munson's book was a result of her detective work uncovering her father's diary of his youth, enlisted in a "Hitler's youth school" and sent to battle at far too young of an age. The devastating systems set in place, the details of what he and his comrades suffered, what became of those who survived. This is the first I've heard about these boys, who were also victims in WWII.
I read a few WWII memoirs/non-fiction books a year, sprinkled with a few historical fiction novels. I always want to know more about the immediate post-war stories, and this book includes some of those challenges, too, as Hans tries to make it back home, become educated and survive as a refugee with a post-WWII soviet-controlled East Germany.
May 24, 2022
Helene Munson’s Hitler’s Boy Soldiers is a deeply moving story of a little studied portion of World War II. Cobbling together the life of her father as a child in the German army, Munson takes the reader through his journey while doing some soul searching herself. The result is a book that, while very small in scope, tackles some much bigger questions about responsibility, generational guilt, and mental health.
Make no mistake, this book will make you feel sick to your stomach. The indoctrination is diabolical and mostly effective. It certainly made me look at Nazis in a slightly different way. When you are told from a very early age how to look at the world, do you have a chance of breaking away from that?
Munson’s book is on the shorter side and does not give an in depth look at the greater events of World War II. However, it does not suffer for it as the story she tells is focused more on family and understanding than anything else.
Make no mistake, this book will make you feel sick to your stomach. The indoctrination is diabolical and mostly effective. It certainly made me look at Nazis in a slightly different way. When you are told from a very early age how to look at the world, do you have a chance of breaking away from that?
Munson’s book is on the shorter side and does not give an in depth look at the greater events of World War II. However, it does not suffer for it as the story she tells is focused more on family and understanding than anything else.
July 5, 2022
This is a valuable historical work. The author based this nonfiction on her father's diary, which he kept as a Hitler Youth. Excerpts from the journal are translated into English and included in the text. This is a first hand account of life as a boy/young man in Nazi Germany with present day analysis. The author performed further research into the locations, organizations, situations, and individuals described in the diary. Due to the nature of the topic, it can be difficult to read in places. However, this is a disturbing subject. The author presented it well. She also included photos of her father and others from the period.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
July 26, 2022
I recieved an advanced copy of this book through the 2022 ALA conference. I really enjoyed learning about the Hitler Youth in more detail. Throughout school we learned minimally about how Hitler had everyone in Germany pledge allegiance to him, and the programs he put in action for kids from practically birth to brainwash them into blindly following. The author's father was directly in the fray of the Hitler Youth and it was very enlightening to read about what happened from a first person point of view. This book was very well written, you can tell the author did their research. Great book!
April 11, 2022
Finally a book that tells History from the other side. What was it like to be a German child during the Hitler regime and WWII? An insightful book written with lots of compassion. An excellent bibliography shows how much careful research went it. I found the chapter on the former SS educational facility 'Castle Birdsong' chilling but fascinating. Outside Germany nobody knows about this place.
April 28, 2022
This real-life story reminds me of the fiction book 'All the light we cannot see.' It is an adventure story and a history lesson at the same time. The author takes us on an exciting journey over countries and continents as she discovers the truth about her father's time as a Nazi elite student and a WWII juvenile soldier.
November 3, 2021
This is the US edition of a thoughtful book originally published in the UK that shows the Nazi regime and war from a different side. It is also a story of human resilience. The author’s father Hans after a traumatic upbringing and terrible war experiences manages to reintegrate into a normal life.
May 9, 2022
Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to read this early addition.
This is an account of WWII and Nazi history spoken by the daughter of a soldier and his personal diary. A great non-fiction read for those who adore non-fiction.
This is an account of WWII and Nazi history spoken by the daughter of a soldier and his personal diary. A great non-fiction read for those who adore non-fiction.
September 7, 2022
Fascinating and incredibly sad story told by the daughter of one of Hitler's child soldiers taken largely from his own diary.
October 4, 2022
Absolutely amazing story!!!! Heartbreaking on so many levels!
November 13, 2022
Eye opening! I've never read from a German perspective and it was truly mind blowing to see the familiar story from the other side. Challenging and heart breaking.
November 21, 2022
It’s extremely important to tell these stories and Helen Munson writes personally and passionately. This is a straight-up historical narrative about the unseen victims of war.
February 27, 2023
Could the author’s father ever earn his redemption?
Helene Munson’s account of her father’s experiences during his formative years, tears at the fabric of what we take for granted as a normal upbringing. But there was nothing normal about Germany during WWII. By showing us the brutal tactics and indoctrination—blatant and subtle, like the ubiquitous wearing of uniforms—of the defense force over their youth, Munson leaves no doubt that the boys recruited were victims. Once deployed into the FLAK artillery he killed for the first time at the age of 15. His justification was his citizenship and sworn loyalty to Hitler’s regime. The powers that be lulled the boys into submission with sanctioned meth and crystal meth. Then came the recruitment of foreign “volunteers”: Romanians, Italians, Hungarians; all of whom were shipped with the boy soldiers to the Eastern Front. Only 5% of the Germans returned. And as the war wound down into chaos, more than 35,000 deserters were convicted and 100,00 women were raped by Russians and Germans returning from the front. Later the author tells us that 1.4 million women were raped in East Prussia, Pomerania, and Silesia. In reprisal, Czech soldiers killed German soldiers. She points out that, “Neither kindness nor cruelty runs along lines of national identity.” Lost in the statistics, this German phrase emerged: “The unimportant ones are hanged; the big ones are allowed to run.”
It was a long way home and throughout the ordeal the author’s father carried a copy of Geothe’s play, Faust; perhaps because the play ends with hope. “He who strives on and lives to strive, can earn redemption still.” But did Vergangenheitsbewaltigung—the coming to terms with the past—ever happen for the author’s father?
The author’s father was held as a prisoner of war in Brazil…where he was accused of being a Nazi. His greatest achievement was Namibia’s bloodless transition to independence. But was it enough to redeem him?
How could the author feel responsible for the cruelty imposed on her father’s generation when she was only born in the 1950s? And yet she did; and decided that his story needed to be told, to ensure that it would never repeat itself. This is what Gunter Grass should have done, she points out. The author criticizes Grass for not telling his story sooner—it would have helped a generation through the trauma. Instead, he obscured the facts.
Munson does not.
We, the reader must decide who the victims are. After the war the author lived in a respectable house, but to the author it was a prison of trauma and below the surface her parents could not talk about the war and took it to their deaths . . . except the author found her father’s diaries. It is not fair, she points out that children should suffer the consequences of their parents’ conflicts . . . that applies to the children of Syria, the Congo, Kosovo and let me add today’s Russian children to the list. Instead, the author leaves us with a plea to embrace our shared humanity.
(This book was purchased from Barnes & Noble.) Highly recommended: Five Stars.
Helene Munson’s account of her father’s experiences during his formative years, tears at the fabric of what we take for granted as a normal upbringing. But there was nothing normal about Germany during WWII. By showing us the brutal tactics and indoctrination—blatant and subtle, like the ubiquitous wearing of uniforms—of the defense force over their youth, Munson leaves no doubt that the boys recruited were victims. Once deployed into the FLAK artillery he killed for the first time at the age of 15. His justification was his citizenship and sworn loyalty to Hitler’s regime. The powers that be lulled the boys into submission with sanctioned meth and crystal meth. Then came the recruitment of foreign “volunteers”: Romanians, Italians, Hungarians; all of whom were shipped with the boy soldiers to the Eastern Front. Only 5% of the Germans returned. And as the war wound down into chaos, more than 35,000 deserters were convicted and 100,00 women were raped by Russians and Germans returning from the front. Later the author tells us that 1.4 million women were raped in East Prussia, Pomerania, and Silesia. In reprisal, Czech soldiers killed German soldiers. She points out that, “Neither kindness nor cruelty runs along lines of national identity.” Lost in the statistics, this German phrase emerged: “The unimportant ones are hanged; the big ones are allowed to run.”
It was a long way home and throughout the ordeal the author’s father carried a copy of Geothe’s play, Faust; perhaps because the play ends with hope. “He who strives on and lives to strive, can earn redemption still.” But did Vergangenheitsbewaltigung—the coming to terms with the past—ever happen for the author’s father?
The author’s father was held as a prisoner of war in Brazil…where he was accused of being a Nazi. His greatest achievement was Namibia’s bloodless transition to independence. But was it enough to redeem him?
How could the author feel responsible for the cruelty imposed on her father’s generation when she was only born in the 1950s? And yet she did; and decided that his story needed to be told, to ensure that it would never repeat itself. This is what Gunter Grass should have done, she points out. The author criticizes Grass for not telling his story sooner—it would have helped a generation through the trauma. Instead, he obscured the facts.
Munson does not.
We, the reader must decide who the victims are. After the war the author lived in a respectable house, but to the author it was a prison of trauma and below the surface her parents could not talk about the war and took it to their deaths . . . except the author found her father’s diaries. It is not fair, she points out that children should suffer the consequences of their parents’ conflicts . . . that applies to the children of Syria, the Congo, Kosovo and let me add today’s Russian children to the list. Instead, the author leaves us with a plea to embrace our shared humanity.
(This book was purchased from Barnes & Noble.) Highly recommended: Five Stars.
April 19, 2023
Today's nonfiction post is on Hitler's Boy Soldiers: How My Father's Generation Was Trained to Kill and Sent to Die for Germany by Helene Munson. It is 366 pages long and is was published by The Experiment. The cover is two pictures of boy soldiers and the author's father. The intended reader is someone who is interested in War World 2 history. There is some mild foul language, no sex, and some violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
From the back of the book- The true, untold story of how Germany's children fought in WWII.
Helene Munson resurrects her father's WWII journals and embarks on a meticulous investigation, exposing how the Nazis trained 300,000 impressionable children as soldiers.
In 1937, Munson's father, Hans was enrolled in an elite German school whose students were destined to take leadership roles in the Reich. At fifteen, he was drafted as an antiaircraft gunner- along with the rest of the Hilter Youth- and assigned to an SS unit. As the was was being lost, Hans and his schoolmates were ordered to the front lines. Few returned.
A personal lens into a nation's shameful past, Hitler's Boy Soldiers documents the history of the largest army of child soldiers in recent memory. Munson explores the lifelong effects on brainwashed children coerced to join a party they didn't understand. Both a modern narrative and an important historical contribution, Hitler's Boy Soldiers grapples with inherited trauma, the nature of being victim or perpetrator, and the burden of guilt.
Review- A moving story of a boy trying to survive then a daughter trying to understand her father and what made him. Munson did not start investigating into her father's life during the war until after his death. Soon this desire to know her father better became an all consuming quest. She not only read his journals, letters, and other first hand documents; she also sought out others who experienced the same things during the war. If you want to see the war from Germany's perspective but not from a member of the Nazi elite but an innocent child, then you need to read this book.
I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.
From the back of the book- The true, untold story of how Germany's children fought in WWII.
Helene Munson resurrects her father's WWII journals and embarks on a meticulous investigation, exposing how the Nazis trained 300,000 impressionable children as soldiers.
In 1937, Munson's father, Hans was enrolled in an elite German school whose students were destined to take leadership roles in the Reich. At fifteen, he was drafted as an antiaircraft gunner- along with the rest of the Hilter Youth- and assigned to an SS unit. As the was was being lost, Hans and his schoolmates were ordered to the front lines. Few returned.
A personal lens into a nation's shameful past, Hitler's Boy Soldiers documents the history of the largest army of child soldiers in recent memory. Munson explores the lifelong effects on brainwashed children coerced to join a party they didn't understand. Both a modern narrative and an important historical contribution, Hitler's Boy Soldiers grapples with inherited trauma, the nature of being victim or perpetrator, and the burden of guilt.
Review- A moving story of a boy trying to survive then a daughter trying to understand her father and what made him. Munson did not start investigating into her father's life during the war until after his death. Soon this desire to know her father better became an all consuming quest. She not only read his journals, letters, and other first hand documents; she also sought out others who experienced the same things during the war. If you want to see the war from Germany's perspective but not from a member of the Nazi elite but an innocent child, then you need to read this book.
I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.
February 8, 2023
With Hitler’s Boy Soldiers, Ms. Munson offers a level of intellectual and emotional engagement usually found only in novels. She does it by chronicling her quest to learn about her father’s World War Two ordeals as a teenager, taken from school late in the war to fight in Germany’s collapsing army. By progressively integrating his war journal with her recent sojourn to his battlefields, Munson leads us to see a largely ignored impact of WW2 on the German psyche.
Entwining stories 70 years apart gives intimate understanding of human tragedies from which we can feel an empathy for ‘ordinary people’ in the long-hated Third Reich. As Munson uses her father’s experiences to drive narrative, we see how the impressively capable, but aloof man was formed during his teens in the cauldron of battle. She shows how the war had similar impact on many German people, and bred traumatic feelings of communal guilt and embarrassment. Although that lingered for decades, Munson does not show it as an excuse, just a fact of German life. The clarity of vision, and precision with which Helene Munson gently reveals it for us, makes her book enlightening and engrossing. I heartily recommend it.
Entwining stories 70 years apart gives intimate understanding of human tragedies from which we can feel an empathy for ‘ordinary people’ in the long-hated Third Reich. As Munson uses her father’s experiences to drive narrative, we see how the impressively capable, but aloof man was formed during his teens in the cauldron of battle. She shows how the war had similar impact on many German people, and bred traumatic feelings of communal guilt and embarrassment. Although that lingered for decades, Munson does not show it as an excuse, just a fact of German life. The clarity of vision, and precision with which Helene Munson gently reveals it for us, makes her book enlightening and engrossing. I heartily recommend it.
February 8, 2023
Reading Helene Munson’s “Hitler’s Boy Soldiers” was a surprisingly delightful experience. I thought I knew what I’d find, as the cover’s blurb told of her quest to learn about her Dad being taken from his school into the failing German army late in World War Two. That simple premise is made intriguing by Ms. Munson having her Dad’s journal to follow his war from northern Germany to Slovakia.
The delights are in how Ms. Munson’s elegant, often poignant text and photos engage our intellect and emotions. She twists a tale of her personal journey onto increasingly detailed, and fascinating journal excerpts, until the final chapters are primarily the teenaged warrior’s words. It engrosses and enlightens us, but more emerges as Ms. Munson subtly exposes World War’s enduring psychological scars on the ‘ordinary people’ of Germany. That subtlety extends to depicting how the Dad she knew, Dr. Hans Dunker, PhD in History, ambassador for the Federal Republic of Germany, family man, and church alderman, was forged and formed by his wartime ordeals.
“Hitler’s Boy Soldiers” is history ranging from global war to a personal battle to maintain strength to survive, or to face whatever a sojourn into family history exposes. It’s a truly excellent book
The delights are in how Ms. Munson’s elegant, often poignant text and photos engage our intellect and emotions. She twists a tale of her personal journey onto increasingly detailed, and fascinating journal excerpts, until the final chapters are primarily the teenaged warrior’s words. It engrosses and enlightens us, but more emerges as Ms. Munson subtly exposes World War’s enduring psychological scars on the ‘ordinary people’ of Germany. That subtlety extends to depicting how the Dad she knew, Dr. Hans Dunker, PhD in History, ambassador for the Federal Republic of Germany, family man, and church alderman, was forged and formed by his wartime ordeals.
“Hitler’s Boy Soldiers” is history ranging from global war to a personal battle to maintain strength to survive, or to face whatever a sojourn into family history exposes. It’s a truly excellent book
October 23, 2023
I am very interested in the role children play ( wrong word) in armed conflicts. The book is an engaging and well-written story of a group of boys going off to war before they can graduate from high school. Just the right mix of a history lesson and a memoir that makes the reader want to find out what happened to the boys.
November 6, 2023
This non-fiction book is a true story of Hitler's child soldiers, trained from a very young age to become 'warriors'. When Helene Munson finally reads the diary and papers found after her father's death, she discovers secrets he had kept buried for decades. This book shows how this psycological trauma effected an entire generation, as well as their families.
November 9, 2023
History is told in a way that one can see, hear, and feel the agony of those young soldiers. A must-read for all of those watching the news right now. The part that was told by the father as a boy was the most impressive. What those boys were subjected to was terrible.
November 9, 2023
This is the American edition of Boy Soldiers. I like the cover better and the pictures are arranged differently but besides that, it is pretty much the same. The difference in the title from British to the American edition is fascinating.
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