Inge E. Stanneck Gross: Memories of World War II and Its Aftermath: by a Little Girl Growing Up in Berlin

Memories of World War II and Its Aftermath: by a Little Girl Growing Up in Berlin

On August 25, 1940 five years old Inge hears the most frightening thunderstorm of her young life. The next day the Berlin resident learns from her friend six years old Reinhard Engel that the thunder was caused by a British air raid on the city, the first of many to come. From those roots of war on the home front, Inge Stanneck Gross provides a first hand account of growing up during World War II in Berlin and the surrounding areas (her mother relocated them to avoid the constant bombings). Ms. Gross provides a deep account of starvation and fears of death during the war and the decade following the end of the combat. The biography stops in 1954 when the nineteen years old Inge moves to America (a second volume picks up from there).

MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR II AND ITS AFTERMATH: BY A LITTLE GIRL GROWING UP IN BERLIN is a terrific autobiography that brings insight from a person looking back to her childhood in war wracked Berlin. The numerous black and white pictures add depth to the period. Inge E. Stanneck Gross provides a different perspective, that of a frightened innocent residing amidst the tragedies and atrocities of the war. Her viewpoint has been ignored for the most part, but the author brings home the inability of civilians including children to escape war's deadly tentacles. World War II aficionados will appreciate this unique look back while the strong tome should be required reading for courageous DC chicken hawks to see the real cost of war.

Harriet Klausner