Thoughts on war: “Youth under Fate” – Biographies of young Germans 1946 to 1949 (Published on 08/02/2025)
“Youth under Fate” – A collection of biographies of young Germans from times of totalitarianism and war
In 1950, Christian Wegner Verlag in Hamburg published “Jugend unterm Schicksal – Lebensberichte junger Deutscher 1946 bis 1949” [“Youth under Fate – Life stories of young Germans 1946 to 1949“], edited by Kurt Haß, a collection of excerpts from biographies submitted by young Germans when they registered for their Abitur in said years. In each case, they describe their individual experiences of the Nazi era, the war and the post-war turmoil and the conclusions they drew for themselves and their future. The result is an impressive documentation of the political and social circumstances of the time from a young person’s perspective, which often reveals more between the lines than the mostly neutral language expresses and which is still worth reading when it comes to resisting the beginnings of totalitarianism and war.
Johann St., 21 years old at the time, describes his experiences as follows (from Kurt Haß, Jugend unterm Schicksal – Lebensberichte junger Deutscher 1946 bis 1949 (1950), p. 57 ff. [translation from German language]):
“… I had barely been discharged for a week in August when I received my call-up order from the Wehrmacht. I first had to go through eight weeks of hard training in Neumünster. Then the big traveling life began. For the winter I went to Fallingbostel near Hanover and from there to Norway in March 1944, to various places around Oslo. The crossing in clear weather and calm seas gave me deep impressions. The magnificent view of the Oslo Fjord is unforgettable. I didn’t meet any Norwegians myself; they were very reserved towards us. We weren’t there for long anyway
When the invasion had just begun in the west, our division was transferred to France and was deployed near Caen in July. The superiority with which the enemy confronted us there was monstrous. On August 9, I was wounded by shrapnel in my right knee, left hip and left arm. After an initial operation at the main dressing station, we began the horrible journey back from one sickness collection point to the next, where they were constantly afraid of air raids and yet unable to even move. After a long journey, I finally arrived at a reserve hospital in Chemnitz. When this town was also badly hit by the war, I moved from there to Bad Harzburg. It was here that I experienced the end of the war. We were taken to a prisoner’s hospital in Goslar, and I was released from there in September 1945 after my wounds had healed. I had lost almost all mobility in my right knee joint and would never regain it. So I have a burden to bear for the rest of my life that I have to come to terms with. I went out healthy and returned home as a war invalid.
It is clear that the political and military events of such enormous proportions also forced me to confront them internally. Like most of my comrades, I believed that National Socialism was something great. The fact that I rejected the Hitler Youth didn’t change anything, because I thought it had little in common with the core of the movement. I continued to believe that the war was forced upon us, that we would win it – in short, I believed that what we heard every day in the newspapers and on the radio was true. And is that any wonder, given the credulity of young people and the amount of propaganda they were subjected to, since even school had to teach the same thing and was not allowed to make even the slightest attempt at critical reflection? Only the complete collapse brought the edifice of illusion crashing down.
Even as a recruit, I discovered some glaring contradictions. We were told that military service was a service of honor for the people. But my experience was that I was treated more like a second-class citizen. The first impression was that of imprisonment; we weren’t allowed to leave the barracks for weeks. And the treatment we had to put up with from the non-commissioned officers was unworthy of a human being. I only made the sad observation that many didn’t feel that way, but felt quite comfortable with it. If you were lucky enough to go on leave later on, why weren’t you allowed to use all the trains? Then you often had to stand still on the platform while the civilians boarded in their Sunday best and the train departed unoccupied. And why were cattle cars just good enough for military transports? Was it still appropriate to regard the soldier’s coat as a coat of honor when men who had committed misconduct at home were sent to the front as punishment? And how soon I had to change my mind about the German soldiers’ fanatical will to fight! I didn’t find a single one of the crews who was enthusiastic. I wasn’t either, but unlike many others, I thought it was my natural duty. And how different the heroism of the soldiers is in reality from what is described in many books! Certainly it may be an uplifting feeling to march past the general at parade pace; but in war I have noticed nothing of jubilant charging forward, nothing of enthusiastic cheers and laughing contempt for death. A man remains a man, even when he puts on the gray coat, and his heroism consists of patiently enduring hardship, pain and mortal danger. What gave me support in difficult days was the belief that everything would still make sense and the hope that things would get better again one day.
It wasn’t until the end of the war that I realized what a false foundation the hope of victory rested on, because it was based on unconditional trust in Adolf Hitler. Now I realized how disastrous a system based on blind obedience is. I had already taken a critical view of many things; if I had been consistent, I should at least have had second thoughts, despite all my idolization of Adolf Hitler. I should have thought that it was quite impossible for a single person to guarantee victory in such a war or to bear sole responsibility for his people. I only learned that from the breakdown. And I also came to the realization that I am responsible to myself for every action I take and that no one else can take it away from me. However, the value of the human being must be at the center of all thinking so that we can gain what is missing in our time, respect for the sanctity of human life. But I am also aware of how narrow the limits of human power are and how little we can change in the great course of events around us…”
The most powerful means against the repetition of history are remembrance and commemoration.
(Head picture:
German military cemetery Vossenack, March 2022)
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