In , the end of World War Two in 1945 was time of chaos, fear and soul-searching. Six ordinary Germans who lived through that period tell their stories.
On 8 May 1945 Britain, the US and many other countries were rejoicing. had surrendered, and World War Two was over, at least in Europe.
Yet it was not a day of celebration for everyone - for the vanquished Germans, it marked the end of bombings and of Nazi rule. But it was also a time of deprivation and chaos, fear and soul-searching. Millions of ethnic Germans had fled their homes to escape the approaching Red Army.
Lore Wolfson Windemuth, whose own father grew up under Nazi rule, unearths the stories of ordinary Germans who lived through that extraordinary time. Siegbert Stümpke was a 12-year-old schoolboy who was used as a runner by the German Wehrmacht in the final days of the war. Lore Ehrich, a young mother from East Prussia (now Poland) had to flee with two small children across a frozen lagoon. Hans Rosenthal was Jewish, and survived the Holocaust hidden in a Berlin allotment colony before very nearly getting shot by the Soviet liberators. Melita Maschmann, who got hooked on Nazi ideology aged 15, became a youth leader and took years to acknowledge her share of the responsibility for the crimes committed by the National Socialists.
Narrator: Lore Wolfson Windemuth
Producer and editor: Kristine Pommert
Research: Katie Harris
A CTVC production for the BBC World Service
(Photo: Siegbert Stuempke and his family)
Extracts from Melita Maschmann’s story with kind permission by Plunkett Lake Press
Pianist: Virginia Firnberg
