Karl Ries
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Title: "Mom, What is Peace?"
Author: Karl Ries
Publisher: Karl Ries, 3033 Ridge Top Road, Tyler, Texas 75703
ISBN: 0-9659514-0-5
Comments: Though not in the same vein as the other books referenced on this website where various authors describe their experiences both prior to the war "overtaking them" both figuratively and literally, and then as they were driven from their homes in the East, this book, relating what is was like to be a child in Germany both during and after the war, is interesting due to the way it focuses on what children do, regardless as to what is going on around them. They still play with toys and other children (though the toys and activities may be different), they still visit their grandparents (though that may be whilst seeing the destruction of the cities they live in) and they still have relationships with their parents (both regardless of, whilst, at the same time, bearing in mind the fact that they are living in the middle of a war or living in the results of that war ending). Of particular interest to me was the author commenting, on pages 173 to 175, about the circumstances of the German POWs held in Soviet, American and French camps, especially concerning the maltreatment in the camp near Bad Kreuznach. The author's comment, on Page 220, whilst discussing the war crimes committed by both sides in the conflict, is, in my humble opinion, as valid now as when he wrote it. "Whoever wins a war can effectively ignore these despicable deeds while the crimes of the loser will be forever kept alive in the memory of all the world."

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