Surviving 'Uncle Hitler': Journey of a German Girl

4 Stars

I think it could have done the author well to put the Author's Note first in this story of her life. Throughout the book, I was constantly comparing her journey with those who had it much worse; those in the cattle cars she saw, and those in German work camps, not refuge camps. But once reaching the end and reading her note, I came to see this was her difficult journey and the hard life she knew and it was meant to point the reader to the amazing and magnificent plan and works of her Lord Jesus Christ. It was not necessarily meant to show the atrocities she endured, but to point to the one who worked all things in her life for the good of those who follow Him.

When looking back on the story with that lens, I see the inner show more struggle of a young girl and young teen trying to find herself and her place in the midst of the horrors of war. Christ Jesus found her in that midst and showed her joy, love and belonging. This is not a war story, but a story of Christ and His love for His children. It was a beautiful story of how time and time again He showed up and brought them through their struggles and revealed Himself in their struggles. It that sense, it was magnificent.

**I received an ARC of this book through a LibraryThing giveaway in exchange for an honest review. show less

If you read a lot of holocaust era literature, this memoir might be quite different from what you have previously read. It is told by an age six through late teen year old God-fearing German girl who believed what adults told her. Experiencing her war years being displaced and as a refugee, you, the reader experience the horror as you understand the events and sights she does not comprehend. Besides dealing with the daily physical struggle to survive with food and shelter you experience the difficulty she has in getting along with her strict and seemingly uncaring mother. One thing that this book covers that other memoirs have not is the importance of the rebuilding and charity given by the US government and relatives in Detroit after show more the war which was crucial in the family's survival. I received an arc copy for an honest review for the Early Reviewers program from LibraryThing. show less

This is a fascinating book that reads as exactly what it is: the recollections of an elderly woman looking back on her childhood in WWII. The narrative bounces around in time a bit, as you would expect your grandmother to as she tells you stories from her youth. While that was sometimes distracting, the overall picture Null paints of how Germany slipped into its "greatest sin" is worth reading. Her first mention of the Hitler Youth is a positive one as they helped return her toddler brother when he wandered from home. She describes how her father was hired by the Nazis when others could not. She explains how "Uncle Hitler" was respected as the man who would bring Germany of its WWI shame. She also tells a somewhat-unbelievable story of show more her mother and aunt hitting soldiers with their purses and demanding they give Jews locked in train cars water. These instances, as well as her German brother's forward, could have just made this book another entry in German WWII apologetics.

It's more than that, though. It's a refugee and immigrant story. It's a powerful reflection on the relationship between Null and her mother. It's a testimony about Null's Christian faith. It's a legacy to her family. It is a very human story from a perspective you don't always see. I think with a bit more editing to the narrative-style, this would have easily been a 4-star review. show less

Good insight into what German civilians/children went through as WWII wound down. This is a side of the story we often don't hear much about. I've read much on the military aspects of WWII and on Holocaust survivors/issues, but not a lot about normal German citizens trying to live their lives and survive. At times, the book is a little preachy for my taste, but that was the author's goal--to show how God worked miracles in her life.

This is a nonfiction memoir about a girl who survived WWII, and it covers not only the war years but also the years after the war. It took place mainly in Germany, but also partly in the United States. This is not the average war-time memoir... it tells the story from the perspective of a Christian German girl who saw the atrocities of both sides, and was caught right in the middle.

This is a very good, very interesting, must-read book for everybody interested in World War Two history. The author writes well, drawing with words vivid representations of her experiences as a youth during the war. She seasons her book with her deep love for the Lord, and attributes her and her family's survival through bombings and devastation to His mercy show more and love. She does still have a little bit of wartime brainwashing that stuck with her over the years, but this is common and to be expected, and it does not effect my rating any. show less

Surviving ‘Uncle Hitler’: Journey of a German Girl

First things first. This book is not particularly compelling, but that doesn’t mean it lacks merit of a sort. This is the tale of a child of six, at the beginning caught up in a world she has no possible way of understanding.

She is German, taught like all children to believe what the adults tell her. “Surviving Uncle Hitler” is a memoir by Dorothea Wollin Null, the story of trying to make sense of the world she was born into. As a German, she is caught up in the repercussions of the war Hitler started, suffering all the horrors of war as the tide of battle turns against the Wehrmacht.

One of the first questions that Holocaust survivors ask is why didn’t the German people know show more of the atrocities that were going on in the concentration camps? Why didn’t the German people that lived nearby the death camps do anything to help?

Should we feel sorry for Dorothea? She is, of course in no way responsible for the horrible events, that because of her age she neither knew or understood. As an adult she now does know and understands. She is inspired by her faith to do what she can to make amends to the Jews for the great evils committed against them, and prays, as we all do, for the peace of the world.

Sunie Levin show less

I really enjoyed this book. It's always interesting hearing from first hand accounts of what really happened during the war. Dorothea also emphasized how many of the horrors of war happened after the war.