War and Crime

Overview

In the entries, we find descriptions of moments of happiness, youth, dance lessons, longing and love; but also of the first - still hesitant - Nazi salute, Gestapo surveillance, "Aryan certificates," hunger, and the threat of deportation. They capture a time when many looked the other way, remained silent, or became complicit. They speak of what it felt like when the war "came home," the fear of nights spent in bunkers, and the hope of survival. The diarists wrote with the urgency of the present, not knowing what tomorrow would bring. Their stories reflect the rise, reign, and eventual downfall of the Nazi regime.