Sunday, 28 December 2014

The Heimwehr and the Home Guard

These two organisations are similar. They are made up of man too young or too old to join the main war effort or who are working in reserved occupations and who give some of their free time on a voluntary basis. They help to protect civilians. 
There are a few men in all three strands of the novel who take on this sort of work.  
However, in Germany it took a more sinister turn in 1944 and the Volkssturm, the people’s army, was created. This was a vicious force of former Heimwehr members, Hitler Youth and even BDM members. They were to do everything possible to protect the Fatherland.  It was a last ditch attempt by the German government. The Germans were beginning to lose the war. Also there was much fear that they would be badly treated by the liberators so this civilian population was encouraged to fight hard to the end. At least the patriotic German teen boys in our novel have the sense to capitulate early to the professional American soldiers. Not all did, and some lost their lives in a particularly gruesome way. 
The Volkssturm became a highly organised paramilitary organisation though was made up of mainly the Hitler Youth, men invalided out of the army and those who have been declared unfit for active service.  

Food for thought: 

Why do you think so many teen boys were willing to take on the Allies when they moved into Germany?
How might their training with the Hitler Youth have helped these young people?
The Heimwehr is similar to our own Home Guard. However, there are differences. Can you think what they might be?       

Saturday, 29 November 2014

The Blackout


Sunday, 9 November 2014


Literally the Reich’s Work Service. It was also known as the RAD. If young women had been to one of the schools where they learnt how to do housekeeping they only had to do half a year. The girls would go to camps and live in barracks. They were then taught a variety of skills including household management and childcare.  This was in line with the Nazi ideal of producing efficient mothers. After six months, the girls might have an outside placement, perhaps helping on a farm, helping a family that had over five children or helping at a hospital. They might have also been kept at the camp to help teach other girls. They would then go on to their Kriegshilfsdienst  
It was created in 1934 to help to reduce unemployment. However, as the war progressed there was plenty of employment especially for the men. At the time of our story it was mainly a training programme for women and got them ready for the later Kriegshilfsdienst though men involved still were used on major projects such as the construction of motorways.

Thursday, 16 October 2014


Here are some descriptions of some places mentioned in the story or mentioned in the letters written by the real German girls. It is worth considering these places, both as they were then and as they are now, as this gives a greater sense of what it might have been like for these young girls growing up in Nazi Germany.
A real puzzle is that Hitler constantly argued for more Lebensraum  - “ living room” for Germans.  Yet they had many wide open spaces. It was also quite difficult sometimes, for those who lived in the countryside, where bombs were scarcer and food more plentiful, at first at least, really to realise that they were at war.

Saturday, 4 October 2014

Writer’s in cafés: Gill James at The Art of Tea, working on Girl in a Smart Uniform

The Art of Tea in Didsbury village is my sort of place. I spent a pleasant afternoon there recently as I took a day’s leave. What does a writer do on a day’s leave? Sit and write of course. Busman’s holiday or what? Read more... 

Monday, 15 September 2014

Nazi Key Figures

Adolf Eichmann 


Monday, 1 September 2014



What about farm animals and pets? 
How does that compare with our experience in the 21st Century. 

Tuesday, 19 August 2014

Land Girls


Which jobs are a farm are easier in the 21st century?
Why was ENSA useful?
Would something like ENSA be uesful today?
Do we in fact have anything like that?      

Wednesday, 13 August 2014



Was it right to intern German Jews during World War II?
Can an internment camp be made humane?