Children are frequently one of the unintended casualties of war, but they are also resilient in so many ways, a hopeful spirit, and a reminder of a better world to come. In Emmy Werner’s inspiring account of wartime children amidst the deadliest conflict of all time, we encounter remarkable examples of these human qualities—as war breaks out in Poland, living through the terror of night bomber attacks in London, and urgent evacuations from devastated cities. May this book spur efforts for peace.
Emmy Werner continues her path-breaking research on the question of how children cope with difficult life experiences. At the end of a cruel century, her efforts show that across all nations, religions and races there are forces of resilience fostering children as innocents. Since they are rooted in the nature of man, there is reason for hope.
[Werner] weaves children’s letter, diaries and interviews into a spellbinding narrative that brings WWII’s saturation bombing, surrender, and everything in between into a focus that is sometimes too sharp to bear.
The cumulative effect of the book and its many photographs of war children can move one to tears, or at least to resolve to keep our children—all children—from the insanity, brutality, and futility of future wars.
...a captivating read.
[Werner] successfully weaves reflections and recollections with prose designed to engender compassion and identification, if not theoretical insight into coping with trauma.
How do ordinary children experience war? In this fascinating book Emmy Werner brings us their voices through the use of letters and diaries written during the Second World War from every side of the conflict as well as through interviews with persons who were young at the time. The result is both moving and ultimately encouraging. Most of these children, and she was one of them, show remarkable resilience and grew up to be caring and compassionate adults. This is an inspiration for those of us who care not only about taking children out of wars but also about taking wars out of children.
I have studied World War II from the point of view of the enlisted men, the junior officers, the regimental commanders and ship captains, the senior generals and the admirals, and the President. Never has it occurred to me to look at the conflict from the point of view of the children, even though I was a child myself, ten years old when it ended. Emmy Werner has done all of us, on whatever side, a tremendous service by collecting these accounts from the kids. Wherever they were, whatever their parents were doing, they offer the perspective of those who suffered most. Their cry must never be forgotten — make peace and keep it.
There is nothing quite like an Emmy Werner book and this wonderful account of children's experiences in World War II is no exception. It comprises the most amazing, and moving, set of contemporaneous letters and interviews of children's feelings, thoughts and responses. Some bring tears to your eyes, others make you laugh and all cause you to reflect. The horrors of war, and the atrocities committed by both sides, are noted but so too are the many acts of kindness and humanity. The suffering was great but so too was the resilience. Emmy Werner lets the story emerge through the words of the children themselves, but her own gentle passion and great compassion, as well as her consummate skills as a writer, ensure that the whole has a coherence and meaning that far exceeds the sum of its parts. This is a book that leaves indelible memories - most of all about people as individuals but also about what their stories tell us about humanity and about war. There is no other account quite like this and it is destined to become a classic.
A remarkable, arresting, and unique book that tells us how much children take notice of history, understand it, respond to it, even as they live amidst its unfolding. Readers will take this book to heart and be carried back to a momentous (and dangerous) time in the world’s history, and will learn so very much from an extraordinary chronicle by knowing, sensitive young people of yore now become our teachers.
Through the Eyes of Innocents is a remarkable chronicle of World War II through the eyes of children who lived through it in its everydayness. The book provides a captivating perspective on how the little ones among us see the world. It offers an eye-opening look at resilience in the lives of children living through 'History' while mostly growing up in counterpoint to the challenges and opportunities of daily life, as children always do if given half a chance.
Having authored several books on children's ability to survive trauma (e.g., Reluctant Witnesses: Children's Voices from the Civil War), developmental psychologist Werner now turns to children's memories of World War II and her own reminiscences of growing up in wartime Germany during "a global conflict in which more children [were] killed and maimed than in all previous wars in the world." The result is surprisingly upbeat and utterly compelling: a story of children's resiliency in the face of repeated uprootings and batterings. In the middle of the fighting, Sandra, aged ten, wrote: "Don't ever hurt the children. They are not guilty of anything." Read this affecting book, and you will be hard-pressed not to agree. While there have been numerous first-person accounts of the war, this reviewer has not come across another with quite this angle. A simply wonderful book that deserves many readers.--David Keymer, California State Univ., Stanislaus Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Drawing on the diaries and letters of some 200 youngsters from European countries, the former Soviet Union, Japan, and the US, Werner (developmental psychology, U. of California, Davis) represents their perceptions of World War II and their resilience. Includes photos, drawings, and posters; and a 1939-45 chronology. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
