Laughter Wasn't Rationed: Remembering the War Years in Germany

by Dorothea Von Schwanenfluegel Lawson

This book is about real life, real people and how the World Wars interfered along the way. Dorothea von Schwanenflugel Lawson is a native German, born during World War I, who provides an inside look into a part of history familiar to many of us through textbooks and media accounts only. She takes you from her happy childhood to World War II and beyond, weaving memories and German traditions into the politics that dictated everyday life. Meet her family and friends. Be there for Hitler's book burning, the air raids and the intense bombing of Berlin. See how she fared in wartime Germany with a small child, the Soviet invasion with its rampant looting and raping, and the ever-present hunger and other deprivations, especially during the post-war years.

538 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Suzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most fasinating and interesting books I have read about war time in Hitlers' Germany. The author lived through the begining of National Socialism begining as a teenager. Her family were not members of the Nazi party, which was possible. Everyone always thinks all Germans were Nazis', they were not but one had to be very careful of what they said or pay the consequences, which could be death or a labor camp or a concentration camp. The book takes one thru the Weimar republic and up to and thru the Nazi period and the peace starting in 1945 and beyond. Much of the information in this book was a revelation to me, some I had heard of but not about the way the many Germans were starved to death by the Allies and the Americans in particular. It was a terrible time and unfortunatley everyone was painted (by the Allies) as a card carrying Nazi. Some of the worst things happened under the Soviets, they raped and murdered tens of thousands of ordinary Germans. The rounded up many Germans and took them off to Siberia never to be heard from again. German soldiers wanted to surrender to the Americans and British as they felt they would get better treatment than with the Soviets. However many German soldiers were turned over to the Soviets by the Americans and most never made it home. I lived in Germany and meet several Germans who had been captured by the Soviets, they were lucky that they were able to get home, but not until the mid fifties.

Anyway I would recommend this book to anyone who maybe curious about how ordinary Germans lived during this time and some of the funny jokes that Berliners made about the Nazis'.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

An impressive historical narrative exposing a viewpoint and war facts that arguably few people know of. The author was lucky to have been in the upper class and even luckier to come out safe after bombings and the “peace” of Russian rape, killing and pillaging of the starving German civilian population. She survives on sheer luck, her wits and her spunk, and lives to tell a remarkably even-handed tale as one who was not fooled by Hitler and his cronies and who has research and the passing of years to give hindsight and reflection.

[Uschi]

Conflicted reading for me, but I did finish it. It was a biased account of the times of course and the author keeps justifying too much. On the other hand, it brought back memories of what I heard about world war II and the impact it had on my family, my parents and sisters having been Polish-German and having to leave Poland for Germany.I'm glad I read it though.

[Terry Mulcahy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although it took me a while to like the book, putting it down often in favor of other books, usually fiction with much faster action, I eventually found it engrossing. I was finally able to finish it quickly! This is one story of a Berliner, and here childhood in Germany before WWII, and her life during the war, and after. Although she came from a fairly well-off family, they resisted the Nazis as much as possible, found ways around Nazi regulations, and waited for Eisenhower to free them from Nazi control, only to fall under rule by the Soviets, which was actually much worse than rule by the Nazis. It is a story of hardships endured with stubborn pride, and family, and the kindness of neighbors. There is much here about the way that ordinary Germans perceived the Nazis and the Allies, and way the war was fought, with much terrible death and destruction caused by Nazis and Allied forces alike. The occupation of Berlin by the Allies and the Soviets was also devastating to people who had just barely survived the war, through endless restictions, shortages, and near starvation. The author includes German reaction to the hated Berlin Wall, and to the American inspired Berlin Airlift, as well as her reactions to the reunification of Berlin. A very thorough historical account of that whole time period, told from a very personal perspective. I started this 527-page book with interest in the German jokes about Hitler and Nazis that were sprinkled thoughout, but some dread of ever finishing it. A friend recommended it to me, and I am very glad to have read it, and thankful to him for bringing it to my attention.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wealthy woman recalls her life from 1920-1960 mostly. Marries old nobility, lived in Berlin, war and post war from privileged conservative not NS viewpoint.

[Janine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so many historical facts from this book, as well as what life for so many was like from the German perspective in WWII Germany.