I have read many books regarding WW2 but not a biography and not an account of how the Germans suffered in these times.
Svenja O’Donnell a journalist, tells us the story of her grandmother who lived in Konigsberg in East Prussia. The town know ones knows of today. Living in a normal German family is the story of what atrocities and hardships they endured. When she goes and visits the town, she finds out from her grandmother Inge what happened.
This is a beautifully written story that flowed easily. From the jazz clubs of Berlin to gaining asylum in Denmark. While the men went off to war how the women and children survived. From the women taking men’s work, while other women and children dying from starvation. This story everyone should read as it shows that it was not just the Jews that suffered in Germany and Poland, but the Germans were too. Not everyone in German was with Hitler and because of that many were ostracized and shunned. 5 stars from me.

A poignant story, unique in it's perspectives and leaving a memorable impression.
This book gave me plenty to think about that I had never really considered. How does it feel to be on the losing side of a war that you never supported? The story gives insight into the hardships of war from a totally different angle.
Thought provoking and definitely well worth reading

Thanks to Ebury and @netgalley for letting me read Inge's War in advance! Inge's War tells the story of the author's grandmother, an East Prussian girl born in the 1920s, who lives through the Second World War and its aftermath. I really enjoy reading Second World War stories and the variety of experiences - I've never read anything set in East Prussia before except Ruta Septys's YA novel, which tbh I thought was crap, so this was a really interesting exploration of a place I didn't know much about. I appreciated reading about Inge's tumultuous and difficult life - most people who lived through this period have compelling stories to tell, and Inge certainly has one of those. If you're a fan of Second World War stories, then I'm sure you'd be interested in Inge's life.
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Alongside narrating her grandmother's life, Svenja O'Donnell also writes about the detective work she undertook to find out what had actually happened to her grandmother. Although I did enjoy reading about this process of discovery, I often found Svenja's musings to be too earnest and sentimental for my tastes, and I did feel that Inge's story was a bit fluffed out for narrative purposes, and could have been condensed into something smaller and sharper. Also, by necessity, the author was constrained in how she depicted her grandmother and the people in her grandmother's life, which didn't make for the most immersive reading experience. They all felt a bit two-dimensional, which is completely understandable, in the context. A really fascinating life but maybe not the best method of delivering it? 3 🌟

This is a fascinating book, an exploration of O'Donnell's family history that takes us throught the build up to WWII and then through the war and out the other side. It's the story of O'Donnell's grandmother, who is a young girl growing up in middle class security in East Prussia in the 1930s.

It's a time and place that have always interested me. What did people think? What did people know? How do you look back on your youth when you've lived it in that context?

There was lots of information here - I hadn't known anything about East Prussia, or about German refugees in Denmark. I was aware that life was incredibly difficult in Germany at the end of WWII, and Inge's experiences are personal and yet universal.

I am so pleased to have read this book.

I felt privileged to be allowed to read of Inge’s war and all that she suffered and went through. What an awful time it must have been for her. So young to be going through experiences such as these.
I was extremely moved by how strong she was in her determination to get through the events at the close of the war. Events which left an indelible stain but she was strong enough to share them for us to read. There is great sadness in this story but there is also triumph and love. A book very well worth reading.

The story of a German family in micthe lead up to, during and the aftermath of WWII.  It’s the story of the ordinary Germans, not necessarily supportive of the Nazi regime but who kept quiet through complacency or fear until it was too late.  The author tells her family history based on conversations with her grandmother and independent research creating an interesting and powerful book.  I enjoyed this immensely and learned much about the suffering of people who are not usually discussed in the telling of WWII.

This book is the story of the author's grandmother Inge and the journey she went on as a German in East Prussia during the 1930's & 40's. I have a keen interest in WWII & the Holocaust but I had never read a book looking at the perspective of a German civilian nor did it ever occur to me to do so before I came across this.

The book goes from recent times when the author had conversations with Inge back to her life during Nazism.. It describes Inge and how her experiences changed her as a person. I enjoyed the personal aspect of this, it adds more depth to the story telling and it created emotion.

There was also facts showing that the book was well researched. I enjoyed the mix of fact with a personal story. I was ignorant to the plight that befell the German population prior to this. It is a very personal family story that makes you feel intimately involved.

If anyone needs to be reminded of the benefit of 75 years of peace in Western Europe, this is a must-read. What starts out as an 'everyday story of girl meets boy' gradually reveals the horrors visited on the civilian population by war. I found this a very moving book, especially towards the end. Once I'd got into it I couldn't put it down.

This is a really well written book, lots of detail and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The story is written from two perspectives, Inge and her granddaughter who is a journalist. The story deals with a young girl Inge growing up in pre war Germany and her experiences and tells of how her life changes when the war comes, her first romance and then adapting to motherhood.

This is a story that needs to be told, and people need to read it. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this hauntingly beautiful book.

A beautifully written book The writer takes us on a tragic family journey through Germany both pre and post second world
This is a story of survival through despair,and violence of choices that are forced to be made, and of all that war can take.
This is so well written and descriptive that the reader can almost feel the harsh north winds of East Prussia..
Excellent read.

I was in two minds about requesting this book from Netgalley due to the subject. My maternal family are German speaking Italians from Northern Italy and my paternal family are from the UK. I don’t know much about my mother’s struggles during the war other than her fears particularly of the Russians and I know some of what happened to her and her village. This book helped me understand more about her depression and her reluctance to speak about the time. Inge’s grandmother could be my mother with the secrets which my mother took to her grave. I thought the book was really well written and with so much compassion. It really opens your eyes to what happened during this terrible time both sides of the Channel and I am so pleased to have read it. People suffered so much and it is good that we understand it. I empathised with all the people in the story and felt for them all. I hope this book goes viral as it deserves that. The author’s research must have been intense and filled with sadness as well as joy – well done you

It was interesting to read an account from the German perspective, not just any German perspective but from Königsberg now Kaliningrad. By the end of the war these German citizens were shunned by their own country, yet were tainted with the same brush by the rest of the world.
Inge's family lives comfortably in Köningsberg yet by the end of the war they have lost everything. Their story tells of the repercussions of that loss but also how, by tiny twists of fate, people's lives can be totally changed, for the good or the worst.
There is a of comparison in the media at the present time between the Lockdown and WW2. This book shows, especially in Germany, that this was not the case. Starvation, rape, poor health and grinding poverty were the norm and this book shows how truly lucky we are to be living now and not then.

This was a wonderful story and another great take on how the Holocaust affected so many innocent people and many generations afterwards. Inge was born to a German mother and an Irish father, but she knew very little of her heritage. She knew her mother's parents fled Königsberg in Germany because of world war two and only when she contacted her grandmother living in Königsberg now known as Kaliningrad and in Russia rather than Germany she learns of her past and what really happened. It was a revelation to her. This story highlights the love, challenges, heartbreak hardship and resilience that knocked her and others like her down so often but that also made her strong. It shows how secrets that have the power to destroy can also be the reason for man's survival!!!

I have been reading lots of WW2 stories lately and this one was by far the best. This story touched me and has stayed in my heart. Inge's War tells the story of Inge and her life in Nazi Germany and how she and many others survived under Hitler. The characters were easy to grow attached too and education too. Would highly recommend to anyone after something inspiring.

This is an important book - and a powerful, sensitive biography.
Svenja O'Donnell begins a journey of discovery as she shares with her grandmother her visit to the latter's birthplace - an visit which begins to transform her relationship with Inge, who she has only ever known as distant and lacking in emotion, as long hidden secrets of betrayal and abuse are gradually revealed.
The author vividly conveys the difficulties of living in Germany under Nazi rule during World War Two and the struggles for survival. Assumptions are challenged and ideas of right/wrong become more nuanced. Conditions were horrific - and made worse, or not, by the how other people behave.
I found this to be a gripping book; not an easy read - that would have trivialised the subject matter - but one well worth doing. Once started, I couldn't put the book down.

What a tremendous read, this will be made into a film, I'm sure. One of my best reads this year. Its exciting and heart breaking, each chapter brings new revelations and its one you can't put down. The true story is more dramatic than fiction and tells of a time most of us wont remember but how strong the family were and it was a journey from Hell to a different type of Hell. Superb writing, loved every minute of it. I have already recommended this book to several friends.

I’ve read a few books over time about stories relating to the war years, but this book is a personal story and deeply moving. I defy any reader not to be moved by the content. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced copy. I hope the book sells really well the author deserves it. Would thoroughly recommend.

War memoir as journalist traces her family path through World War 2, particularly her Maternal Grandmother's experiences as relayed in her later life. Well crafted and builds the background to her family's experience and creates their portayals very effectively to create a gripping read. Objective and balanced it gives an insight to the experience of a German family fleeing the carnage of the redefining of country borders and control.

This was certainly a different WW2 book to those I normally turn to – the Hitler of the subtitle features but fleetingly, as instead the book aims to show the warfare a woman might face just, well, being a woman. We see our journalist author, inspired by what she doesn't know of her grandmother, go through the past and work out what her family was doing in wartime. There's a strong sense she'll find something lacking, either a drive to be anti-Nazi, or something else that might have left the grandmother with a lifetime of reticence and reluctance to speak about her past. But no, what she finds is very different indeed, and even though it features flight, starvation, death and persecution, this really is not a routine wartime memoir – for one thing the leads are Lutheran and not Jewish. Throughout the style is very warm and readable, although the author does have the habit to continuously say what she'll have to do, or that she'll find something out she's yet to tell us, which are as welcome on the page as trailers for a film when we're halfway through watching it. There is also an awkwardness at the end, as the narrative admits, and almost a kind of selfishness from our wordsmith in wanting all this out in the air. You still published it, though.

What 'it' is, in the finish, is a strong story, one that wears its feminist heart on its sleeve, as it shows a young woman unable to get what she wants from life due to war. It also takes us to Konigsberg, the Russian exclave that was full of comparatively bohemian German culture before the Nazis, although nothing on what the young woman does end up wanting a part of. Taking us to this place with the help of people we didn't at all know, and which the author didn't fully either, is what I'll remember this book for. It tells of a very different corner, if you like, to the European theatre, and creates a very different corner of the shelf of similar books all for itself.