Pain and suffering on other side, too

Wolfram - The Boy Who Went To War
by Giles Milton
Hodder Hachette, $39.99
There are two sides to every conflict, and in the wake of the bombing of London and the loss of so many of the British Empire's fine young lads, Germany, and Germans, were widely reviled.
The Nazis had shattered the world. The madness and fanaticism of Adolf Hitler and the appalling lies of Joseph Goebbels ruined many a life. Many a good German life.
Yet Germany was not entirely swept away by the dreams of Hitler ... there were many, many people who wanted no part in the madness.
The Aicheles were one such family. They lived in a remarkable, slightly eccentric, bohemian villa just outside the German city of Pforzheim, with their two sons and a daughter.
One of the sons, Wolfram, was a sensitive, artistic boy. Too often distracted by art and ideas to fit in at school, he loved to cycle or walk the district, drawing pictures of what he saw. His artist parents obviously inspired him, but even at age 10 he was creatively and intellectually well beyond his years. A nice boy. A clever boy, who dreamed of being a sculptor.
Sadly, though, he grew up in the 1930s as the Nazis were coming to power. The family watched in horror as their Jewish friends were rounded up and shipped away. One elderly couple took their own lives before the SS could return from a previous violent visit to collect them.
As war descended, age was not on Wolfram's side. In 1942 he turned 18 and was called to serve in Russia on the terrible eastern front.
He abhorred violence and war, so volunteered to be a radio operator.
He saw friends die. He saw the worst of war, and it twice nearly cost him his life - although in one instance, nearly dying of diptheria in Russia ultimately saved him because he was sent home to recover while his soldier friends were sent on to perish.
He ended up at Normandy - on D-Day.
Terrified and bewildered by the violence, he and his disintegrating troop chose to surrender as Germany's militaristic fortunes also disintegrated.
Sent from one POW camp in the UK and US to another, his parents knew nothing of him for two years - nor he of them. He learned, though, that his home town had been hit by bombers, and feared for his family.
Reading the chapter on the terrible fire-bombing of the city of Pforzheim, I stopped for a moment and stared out the window. The lump in my throat stalled me for a time.
These were people who were hated by Hitler and his Nazi thugs. The Aicheles did not want war, and neither did Wolfram's young friends who were sent to the front. But had they not joined up they would have been shot - it's as simple as that.
This is a powerful, and in essence, an uplifting book. Yes, there are two sides to every conflict and this family, and many like them, were beacons of light in a dark time for the country they loved.
The family all survived - you should prepare for a return of that lump in the throat when you read of their eventual reunion. A superb work.