Essay

The world war in personal expressions by children: 150 German school essays

Description

These essays reveal the experiences of children during World War One. In this collection of more than 150 compositions children write about tearful farewells, brothers reported as missing, the sound of bombs, a spontaneous celebration in a market place after the capture of a foreign town, and the death of a friend in the trenches.

It’s clear the children have been influenced by war propaganda. For example, they hope for future victory by remembering successful wars of the past and they describe German acts of war as a legal right. They negate Germany’s war guilt, and parrot a divine justification for the killing.

The editor, an author of school books and previously a school teacher, hopes in his foreword that the essays will help teachers identify interesting themes to teach because ‘school lessons are all about war’.

Transcript

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1. The Warrior’s Farewell
At the Niederwalddenkmal [the national monument of the Franco–German war of 1870-71] there is picture which illustrates the warrior’s farewell. Here we can see, how a man says goodbye to his wife, a bridegroom to his bride, and the only son to his parents. This is hard for them, but nevertheless they march out courageously, because they trust in God and hope that He will protect them. Also in August 1914 we could see that many men left house and farm to fight for their home country. They went to war joyfully, too, even if they knew that the enemy was bigger now. But they also had a strong belief in God and hoped that God would not abandon them. God has always given our weapons the force to gain victory, and so we trust that He will assist us until the end. Because the German Empire has not initiated the war. The enemies want to destroy our Empire and our fleet. England does not want us to do business in the world. We have the same rights as England. For this right we fight.


Full title:
The world war in personal expressions by children: 150 German school essays
Created:
1915
Format:
Essay
Usage terms
Public Domain
Held by
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

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