general audience is to what extent the minds of the young, their thinking and feelings, were formed by the events of the day. In 1933, the year of Hitler's seizure of power, I was six years old. I have tried to reproduce an eye- and- ear-witness account of the twelve years of the National Socialist regime from the point of view of a young person--aus der Froschperspektive, "from a worm's eye view." I am, of course, aware that more than forty years have passed since then, and I also recognize the fallibility of human memory, which is often colored by later events. Therefore I was particularly careful and scrupulous about reporting only those reactions, feelings, and attitudes in those years of which I am absolutely certain. When I had doubts ...
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