Customer Reviews

A Crack in the Wall: Growing Up Under Hitler

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Kruger does a good job of showing how life in Hitler's Germany was like. Kruger grew up in a non political family and went to school when Hitler's regime started. Due to his associating with the "wrong elements" in school, he was imprisoned for three months. His life was difficult. His sister committed suicide. His parents died at the end of the war. He surrendered to the Americans after his best friend was shot for desertion. I wondered what the previous reviewer was thinking when he stated that Kruger had something to hide. This man admitted that by tolerating Hitler and his regime, the Germans were responsible for the death and destruction of World War II.

I thought this book was well written and interesting. I wish he would have include more of his wartime experiences. His book was both scholarly and thought provoking.

I thought this book was a fascinating description of the author's experiences and conclusions after years of self-examination. It is a topic that people like him are loathe to discuss face-to-face, one which so easily devolves into polemics that it is traumatic for all participants. Since it is a monologue, the reader is muted, a provoking experience in itself, given the nature of the subject matter.

I was struck by the defensive stance of the author. The story itself was interesting in a factual sense, but at every turn it seemed that the author was asking for our forgiveness and our understanding that not every German was a monster. The "I didn't know" attitude didn't convince me. I could more easily understand an "I knew but there was nothing I could do about it" excuse of the horrors of WW2. That the author's life was tough I have no doubt, but I don't feel sorry for him.