Customer Reviews

Laughter Wasn't Rationed : A Personal Journey Through Germany's World Wars and Postwar Years

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"Laughter Wasn't Rationed" is a must read for anyone interested in the effects of Nazism and World War II on the German people behind the front lines. Dorthea von Schwanenflugel Lawson tells her story, and that of her family, from the viewpoint of a proud non-Nazi German. Her identification with the best of all things in the German cultural tradition comes through on nearly every page. There is pride amid her struggle and sometimes desperation. Yet she never surrenders to despair and her book is punctuated by humorous little jokes circulating beneath the surface of the Nazi overlords in proof of the power and persistence of the human spirit.

As one who believes that World War II in Europe was, in a sense, a civil war in the West for the soul of Western civilization, I can easily identify with her anti-Nazi German pride. Her book weaves modern German history and her own life story in a unique and compelling way. Seeing Germany through that tapestry makes one realize the importance of American-German relations so that the many strands of mutual friendship spawned by the defeat of Nazism shall ever flourish and grow.

I learned of "Laughter Wasn't Rationed" through a military history discussion group in Alexandria, Virginia. I read it and subsequently heard the author discuss it with the group. She is a spry and lively lady at eighty-seven and a living testament to the gist of her story, endurance and staying power.

I also discovered, in reading the book and meeting her, that we have much in common, Dorthea and I. We have both written about our lives; she in "Laughter Wasn't Rationed" and I about my tribulations as an infantry soldier fighting the Nazis during World War II. We came of age in trying times; she in between-the-wars Germany and I amid the Great Depression in America. Early on in the book I fell in love with the high-spirited young teenager who was once Dorothea Schmidt. She was much like several young women I adored in high school.

As her story progressed I realized that as adults we were both involved, in our own way, in similar struggles for survival against circumstances beyond our control; she among the perils of the Nazi regime destined to lose the war and I, as a combat soldier, determined to be alive at the end. That we were to meet within the pages of this delightful book, as well as in person, was beyond prediction as is most of the fascinating story of "Laughter Wasn't Rationed."

Anyone who is truly interested in history needs to look beyond the textbooks and lessons of world history classes to the personal accounts of wartime life. It is here that we learn what the common people really thought and felt as they lived through the conflicts that are so concisely presented in school books.

I've done a lot of casual reading about WWII and Dorothea von Schwanenflugel Lawson's book has helped me more than any other to understand the complex politics and upheavals behind it. The testimony of someone who lived through it helped me to understand how, in the turbulent, economically challenged times after WWI, the Germans could be desperate enough to allow someone as strong (and evil) as Hitler, with his compelling nature and grandiose, if empty, promises for a brighter future, to come into power. We have heard the horrible stories and accounts of what it was like to be a victim of the Nazi regime, and it's only fair that we get to hear about the flip side: how the average German citizen lived and coped under the debilitating totalitarian government, losing all of their basic civil rights.

In describing events in Germany just prior to WWII, she effectively illustrates how Hitler completely destroyed any semblance of individuality in order to create a bland mass of people so tightly corralled that they had no choice but to buckle under his dictatorship and violent Third Reich.

During the war she led a priviledged life, escaping membership in the BDM (women's Nazi organization) and going to school, all the while having her basic needs and wants met by both her prosperous father and husband. Though times were very difficult and fearful while Hitler was in power, the real problems start after the war. With liberation came severe food shortages, rape by Soviet soldiers, and discrimination by American forces because of the belief that all Germans were Nazis, when in reality, most had been forced to become members. Her stories about working 16 hour days in the American mess hall for no pay - just extra food for her starving family, weekly 32 mile journeys through dangerous Soviet territory to get produce from local farms, and crowded, unsanitary living conditions in bombed out houses, will show you the complete terror and desperation of the Germans after WWII.

The end of the book describes the Cold War struggle between eastern Soviet controlled and western Allied controlled Germany and the erection of the Berlin Wall.

Though the book deals with one of the darkest periods of world history, a sense of hope is conveyed through the author's sense of humor. Her story is sprinkled with humorous anecdotes and popular jokes about Hitler and the Nazi regime that, if spoken aloud during the years of the Third Reich, would have been grounds for violent reprisals.

I highly recommend this book for a deeper understanding of the events surrounding WWI, WWII, and the Cold War. It is a testimony to the strength, willpower, and courage of people who are powerless against their captors, but are still willing to fight for a better life for themselves. No American can take their freedom for granted after reading Dorothea von Schwanenflugel Lawson's memoirs.

Laughter Wasn't Rationed is Dorothea von Schwanenflugel Lawson's personal and candid biography of growing up in Germany, with vivid and intimate memories of German life during World War I, World II, and the postwar trauma of a divide nation -- half communist, half free. Dorothea covers a rather happy childhood and then what it was like to live under the rise and fall of Hitler and the Nazis, as well as the staggering trauma of Germany reduce to rubble and chaos in the aftermath of war. Here too is the story of the Soviet invasion, day-to-day struggles to simply stay alive, and the impact the Berlin Wall had upon the German citizenry on both sides of the divide. One of the things that comes through is how Dorothea and the people around her resorted to humor as a means of coping with the deprivation, the fear, the devastation, and the horrors of war, as well as the immense difficulties of reconstruction and recovery. Laughter Wasn't Rationed is highly recommended reading for student of 20th Century German history and ordinary life in extraordinary times as experienced by a woman, her family and friends who were caught up in the political machinations and personalities of the era.

This book is a must for people interested in history and personal experiences you do not find in any textbook. Since I lived in Germany during the war I can identify with Dorothea's writing. It describes so vividly the very positive attitude which enabled people to survive the hard times. I bought over 20 copies for my friends.
Waltraut D. Nelson, Florida

LAUGHTER ISN'T RATIONED is a glimpse of life in Germany between the two Wars as well as during World War II. Few have written first-person accounts in English from such a perspective. The author, now 89 years old, is to be commended for the monumental task of writing her five-hundred page memoirs. She leaves an historical legacy that will help future generations better understand that era.

The book describes the life of a higher to middle class German Family during the W.W.I and its repercussions to the German people in general and brings us to W.W. II and the aftermath of this era. The author has lived through both Wars and describes life people had to lead in such fascinating manner that one has the feeling of being there, listening to the conversation and seeing the looks exchanged between the parents and other family members. The story will keep you in its ban especially for people who lived in the aftermath of W.W. II but don't know too much about it, of which I am one. You want to know what will happen to all the family members in this biography and will have a hard time putting the book down. It shows the German people from a different angle as they are normally portrayed, especially in books about W.W. II. This book makes excellent reading material for students, teachers, history buffs and the general public. I purchased a book for each of my children and several friends so that they can read and find out what life was like after the second World War in Germany.
It has been a long time that a book fascinated me as much as this one did and I can highly recommend it.

This book contains a fascinating account of one woman's childhood and young adulthood as the Weimar Republic became Nazi Germany. It also contains a harrowing account of her years during and after the war. What I found particularly fascinating, which many memoirs of WWII leave out, is how difficult the peace was for the average German. The intelligence, bravery and pluck of Mrs. Lawson during this whole period are amazing.

But Mrs. Lawson has another agenda - defending her people. She rightly asserts that a majority of Germans did not initially support Hitler and that number only grew. She also points out the not-so-heroic actions of the Allies during and after the war (e.g. the bombing of Dresden, "denazification", etc.). These are stories that must be told.

However, she undermines her case again and again with unsubstantiated events (e.g. Nazi's captured top secret French and British plans to invade the Soviet Union), "facts" which are easily proven false (e.g. Eisenhower purposely starved 1M German GI POW's to death) and, most surprisingly, outright Nazi propaganda (e.g. Germany invaded Norway only after the British started to). Occasionally, she just sounds like the spoiled child ( "The WWII bombing of Munster resulted in the loss of [her father's] apartment building for which no compensation was given" she sniffs. Umm - not to diminish your loss but a) you own intact real estate in West Berlin as well as farm land in rural Germany, b) OK - we'll compensate you, now you compensate Poland, Czechoslovakia, France . . . and c) two words - Marshall. Plan. )

If you're looking for details about the Holocaust, forget it. She devotes two sentences to that, but plenty of words to "atrocities" committed by Poles and Czechs against German troops (with, naturally, no mention of what German troops might possibly have done to raise their ire).

What is clear in her defense of Germans are the attitudes of the average middle to upper-middle class German in the 1930's and 40's. While this might be off-putting from an historical accuracy perspective, I found it completely fascinating.

Each person is a thread in the fabric of humanity. Dorothea von Schwanenflügel Lawson's personal account of her perceptions and experiences before, during and after World War II, form a strong thread. She provides an insight into the strength of the human character and one's ability to survive. "Laughter Wasn't Rationed" provided me with the opportunity, which I lost more than fifty years ago, to ask an average German citizen, "What was your life like in the 1930s and 1940s?" There are any number of rehashed history books to supposedly record the events of that period. Books which might "sell" history as the author or educators determine it should be sold. Regardless of the number of personal account books written, each and every one brings an element of personal truth for the reader to ponder. If you are old enough to remember World War II, "Laughter Wasn't Rationed" may fill in some of the gaps for you of that period. If you are too young to have experienced the World War II period, "Laughter Wasn't Rationed" will put you up front with a real account of history on the level where it is lived. And for those who are yet too young to clearly understand what is taking place in their world today, you can read and comprehend how an entire country can be subjugated by a very few misguided elected individuals in positions of power. "Laughter Wasn't Rationed" is at once personal, informative, and foreshadowing.

This book was one I absolutely could not put down! Having read it, so many more things are now clear to me; and apart from everything the book teaches about WWII and the events leading up to it and those which came after, the book provides an intimate glimpse "behind the scenes" and into the lives of very real people. The book is written in such a warm style that I honestly felt I was with the Schmidt family every step of the way! Everyone needs to read this book, and we should be forever indebted to Mrs. Lawson for having written such a powerful book!

AN AMAZING STORY THAT HOLLYWOOD SHOULD MAKE INTO A MOVIE!! MRS LAWSON TAKES US THRU THE STORY OF HER LIFE WHICH INTERWINDS WITH BOLTH WORLD WARS. THE DESCRIPTIONS OF DAY TO DAY LIFE MADE ME REALIZE JUST HOW LUCKY I AM AND HOW MUCH WE TAKE FOR GRANTED HEAR IN THE USA. DOROTHEA'S LIFE IS A SHINING EXAMPLE OF LIFE IS NOT WHAT HAPPENDS TO YOU BUT HOW YOU REACT TO WHAT HAPPENDS TO YOU. I ENJOYED READING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A GERMAN CITIZEN LIVING IN BERLIN. MY DAUGHTER IS READING IT NOW AND SHE TOLD ME THAT SHE CAN'T PUT IT DOWN. THE BOOK IS A MUST READ!!!!!