Quotes About War

walk into the living room (which doubled as the Hubermanns' bedroom), pull the accordion

Some of those soldiers were only boys. They had the Führer in their eyes.

You don't always get what you wish for. Especially in Nazi Germany.

Some fanatical Germans

They say that war is death's best friend, but I must offer you a different point of view on that one. To me, war is like the new boss who expects the impossible.

war is like the new boss who expects the impossible. He stands over your shoulder repeating one thing, incessantly: "Get it done, get it done." So you work harder.

She saw it all so clearly. Her starving mother, her missing father. Kommunisten. Her dead brother.

She looks up. She speaks in a whisper. 'The sky is soft today, Max. The clouds are so soft and sad, and...' She looks away and crosses her arms. She thinks of her papa going to war and grabs her jacket at each side of her body. 'And it's cold, Max. It's so cold...

The bombs were coming - and so was I.

Was he really a coward, as his son had so brutally pointed out? Certainly, in World War I, he considered himself one. He attributed his survival to it. But then, is there cowardice in the acknowledgment of fear? Is there cowardice in being glad that you lived? - Hans Hubermann

They're strange, those wars. Full of blood and violence - but full of stories that are equally difficult to fanthom. It's true, people will mutter. I don't care if you don't belive me. It was the fox who saved my life or, They died on either side of me and I was left standing there, the only one without a bullet between my eyes. Why me? Why me and not them?

German children were on the lookout for stray coins. German Jews kept watch for possible capture.

Rosa was sitting with the accordion, praying. 'Make them come back alive,' she repeated. 'Please, Lord, please. All of them.' Even the wrinkles around her eyes were joining hands.

I'm going to find him." "Your papa?" "Yes." He thought about it. "Actually, no. I think I'll find the Führer instead." Faster footsteps. "Why?" Rudy stopped. "Because I want to kill him." He even turned on the spot, to the rest of the world. "Did you hear that, you bastards?" he shouted. "I want to kill the Führer!

War clearly blurred the distinction between logic and superstition.

England and France had made their declaration on Germany. To steal a phrase from Hans Hubermann: The fun begins.

On the ration cards of Nazi Germany, there was no listing for punishment, but everyone had to take their turn. For some it was death in a foreign country during the war. For others it was poverty and guilt when the war was over, when six million discoveries were made throughout Europe.

1. The desperate Jews - their spirits in my lap as we sat on the roof, next to the steaming chimneys. 2. The Russian soldiers - taking only small amounts of ammunition, relying on the fallen for the rest of it. 3. The soaked bodies of a French coast - beached on the shingle and sand.

On Friday a statement arrived to say that Hans Hubermann was to be drafted into the German army. A member of the Party would be happy to play a role in the war effort, it concluded. If he wasn't, there would certainly be consequences

This time, Mr. Steiner placed his hand on Rudy's head and explained, "I know, son —but you've got beautiful blond hair and big, safe blue eyes. You should be happy with that; is that clear?" But nothing was clear. Rudy understood nothing, and that night was the prelude of things to come. Two and a half years later, the Kaufmann Shoe Shop was reduced to broken glass, and all the shoes were flung aboard a truck in their boxes.

The brother shivers. The woman weeps. And the girl goes on reading, for that's why she's there, and it feels good to be something in the aftermath of the snows of Stalingrad.

To me, war is like the new boss who expects the impossible. He stands over your shoulder repeating one thing, incessantly: "Get it done, get it done." So you work harder. You get the job done. The boss, however, does not thank you. He asks for more. Often

Certainly, war meant dying, but it always shifted the ground beneath a person's feet when it was someone who had once lived and breathed in close proximity.

The only sign of war was a cloud of dust migrating from east to west. It looked through the windows, trying to find a way inside, and as it simultaneously thickened and spread, it turned the trail of humans into apparitions.