An ordeal by fire
Germany’s War
Screens Sundays until August 10
SBS, 8.30pm
Reviewer: LS Rachel Irving
This 10-part series is a real gem. Eyewitnesses from both the Allied and German side give viewers a real insight into the affects of war on the people and the cities left destroyed.

The first episode, which screened on June 8, took us into naval battle, in 1941, with the German battleship Bismarck against HMS Hood.

This set the scene for the series which has taken us below the waters with the U-Boats and will soon take us into the sky with the air offensive.

Episodes five and six (July 6 and 13) focus on the bombing of Germany and the firestorm which encompassed German cities in a retaliatory effort by the Allies.

There are stories from air raid survivors and one woman who was due to “report for duty” for having a Jewish mother, just two days after the bombing of Dresden. She did not report in after the bombing, knowing that no one would know her fate.

The series uses file footage from the war and includes interviews with war survivors, including members of Hitler’s Youth movement and concentration camp prisoners. The German interviews have all been subtitled by SBS.

It is truly amazing to hear what these people have to say, to hear the stories of survival, and to understand what they felt at the time as opposed to how they feel now. In a time of world turbulence, it makes one wonder, what will we feel and have to say 60 years from now?