ABSTRACT
This chapter contains the summarised life stories of four German migrants and one former POW which is told in the words of his British widow. In the preceding chapters, short extracts from these interviews have been selected to highlight similarities or differences in the migrants’ perspectives, attitudes and experiences. In contrast, this chapter presents each narrative in the context given by the respondants so as to better portray the flavour and pattern of the life as a whole. Each of the interviews carried out for this study would have been worthy of inclusion, since each told a unique story. The five selected are particularly diverse, not only in the way each is narrated, but also in the connections made between what may seem like isolated events. The themes that are important to the individuals also vary: A certain period of the interviewee’s life dominates for one, whereas experiences connected to a specific historical or social event, or a single strand such as family or career, predominate in others. What they all share is that the experience of the Second World War and post-war migration are the two most significant events of their lives.
