ABSTRACT
Memoirs of former soldiers, rather than high ranking generals, may help us to understand the psychology of the Third Reich's youth and soldiers. Yet what happened in between is precisely what one would like to know in order to put the experience of German workers into the context not only of the failed Volksgemeinschaft, but also of Hitler's devoted army. But can one really speak of continuity in the history of the working class in Germany once people realize where they spent those 'missing years' and what they did there? Thus as of the winter crisis of 1941–1942 an ever larger proportion of Germany's troops came from the working class. The limited evidence presented here seems to suggest that Nazi ideas had indeed had an impact upon the German working class, and particularly upon the younger generation, as they had on German youth on the whole.
