Darkness Over Europe: First-Person Accounts of Life in Europe During the War Years 1939-1945

This collection of World War II firsthand accounts, edited by Tony March for the Army Times, probes behind the front lines to capture the life and times of the average man existing under the conditions of occupied Europe. Some of the stories bear witness to the large-scale events already engraved in history--the Parisian prefect of police describing the arrival of German troops in the French capital, a Swiss resident of Dresden recounting the Allied firebombing, a woman of Lidice reliving the night of horror. Other narratives tell of lesser known personal ordeals, moving individual variations on the same themes of privation, abuse, and tragedy--a Danish foreign service officer spiriting Jews out of the country, a Belgian aeronautical engineer forced to ""volunteer"" for work at a German aircraft plant by confiscation of his family's ration cards, a chief forester in eastern Germany hiding in underground ""fox-holes"" to evade the reconquering Russians. Editor March limits himself to a few short paragraphs of preface about the persistence of Evil, very brief introductions and postscripts to the twenty-two accounts, and a hasty epilogue, but the stories speak well enough for themselves. (Kirkus Review) Front Cover......Page 1 Preface......Page 9 Table of Contents......Page 11 Introduction......Page 15 Prologue......Page 22 Part 1: In the Path of the Invaders......Page 23 1. "Where are the English?"......Page 25 2. "It Was a Blessing the Child Did Not Cry ... "......Page 33 3. "The French Flag is Taken Down ... "......Page 41 4. "You Greeks are in Paradise ... "......Page 51 Part 2: Resistance Fighters......Page 61 5. "They Fell Strangely, Like Sacks of Potatoes ... "......Page 63 6. "Obedience Meant Death ... "......Page 71 7. "Calm Was Written on Their Faces ... "......Page 77 8. "The Flag! The Polish Flag!"......Page 93 9. The Jews Had Been Warned ... "......Page 103 Part 3: Day to Day Existence......Page 115 10. "The Nazis Did Not Permit Strikes ... "......Page 117 11. "The Soap Powder is All Soda ... "......Page 129 12. "I Am Smiling for My Life ... "......Page 143 13. "Woman Prayed for the Safety of the Enemy ... "......Page 157 14. "Laughter is Nearly Extinct ... "......Page 165 15. "Doctors are Men Just Like Any Others ... "......Page 177 16. "Hell Has Broken Loose ... "......Page 191 Part 4: Prison Camps and Atrocities......Page 199 17. "I Always Found People Who Needed Me ... "......Page 201 18. "The Song Rose to a Mighty Roar ... "......Page 213 19. "The Bodies Were Laid Out in a Row ... "......Page 219 20. "The Long Purgatory of Internment ... "......Page 231 Part 5: Liberation......Page 241 21. "For Us the Game Has Just Begun ... "......Page 243 22. " 'Have a Good Trip,' the Crowd Jeered ... "......Page 255 Epilogue......Page 271 Sources......Page 273 Bibliography......Page 275