War Through the Eyes of a Child: 15 Excerpts from Ernst Glaeser’s Born in 1902

To this day, history is often told through the eyes of adults. However, children see war differently. How would you explain war to children who are just learning everything? Born in 1902, Ernst Glaeser witnessed both World War I and World War II. If you want to see these wars and the process that affected the whole world deeply through the eyes of a child, you should definitely read the book called “Born in 1902”.

1) ” I didn’t understand war anymore. Why did the men laugh so much when they went to the front line? Why were the women crying now when they thought of their husbands? “

2) ” There would be no war if so much gunpowder and bullets were not produced before. Everything wants to achieve its goal. ”

3) ” Adults find it appropriate to give good names to their evils, whereas the child lacks security because there is no branch to cling to. “

4) ” But it is better to know evil than to anticipate it. “

5) ” I realized that grown-ups couldn’t get along with each other. They all saw the world only as they wanted it to be. “

6) ” I spend my spare time in a beautiful country. My books are enough for me. “

7) ” The secrets of life must make people nervous. Maybe those secrets are mixed with people and grow. “

8) ” We knew the war as a great brotherhood. Now, they were suddenly reporting it as a means of earning. War meant that Germany should be rich, this or that coal mines, this or that sea route should belong to Germany. We couldn’t grasp it. Germany is a business, and our fathers were workers of this business whose managers were sitting at home? Since when did heroes start crafting? “

9) ” People who didn’t know were sharing their bread, offering cigarettes to each other, giving chocolates to each other’s children. The children were a little scared because they had never seen so many good people together. “

11) ” My father told me why they looked so good, holding hands. Because they have to use their hatred against other nations. Don’t you understand this? In the past, individual people were evil, now nations. ”

12) ” Art is for the elite only. The masses can grasp the reason for their existence in painful ways. ”

13) ” Getting hurt was a good thing. But the best thing was to get shot and die. ”

14) ” Living is nothing but bad shopping. But we paid for what was given to us two or three times. We don’t owe anyone. ”

15) ” Most of the time, I was sick so that my mother could caress me. ”