“The Good War”: An Oral History of World War II

This account is from a girl who experienced life in Japan under American bombing. In addition to detailing the hardships she endured, Yasuko describes her education under the authoritarian regime of Imperial Japan and how different childhood became after the war. She notes that the school curriculum began to incorporate ideas friendlier to democracy and gender equality.

A German national, Werner recalls his experience growing up under Nazi authoritarianism and anti-Semitism. There were people who subtly resisted the Nazi regime, like one of Werner’s teachers, but most were afraid to talk about the disappearance of Jews.

Oleg remembers growing up in Russia and nearly starving during the war. After Germany surrendered, there was a tremendous outpouring of happiness.

Sheril recounts her experience growing up in Long Beach, California, at the outbreak of the war. She had Japanese American friends who were horribly conflicted about the war, especially after watching movies where the audience was supposed to cheer for the killing of Japanese soldiers. Also, she witnessed anti-black racism and anti-Semitism from her family. After the war ended, however, Sheril notes that there “was a spirit of camaraderie” (238).

Though Sheril and her family benefited from the prosperity that followed the war, she feels that this “communal spirit” (239) eroded with the Cold War and worries that her children have been negatively influenced by fear of nuclear war.

Having been a child in Germany when the war ended, Galatea describes what it was like when American soldiers occupied her town and her home. In particular, she recalls how her history book in school only had a “little paragraph” about Hitler (242).

The war gave Jean’s father a well-paying job working in a factory, raising the California family’s status. Jean had various relationships with soldiers, which ruined her reputation in her neighborhood. She suggests that her childhood experience of the war actually shaped her problems committing to romantic relationships and marriages.

French director Marcel Ophuls had to flee France with his family as a child and spent much of his childhood in the United States. Notably, Marcel claims that even though he experienced more of the war than most American civilians, he was actually not “more sensitive in the racial attitudes here, toward Mexican Americans, toward blacks, toward the Japanese being interned” (252). Despite his cosmopolitan background, as a youth he never questioned the actions of the US government.