To be honest it was a disappointing read, You couldn't really get into the characters and the grandfathers description didn't really provide an insight to fighting on the Eastern Front or thoughts about the regime.
Also, a very short book that was really over before it began.

With thanks to John Murray Press and NetGalley for the ARC

When a young British man asks his German grandfather what it was like to fight on the wrong side of the war, the question is initially met with irritation and silence. But after the old man's death, a long letter to his grandson is found among his things.

Full review to follow.

I didn’t like this book, unfortunately. It was a little too misguided and lacking a clear direction. I’d have welcomed some chapter markers or even dialogue.

Couldn’t complete this book after 100+ pages. Did Not Finish.

I enjoyed this one. I think the idea behind it is good and unique and I really liked the writing and the characters. There was a lot to learn from this book and I felt a lot of emotions whilst reading it. A great book!

An interesting first-person perspective into the WWII German front line. We're always reminded of the big monstrous events that defined that war: Pearl Harbor, D-Day, Invasion of Paris, the Holocaust etc. However, it will always be the smaller skirmishes where an individuals humanity is revealed. These are the horrors that linger in memory and will haunt soldiers until the end of their days. There are always more sides to the story and nothing is ever black and white.

Thank you to Netgalley and John Murray Press for the reading copy.

Although I understand the premise and sentiment behind the book, I struggled to engage with the story and therefore couldn't finish the book. I wish I could be more positive, but sadly I can't.

Thoughtful, interesting and offering a side to the story very rarely seen. The characters were very well written and I found myself pulled into their story.

This book was a really interesting take on the typical WW2 Historical Fiction. I've read books from a German's POV based in WW2 before- eg The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas- but these tend to focus on the higher ranks of Nazi hierarchy rather than the average soldier.
We German's is different. It is a letter from a grandfather to his grandson about his experiences on the Eastern Front. Fighting the Russians, seeing the pure lack of humanity on this side of the war- whole villages killed, Russian soldiers raping and then crucifying women, the constant near starvation.
History is written by the victors, which makes it so much more interesting to see the other side- especially in a candid and honest account.
This year marked 75 years since the end of WW2, and I think that this book is well timed. We need to learn about both sides of history to prevent it repeating itself, and I think this book goes a way in doing this.
High 3.5*
I received an e-arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. Just wow. This book is so powerful. It's not an easy read, but it's really, really good. Framed as a letter from a German grandfather to his German-Scottish Grandson, with the grandson's memories and stories about his grandfather's later life interspersed.

The grandfather, Meissner, was a soldier on the Eastern Front and his letter is the story of a rampage he and a small group of colleagues went on during the final days before the Russians overran what was left of the Nazi forces. Separated from their unit, the men see other soldiers carrying out atrocities - and commit some crimes of their own.

At times it is incredibly graphic and it is a lot to grapple with - but then there is a lot to think about about what happened to the men who fought in for the Nazis once the conflict was over - and how to reconcile their actions during the war with what happened after. I found it a complete page turner, and it gave me a lot to think about. I studied First World War Literature as part of my A-Levels and found this an interesting and Second World War addition to the various more modern novels I read as part of that module. I'm off to look at what else Alexander Starritt has written.

When Callum’s asks his grandfather about the war, the response was brief and terse. But then, in the following months, his grandfather writes a letter, detailing his experiences as a German soldier sent as part of the invading forces into Russia. From 1944, he was part of the retreat, desperately trying to reach Germany before being overtaken by the Red Army.

We Germans is an unusual story, concentrating not on the Western war, in France, but the harder, more demanding fight on the Eastern Front, when the Russian army turned the tide on Hitler. Not only that, but it’s a story from a German perspective, the enemy. Reading the book, however, you realise that not all Germans were Nazis, and few probably enjoyed or wanted to be at war, rather they were doing what they were told to do. I’m sure I’m not alone in knowing little about this fighting, other than the impact it had on the outcome of the war, and so the events described here are fascinating, if at times gory. At the same time, the comments from Callum, and the insights into his grandfather’s life after the war add light relief and focus,

A very enjoyable book, showing a different aspect of World War II.

In his second novel, We Germans, Alexander Starritt poses an intriguing question to one generation from another and asks what it was like to be on the German side during the Second World War.

Alexander Starritt hones in on one man and his grandson to tell his story and, by doing so, the demonic ‘other’ reverts to human form, instantly relatable and recognisable as Callum’s grandfather or opa. We read the letter he leaves behind upon his death, all the while hearing opa’s voice in our head. There is no ranting or raging monster here, but instead a man who approaches his letter-writing task in the methodical and efficient way we’ve only come to expect from the Germans. And interspersed throughout, the letter’s intended recipient, Callum, recounts his memories of his opa.

At the outset, opa maintains “I’m not trying to clear my conscience. What’s on it is on it.” But then he goes on: “I wasn’t a Nazi… I didn’t see the camps and I’m not qualified to say anything about them. I read Primo Levi’s book about it, the same as everyone else. Except of course that when we Germans read it, we have to think: We did this.”

Just as Starritt chooses to focus on opa and Callum to explore his subject matter, opa selects one wartime foraging expedition, embarked upon with a few others from his company, through which to convey his wartime experiences to his grandson. It’s a memorable episode from his time on the Eastern Front, somewhere opa resolutely maintains was always far worse than being posted to the Western Front. His account is striking, visceral in its detail, as he attempts to convey what life was like there, the atrocities they saw, and everything they experienced, physically and emotionally. It ends with a sequence which seems to come straight out of a madcap movie, either for the recklessness or courage shown in deciding to go through with it in the first place or the men’s sheer dumb luck in managing to come out of it alive, even if not completely intact.

In taking one man’s wartime experience and showing us his life through this prism, we get a real sense of what it might have felt like to be on the other side. We Germans reveals the internal conflict that arises out of being on this losing or wrong side, and the way in which it shaped German identity. This is evidenced through seemingly throwaway remarks and in the small detail of opa’s life during peacetime, something which had a profound effect upon me. Before writing his letter, he may have reduced his wartime experiences to platitudes he could share over a coffee but he also recognises this for the coping mechanism that it is, enabling him to live his life.

At 208 pages, We Germans may appear slight but it’s a bold and ambitious novel. I admire Starritt’s unflinching approach in making the usually despised and demonised enemy his protagonist here, effectively humanising the other side by providing him with a relationship we can relate to and, through him, exploring the wider notions of collective guilt, shame, and the burden of being German, or being of German descent, like Callum.

Callum's grandfather had been a German soldier on the Eastern Front during the 2nd World War. This is the letter he wrote to his grandson. Callum, now an adult, opens and reads this letter years later after the death of his grandfather.
This is an intriguing account of the war from the German perspective and although I found it easy to read, it nevertheless depicts the horrors of war and the grandfather's harrowing account of fighting on the eastern front towards the end of the war when the Germans were close to losing.
It is well written and draws the reader in more and more as the book (letter) progresses and this personal account stays with you long after you finish reading.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc.

A compelling read, thoughtful and thought-provoking, it takes the form of a letter written by an elderly German man, detailing his recollections and reflections on the second world war. The letter is written to his British grandson and read posthumously with a few interjections from the grandson with what he remembers of his grandparents and summers spent in Germany. Well-written and engaging.

Callum wants to find out about his Opa's experience in the war and clumsily asks questions that his Opa is reluctant to answer. He was annoyed at the ridiculousness of the questioning and we learn that he and Callum haven't seen each other for 17 months when he begins a letter to Callum. The letter is left folded in a drawer, never sent, until it is given to Callum upon his Opa's death.

This is a very good book. It doesn't try to be clever or full of twists, it is simply an account of a man who fought and survived World War II, told in the style of a letter to his grandson many, many years later. The difference between We Germans and your stereotypical WWII novel is that this is an account from a German soldier, fighting in the East.

We Germans shows what it was to be a German during and after WWII and what it is to be a German descendant with the notoriety and guilt of your country's history. Callum's account details his life, his relationship with his family, his career and lifestyle but these are given in staggered accounts between his Opa's own wartime account.

There are plenty of books and accounts of what it was to be an English soldier and how they fought for and defended our country. These stories are taught in schools and publicised in newspaper articles, documentaries, films and TV series. It is interesting to read the perspective of a soldier on the other side; to see how it was for the soldiers of our enemy. A devastating reminder of how these were just young men and boys, barely out of their teens. Somebody's son, grandson, brother, uncle, nephew or cousin. Someone's best friend, lover or husband. And they fought the great fight for their country as they were drafted and expected to do.

The ending of this book was beautifully written and left a warm feeling. A really enjoyable book that I'd happily recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley, Alexander Sharritt and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A German grandfather writes a letter to his grandson telling him about his experiences on the Eastern Front. Not my usually type of book but I found it fascinating, if brutal at times. Well worth reading.

Quite a clever book in that the perspective is original. Easy to tell who was “ talking “ as the author made clear the differing voices of the grandad and the grandson. There were plenty of shocking details but no central point of drama but that is the truth of the war I expect.

A book book to make you think. We Germans by Alexander Starritt starts with a young British man asking his German grandfather what it was like to fight on the wrong side of the Second World War. After the grandfather’s death a letter to the grandson is discovered. In the letter is an account of a few days at the end of the war when he realised that not only was the war lost, but that Germany deserved to lose. This book puts you in the shoes of an ordinary solider. It is a story of shame, guilt, loss and responsibility. Above all it makes you hope that Europe (or anywhere else) will tear never itself apart again as it did in the twentieth century.

We Germans was an interesting book, it reads like non fiction in a way, but it was very well done. I thought it would probably be just another book about the war, but this was something so much more, it’s about the emotions involved, the attitudes , the effects and on the difference in the generations dealing with this, the morals. It was such an interesting and moving novel, especially one of the few I’ve read not with the winning side being the focus. Interesting and I thoroughly recommend this.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Sadly, this just wasn't a book that I 'enjoyed' (I use that term lightly, the book deals with some heavy things!) It was super short and really easy to get through, although there were a lot of trigger warnings necessary that would be expected with a book of this calibre. It's written in letter format, which I normally hate, but it worked really well for this book -- a man tells the story of a few days as a German soldier during WW2 fighting for the Nazis. It was intriguing in terms of premise, but aside from an attempt to humanise the soldiers and to 'justify' (again, used lightly) their actions, it didn't really do much for me. I didn't necessarily hate it, but I didn't think it was anything special or unique, which is perhaps indicative of poor execution of a potentially great narrative.

Callum asks his grandfather about his experiences in WWII. After his death, Callum is left a letter by his grandfather where he writes his story. Brutal, horrific, and full of shame, he details the acts he carried out in the name of war. His increasing contempt for those in charge, the futility of it all. Most importantly, he confesses his sense of shame. His detachment from the death he saw everywhere. We Germans is not an easy read. But it is moving and thought-provoking. The narrative moves from the letter, to Callum's reflections on the grandfather he knew and loved. It is a testament to the strength of hope when all else is lost. The will to survive and live a meaningful life whilst never forgetting the past.