Radnor House History Department – Reading List – GCSE - Germany
*J* -Teenage Reader
*Q* - Quick Read suitable for all
*S* - Senior Reader
*A* - Autobiographical
Boyne, John The boy in the striped pyjamas
*J*
Bruno’s father is a high-ranking German soldier. When his father gets posted to a new job,
the whole family has to move from Berlin to a place where there is nothing apart from a
large compound full of people in striped pyjamas. Although ostensibly a book for younger
readers, only those who are less ignorant than Bruno can appreciate the full horror of the
story.
Cross, Vince Berlin Olympics
*J*
This easy read is one of the My Story historical fiction series. Set in Camden in mid 1930s,
Eleanor, Sarah and Tara attend a school that strongly resembles CSG. Sarah is Jewish and is
finding life difficult as anti-Semitism increases. But she knows this will be nothing compared
to the hostility she will encounter if she achieves her dream and is selected to swim for
Britain in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.
Dowswell, Paul Auslander
*J*
A fascinating account of everyday life in Germany during World War 2. Piotr Bruck is a Polish
orphan. His family is of German extraction and he is a perfect Aryan specimen. So he is sent
to Germany, renamed Peter and adopted by a prominent Nazi family. But Piotr does not
want to be a Nazi.
Fitzherbert, Katrin True to both my selves
*A*
Born in Germany in 1936, Katrin lived the first 10 years of her life as a Nazi in Hitler’s
Germany. However, Katrin’s mother had been born in England. At the end of the war, Katrin
was brought to live in England and made to conceal her origins.
Fallada, Hans Alone in Berlin
*S*
After the death of their soldier son, an ordinary German couple feel compelled to take direct
action against the Nazi regime. Ultimately this leads to their to their betrayal, arrest and
execution. This was of the first anti-Nazi novels to be published by a German after World
War 2 ended. It reveals the paranoia of life under the Nazis.
Frank, Anne The diary of a young girl
*A*
A modern classic. Anne Frank was a Jewish girl in Holland whose family went into hiding to
try to escape the holocaust. During this time she kept a diary of her daily life. Sadly she died
in a concentration camp just before peace was declared. If you have enjoyed this book you
may wish to read Sharon Dogar’s Annexed. Published in 2010, this controversial novel is a
retelling of Anne Frank’s story through the eyes of Peter van Pels, the boy who also hid in
the attic.
Harris, Robert Fatherland
*S*
Dick, Philip The man in the high castle
*S*
Levin, Ira The boys from Brazil
*S*
Dystopian thrillers which speculate on alternative endings to World War 2. Fatherland is set
in 1964 in a world where the Nazis were the victors. Hitler is about to celebrate his 75th
birthday and the The Holocaust has been covered up. In The man in the high castle, the Axis
wins the war and the United States is divided into German and Japanese zones. Whilst in
The boys from Brazil, Dr Josef Mengele, alive and working in South America has produced
many clones of Hitler.
Isherwood, Christopher Goodbye to Berlin
*S*
A collection of linked stories about life in Germany during the early 1930s. The book
captures the atmosphere of a changing society and focuses on groups of people most at risk
from the rising Nazi regime. The book was adapted into the musical “Cabaret”.
Jung, Reinhardt Dreaming in black and white
*J*
A short book that covers an aspect of the Nazi regime which is often forgotten. Hannes is
physically disabled. In his dreams he finds himself back in 1930s Germany where he is
persecuted for being disabled, and even his own father starts to believe Nazi propaganda.
Keneally, Thomas Schindler’s ark
*S*
Based on a true story. Oscar Schindler was a German business man and Nazi party member
who managed to save more than a thousand Jews from the death camps by employing and
caring for them.
Kerr, Judith When Hitler stole pink rabbit /Bombs on Aunt Dainty/A small person far away
*J*
A semi-autobiographical trilogy. The 1930s-1950s through the eyes of a girl growing up In
the first book 9 year old Anna and her family flee Germany when her father is wanted by the
Nazis. In the second book, Anna is a teenager living in London during the Blitz. In the final
volume Anna returns to Germany as an adult and faces up to the past.
Newbery, Linda Sisterland
*J*
This complex family saga is about how our lives are shaped by our history. Briefed by her
Palestinian friends, Hilly blames the Jews for the current tensions in the Middle East. Zoe’s
boyfriend is a white supremicist and Zoe echoes his views. Meanwhile their grandmother
has dementia and in her muddled mind she reveals secrets from her early life in Nazi
Germany that her family find uncomfortable.
Pausewang, Gudrun The final journey
*J*
A harrowing account of the journey made by an 11 year old girl as she is transported in a
cattle truck to Auschwitz. The book is all the more poignant because unlike the reader, Alice
remains ignorant of her fate.
Pausewang, Gudrun The traitor
*J*
Anna, a 16 year old girl living in Germany towards the end of World War 2, is secretly
beginning to question Nazi ideals. So when she discovers an escaped Russian POW, she
decides to risk her life and help him.
Provoost, Anne Falling
*J*
Lucas’s grandfather’s betrayed Jews in hiding during the Nazi Occupation of France. Lucas is
a troubled teenager, in danger of being lured into neo-Nazi activities. Is history about to
repeat itself?
Rhue, Norton The wave
*J*
To try to explain to his students how ordinary Germans got swept up into the Nazi
movement, a high school teacher creates “The Wave”, a movement based on discipline. But
the experiment proves too successful!
Richter, Hans Peter Friedrich / I was there / The time of the young soldiers
*J*
Three short but powerful novels which explore the lives of ordinary people in Nazi Germany.
Each story is told by an anonymous narrator. In Friedrich, a whole Jewish family, friends of
the narrator before Hitler came to power, are obliterated. In I was there, the narrator and
his friends join the Hitler Youth Movement. In The time of the young soldiers the narrator,
now 17, joins the army and experiences the atrocities of war at first hand.
Spiegelman, Art Maus: a survivor’s tale (and sequel)
*S*
This graphic novel about the holocaust caused a great stir when it was first published. The
Jews are portrayed as mice, the Nazis as cats, the Poles as pigs. The novel is based on the
experiences of Spiegelman’s father, a Polish Jew who survived the holocaust. It shows the
lasting effects of the holocaust on survivors and their families.
Spinelli, Jerry Milkweed
*J*
Life on the streets of Warsaw is hard for “Stopthief”, a homeless orphan boy. Then the Nazis
move in and things get even worse.
Steinbeck, John The moon is down
*S*
This novel was written as propaganda. It was secretly distributed to resistance fighters in
Nazi occupied countries to inspire them. Possibly based on the Nazi invasion of Norway, it is
about an army invading and occupying a small town and how this affects both the occupied
and occupiers.
Wilson, Leslie Saving Rafael
*J*
A story of forbidden love set amidst war-torn Berlin. Raf is a Jewish boy, a family friend who
Jenny’s family are hiding. Jenny falls in love with Raf. She will do anything to try to save him,
even if that means ending up in a concentration camp herself.
Zusak, Markus The Book thief
*A*
An inventive and moving account of life in Germany during World War 2. Everyday life in a
poor suburb of Munich as experienced by an orphan girl, her adoptive family and a Jewish
man hiding in the cellar.
Barnett, Ruth Person of no nationnality
*A*
Baumann, Janina Winter in the morning
*A*
Halter, Roman Roman’s story
*A*
Levi, Primo If this is a man
*A*
Schloss Eva, Eva’s story
*A*
Velmans, Edith Edith’s book
*A*
Autobiographies of holocaust survivors. Separated from family and friends, living in exile,
going into hiding or even being sent to a concentration camp, the experiences of these
writers are all harrowing. But unlike Anne Frank, they all survived.