Hermann Stimmler is Moritz Schottmüller’s grandfather. During the Second World War, Stimmler volunteered to fight for the German Armed Forces at the age of 18. But even before he could take part in combat operations, the capture and deportation by French troops saved his life. Starving, he spent 14 months in captivity before returning to Germany.

Today, Hermann Stimmler is 90 years old. For the past two years, he has beenautobiographically recording what he experienced during his childhood in Nazi Germany. He remembers the rise of Adolf Hitler, the November pogroms of1938,and his "commitment" to the Hitler Youth. He describes the radicalization of German society under Hitler and the persecution of the Jews in his immediate neighborhood in a damning way.

Moritz Schottmüller publishes the autobiography for his intermediate diploma, along with his grandfather's war diary, which he secretly kept during his time as a soldier and prisoner of war. While Moritz Schottmüller transcribed for many hours as his grandfather read from his diary, not only Schottmüller, but also Hermann Stimmler
was confronted with the past. Old, intimate stories were mentioned that Stimmler remembered or did not dare to write down 73 years ago. Comments that reflect his current view ofwhat was written back then are noted on the page edges.

While nationalistic tendencies in Europe and the voices calling for a political change in remembrance in Germany become louder, it was all the more important for Moritz Schottmüller to lend a voice to a person who was actually there and speaks from memory.

The transcription created in this work will be part of the autobiography of Hermann Stimmler, duetobe published in 2018.