Die vergessene Generation

Never before has there been a generation in Germany that was as well off as today's 60- to 75-year-olds. But little is known about them, they are not talked about - an inconspicuous generation. Now they are beginning to talk, after long years of silence. The generation of war children has retired, their own children have long since left home. For many, the memories are now gradually coming out and with them fears, sometimes even the unprocessed war experiences. They now want to think and talk about themselves. The psychoanalyst Horst-Eberhard Richter speaks of a "hidden, undiscovered world". The victims of the Holocaust were dealt with in detail, but the generation of war children was never dealt with. They were told: "Be glad that you survived at all. Forget everything and look ahead!" They lived through the bombing or the expulsion, their fathers were in the field, in captivity or fell. They have kept these memories locked up until now, consoling themselves with the attitude, "Others had it much worse than we did." This is how an entire generation was shaped: One functioned, built up, asked few questions, never complained, did not want to hear about the war - and one could not throw away bread.