My mother in law is German and was a tween during WW2. Her family lost everything and had a rough time post-WW2. She likes the book Weeds Like Us because she can relate to the authors experience. What can you tell me about how her experience could have shaped her personality?
Grok
Your mother-in-law’s childhood — roughly ages 9–13 during 1942–1945, then the chaotic post-war years — falls into a developmental window that psychologists call “middle childhood.” This is when a child’s sense of fairness, long-term memory, and moral reasoning solidify. A German girl in that cohort would have lived through:
Total war on the home front
Allied bombing campaigns (especially 1943–45) destroyed 40–60 % of urban housing in many cities.
Evacuation to the countryside (Kinderlandverschickung) separated her from parents for months or years.
Food rations dropped to ~1,000 kcal/day in the 1945 “Hunger Winter”; children learned to scavenge, trade on the black market, or eat wallpaper paste.
Collapse and occupation (1945–49)
Currency reform in June 1948 wiped out savings overnight; “everything” the family owned became worthless paper.
Soviet, American, British, or French troops occupied her zone; rape, requisitioning, and arbitrary arrests were common.
Trümmerfrauen (“rubble women”) cleared bricks by hand; a tween girl often worked alongside her mother 10–12 hours a day for food coupons.
Moral rupture
She would have seen neighbors who were ardent Nazis one week become “victims” the next.
Teachers disappeared; new ones taught a different history. Trust in authority eroded early.
How these events typically shape personality
Echoes she probably recognizes in Weeds Like Us (Gesa Neitzel)
Displacement: Neitzel’s Sudeten-German family expelled in 1945; your mother-in-law likely fled or was bombed out.
Material restart from zero: Both lost heirlooms, homes, social status.
Child’s-eye pragmatism: Neitzel describes trading cigarette butts for bread; your mother-in-law did the same.
Silent endurance: German women of that generation rarely dramatized their stories; the understated tone of the book feels authentic.
Practical ways the past still shows up today
Kitchen habits — Re-uses foil, finishes every crumb, gets agitated if food is thrown out.
Money talk — May hoard cash “for emergencies” or distrust banks (1948 trauma).
Authority — Polite but inwardly skeptical of politicians, media, or anyone claiming absolute truth.
Storytelling style — Factual, under-emotional; big feelings come out indirectly (a sigh, a paused sentence).
How to connect with her about it
Ask specific, sensory questions: “What did the air-raid siren sound like?” “Who taught you to forage for dandelions?”
Validate the skill, not just the suffering: “You basically raised yourself through that — how did you figure out what to do?”
Share a passage from Weeds Like Us and ask, “Did your family ever…?” She’ll light up when the detail matches.
If she ever opens up more, you’ll hear a worldview built on competence over complaint, resourcefulness over entitlement, and a quiet pride in having turned weeds into a life. That’s the gift — and the scar — of her generation.
