Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945

p. xv

“The vast majority of men and women who witness great events recall them solely in terms of personal experience. I met a woman whose anger about the occupation of her house by GIs, the casual theft of cherished possessions, remained as great in 2002 as it had been in 1945. It would have been meaningless to suggest that she should set her grievances in the context of the mass murder of Jews, the devastation of Europe, the destitution of millions. Only personal experience possessed real significance for her.