Author Hartmut Wegner was born in 1933 near Berlin, Germany, the same year Adolf Hitler took control and built the country into a strong economic and military stronghold. In Growing Up German, Wegner shares his story from the viewpoint of a young boy growing up under the Nazi regime. This memoir follows the boy from the beginning of World War II in 1939, when the Nazis and Adolf Hitler started their march to conquer the world; through to the war's end in 1945 and the recovery afterward; to the development in his teens in Berlin; and then to his immigration with his family to United States in 1954 at age twenty. He narrates the numerous shocking experiences that had an emotional impact on his young life. In addition to sharing his recollections, Wegner offers his opinions on World War II from his perspective later in life. Offering a straightforward firsthand account of the events in Germany during World War II, Growing Up German gives keen insight into what life was like for one boy and his family during a tumultuous and tragic time in world history.