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Berthold Meier, born on August 21, 1929, grew up in Hamburg as the son of a master tailor. At the age of ten he joined the German Jungvolk and was promoted to Jungführer shortly afterwards. At the age of sixteen, shortly before the end of the war, he was called up to the Reich training camp of the Waffen-SS and trained there until he was taken prisoner of war by the Soviets and forced to do forced labor on a Czech farm. He was not released from forced labor until 1948. After his return, he completed his studies in agriculture and immediately began working in the young GDR, where he remained until reunification. The recordings were made in 2021 as part of the project "From school to war - child soldiers in the Second World War" and were funded by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Home Affairs. Project management and technical implementation: Alesch Mühlbauer Timecodes 00:00 - Introduction 00:45 - Childhood 6:16 - Joining the German Jungvolk 14:45 - Conscription into the Waffen-SS 19:36 - The path to Soviet captivity 27:24 - Forced labor in agriculture and mining in the Czech Republic 49:12 - Return 56:46 - Review 1:10:23 - Completion of studies and start of life in the GDR 1:19:52 - Arrest for aiding and abetting escape from the republic and giving false testimony 1:28:10 - Work at the Institute for Agriculture in Frankfurt an der Oder 1:37:57 - Time of change 1:42:42 - Closing words