Two books that made history. With a foreword by Joachim Gauck, friend and companion of Kempowski. Walter Kempowski's "political interview books" are fundamental to the German engagement with National Socialism. They are now being reissued. In the late 1950s, Walter Kempowski began interviewing his relatives about their memories of childhood, youth, and the time of the Third Reich. The aspiring writer meticulously recorded everything in the "red volumes," which formed the basis for his novel project "Deutsche Chronik," which made him famous. At the same time, he started asking neighbors, acquaintances, and passersby two questions: "Have you seen Hitler?" and "Did you know about it?" (referring to the concentration camps). With this systematic questioning, Kempowski ventured into new territory and broke a taboo in the economic miracle of Germany.