In this piece an archival recording, taken from interviews with historian Alistair Thomson (in 1985 and 1987), when he was around 90 years of age, Ern tells of how an encounter with a young English speaking German soldier changed his perspective on the war. Ern also speaks of the conviction that grew within him that war was a cruel unnecessary waste of life which could be avoided if people committed to working out their conflicts in other ways. The full recording of their interview is available on the Australian War Memorial website.

Introduction Spoken by Jonathan Pilbrow