In his memoirs, Willy Beckel describes many aspects of everyday life that shaped the lives of children and young people during the German Empire in the years around 1912. They remain exciting to read, as they describe a world long gone that still has relevance today. The post was delivered three times a day bread rolls and newspapers delivered to the door daily life mainly on foot stoves, washing machines, refrigerators, irons and mangle machines, dishwashers, bread slicers, showers and toilets, telephones – most of these were not yet available. Cars, airships and aeroplanes were still a sensation. There was still plenty of space to play in the streets and backyards. The life of an urban extended family, usually taking centre stage, is not omitted from this homage to his parents, which recounts many major events in Leipzig during the imperial era. His memoirs are good intellectual and timeless food for thought. In his memoirs, Willy Beckel describes many aspects of everyday life that shaped the lives of children and young people during the German Empire in the years around 1912. They remain exciting to read, as they describe a world long gone that still has relevance today. The post was delivered three times a day bread rolls and newspapers delivered to the door daily life mainly on foot stoves, washing machines, refrigerators, irons and mangle machines, dishwashers, bread slicers, showers and toilets, telephones – most of these were not yet available. Cars, airships and aeroplanes were still a sensation. There was still plenty of space to play in the streets and backyards. The life of an urban extended family, usually taking centre stage, is not omitted from this homage to his parents, which recounts many major events in Leipzig during the imperial era. His memoirs are good intellectual and timeless food for thought. In his memoirs, Willy Beckel describes many aspects of everyday life that shaped the lives of children and young people during the German Empire in the years around 1912. They remain exciting to read, as they describe a world long gone that still has relevance today. The post was delivered three times a day bread rolls and newspapers delivered to the door daily life mainly on foot stoves, washing machines, refrigerators, irons and mangle machines, dishwashers, bread slicers, showers and toilets, telephones – most of these were not yet available. Cars, airships and aeroplanes were still a sensation. There was still plenty of space to play in the streets and backyards. The life of an urban extended family, usually taking centre stage, is not omitted from this homage to his parents, which recounts many major events in Leipzig during the imperial era. His memoirs are good intellectual and timeless food for thought.