WW2 Novels from the German Perspective?

[TooLaidBackForMyOwnGood]

I am looking to get a bit of a historical perspective on the lives of the normal German family during WW2. I have read around the Blitz etc but since fleetingly coming across the lives of Germans in various books and TV programmes I am intrigued on how they managed to survive (or not) and how they viewed the Allies and Russians etc, but essentially a more in depth social history. Any good recommendations out there?

The Twins is also a film, not called the Twins ( not sure what though - will look). It's written by a Dutch rather than German author, but obviously similar theme anyway. While on Dutch theme, Harry Mulisch is worth a read - The Assault, for example.

On non-fiction, I've just begun reading 'The Fire' by Joerg Friedrich. it certainly is from the German perspective, about the destruction of Germany by Allied bombing. Less sure it's 'social history' though.

There was also a book/long essay by WG Sebald - something about 'destruction' in the title. It was more on the theme of German guilt but also the inability of Germans to talk about what had happened in the war, when Germany was destroyed. He wrote it a bit after, maybe the 1980s????

Another one I should have remembered as it's very good is Frauen - about women in the Third Reich. Written by Alison Owings based on interviews she did. Despite the title it is in English. AO is a US researcher/historian, I think. It's out of print but I see Amazon has some 2nd hand for 1p plus postage. And of course, when I clicked on that, other suggestions came up - including 'A Social History of the Third Reich' (Richard Grunberger) - catchy title but maybe the kind of thing the OP was after?

Last Train from Kummersdorf - about 2 teens with different war experiences fleeing the Russians.

The Reader

Nobody seems to have mentioned Jenny Erpenbeck's book 'Visitation' (Heimsuchung). She's an East German writer who looks at German history through the story of a house in East Berlin, from the time of its building through two world wars up to the fall of communism. Wonderful, lyrical writing.