I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1942-1945
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.35 (997 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0375502408 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 558 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-12-29 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Yet he clings to an intellectual life, continuing his reading and making notes on the lies and obfuscations of official Nazi discourse that would become his postwar masterpiece, Lingua Tertii Imperii. "The Russians, who have only just been annihilated, are tremendous and quite inexhaustible opponents," he notes sardonically after reading a mendacious fascist article in 1942. Above all, his unflinching depiction of human nature and society in extremis amply justifies his cherished belief that even the Nazis "cannot prevent language from testifying to the truth." --Wendy Smith. The 60-year-old historian is forced to shovel snow despite his heart condition; hunger gnaws at him as rations are mercilessly cut. The second volume of Victor K
Klemperer is made to shovel snow, is assigned to do forced labor in a factory, is taunted on the streets by gangs of boys, but his life is spared, thanks to the privileged status of Jews married to Aryans. In the final days of the war, however, even Jews in mixed marriages are summoned to report for transport to "labor camps," which Klemperer now knows means death, and that his turn will soon come. He is saved by the great Dresden air raid of February 13, 1945; he and his wife survive the fiery destruction of their city and make their way to the Allied lines. The son of a Berlin rabbi, Klemperer was a German patriot who served with honor during the First World War, married a gentile, and converted to Protestantism. I've never been interested in politics, I don't know anything about the persecution of the Jews.'" Says Ferguson, "Of all the books I have read on this subject, I find it hard to think of one which has taught me more." . "The best written, most ev
"Authenticity at last." according to Dr. Margret Popp. I devoured the roughly 1500 pages of Victor Klemperer's diary 19Authenticity at last. I devoured the roughly 1500 pages of Victor Klemperer's diary 1933-19Authenticity at last. Dr. Margret Popp I devoured the roughly 1500 pages of Victor Klemperer's diary 1933-1945 in the German original in four consecutive days and nights. What grips one is the question how Klemperer, an identifiable Jew, could have survived the Third Reich in the face of the horrendous persecution of the Jews which his diary shows closing in on him from all sides, and still be alive at the end of the Second World War viz the second volume of the book.What saved him was favorable coincidents -- so many of them that they would appear improbable in a wo. 5 in the German original in four consecutive days and nights. What grips one is the question how Klemperer, an identifiable Jew, could have survived the Third Reich in the face of the horrendous persecution of the Jews which his diary shows closing in on him from all sides, and still be alive at the end of the Second World War viz the second volume of the book.What saved him was favorable coincidents -- so many of them that they would appear improbable in a wo. Authenticity at last. I devoured the roughly 1500 pages of Victor Klemperer's diary 1933-19Authenticity at last. Dr. Margret Popp I devoured the roughly 1500 pages of Victor Klemperer's diary 1933-1945 in the German original in four consecutive days and nights. What grips one is the question how Klemperer, an identifiable Jew, could have survived the Third Reich in the face of the horrendous persecution of the Jews which his diary shows closing in on him from all sides, and still be alive at the end of the Second World War viz the second volume of the book.What saved him was favorable coincidents -- so many of them that they would appear improbable in a wo. 5 in the German original in four consecutive days and nights. What grips one is the question how Klemperer, an identifiable Jew, could have survived the Third Reich in the face of the horrendous persecution of the Jews which his diary shows closing in on him from all sides, and still be alive at the end of the Second World War viz the second volume of the book.What saved him was favorable coincidents -- so many of them that they would appear improbable in a wo. -19Authenticity at last. Dr. Margret Popp I devoured the roughly 1500 pages of Victor Klemperer's diary 1933-1945 in the German original in four consecutive days and nights. What grips one is the question how Klemperer, an identifiable Jew, could have survived the Third Reich in the face of the horrendous persecution of the Jews which his diary shows closing in on him from all sides, and still be alive at the end of the Second World War viz the second volume of the book.What saved him was favorable coincidents -- so many of them that they would appear improbable in a wo. 5 in the German original in four consecutive days and nights. What grips one is the question how Klemperer, an identifiable Jew, could have survived the Third Reich in the face of the horrendous persecution of the Jews which his diary shows closing in on him from all sides, and still be alive at the end of the Second World War viz the second volume of the book.What saved him was favorable coincidents -- so many of them that they would appear improbable in a wo. Volume Two Continues This Valuable & Frightening Story Barron Laycock As with Volume One (see my review), the most disarming and appealing feature of this tome is its slow and ineluctable building of suspense and empathy as World War I veteran Klemperer steadily weaves the day to day details of his life in Nazi Germany in the 12 years of that regime into a portrait of a rogue state moving irresistably down the path to tyranny and terror. The reader is sucked into the vortex of what it is like to live under such circumstances, where an aging Jewish professor who has built a life of purpose and mean. "Possibly best books I ever read" according to Thomas B. Gross. After reading both volumes in English, I cannot think of anything Iever read on any subject that I found more interesting. I have readfar more depressing accounts of the Holocaust (for example AlexanderDonat's great "The Holocaust Kingdom" which I also highlyrecommend though more as a piece of Holocaust literature), but to meKlemperer's diaries are much more profound than "just anothersurvivor's story".What distinguishes Klemperer's work is firstof all that he is a great writer - he was also, I think, something ofa hypochondriac