I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 by Victor Klemperer

'I continue to write,' he notes in 1941 after a terrifying run-in with the police. He loses first his professorship and then his car, his phone, his house, even his typewriter, and is forced to move into a Jews' House (the last step before the camps), put his cat to death (Jews may not own pets), and suffer countless other indignities.ĭespite the danger his diaries would pose if discovered, Klemperer sees it as his duty to record events.

This symphony of voices is ordered by the brilliant, grumbling Klemperer, struggling to complete his work on eighteenth-century France while documenting the ever- tightening Nazi grip. All offer their thoughts and theories on the progress of the war: Will England hold out? Who listens to Goebbels? How much longer will it last? What makes this book so remarkable, aside from its literary distinction, is Klemperer's preoccupation with the thoughts and actions of ordinary Germans: Berger the greengrocer, who was given Klemperer's house ('anti-Hitlerist, but of course pleased at the good exchange'), the fishmonger, the baker, the much-visited dentist.

His diaries, written in secrecy, provide a vivid account of everyday life in Hitler's Germany. I Will Bear Witness is a work of literature as well as a revelation of the day-by-day horror of the Nazi years.Ī Dresden Jew, a veteran of World War I, a man of letters and historian of great sophistication, Klemperer recognized the danger of Hitler as early as 1933. First edition, pp xxiii, 500, notes, chronology, index.The publication of Victor Klemperer's secret diaries brings to light one of the most extraordinary documents of the Nazi period. Hardcover in Fine condition, dust wrapper with some very light shelf-wear but otherwise in Near Fine condition, and in a protective cellophane cover for extra protection. First edition, pp xxiii, 500, notes, chronology, index. “In its cool, lucid style and power of observation,” said The New York Times, “it is the best written, most evocative, most observant record of daily life in the Third Reich.” I Will Bear Witness is a work of literature as well as a revelation of the day-by-day horror of the Nazi years. The publication of Victor Klemperer’s secret diaries brings to light one of the most extraordinary documents of the Nazi period. This volume, covers the period from Hitler’s election to the beginning of the holocaust. The diaries of a Jew in Nazi Germany the most important document to emerge from the period since the publication of The Diary Of Anne Frank.

Abridged and translated from German by Martin Chalmers.

I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 by Victor Klemperer