I Will Bear Witness, Volume 2: A Diary of the Nazi Years: 1942-1945 by Victor Klemperer

Author:Victor Klemperer [Klemperer, Victor]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: History, Modern, 20th Century, Military, World War II, Social Science, Jewish Studies
ISBN: 9780399589089
Google: yCdmCwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2016-02-17T05:00:00+00:00

September 24, Friday morning

My new work does after all exhaust me far more than that at Wormser Strasse. Shoveling, shoveling, shoveling with spade and fork onto the cutting table, or shoveling into sacks what has been ground. Knoch, the chargeman, sets not only a murderous pace, he often also drives us, and then my heart cannot keep up. On top of that there is no break from two until six. That is to change now: Instead of taking a break from six almost until seven, there are to be two breaks of half an hour. The supervisor is not malicious, but is like an NCO. On the machine, which is very difficult to clean, he shows me a flap of whose existence I could not possibly have known. As he did so, he said: “I have to expect a little intelligence from everyone.” Almost more than the pace of work I am depressed by the lack of communication with the other Jewish people on the shift. During the break they sit silently by themselves or play cards. Yet Garnmann, a little man of sixty-four years of age, formerly a businessman, the third worker on our machine, is uncommonly friendly and helpful to me. And Aris, who is far from mastering the cutting, laments the tempi passati with me. Yesterday evening I also became a little friendly with Steinberg, the whisperer, whose vocal cords were damaged in a concentration camp. We walked home together in profound darkness (by way of Gerokstrasse). Nevertheless: The whole thing, I can think of no other word for it, is dreary. I am often very depressed, as yesterday morning. Later my spirits were roused again by the latest war news. The military bulletin is catastrophic; the little threadbare disguise worse than naked confession. In the face of the never-ending backward movement (now as far as Kiev) the word “disengagement” sounds tragicomic. […] Also, the constant retreats in Italy, which are conducted victoriously and without loss (from Messina, from Sardinia, from Calabria), appear embarrassing. Likewise the strained descriptions that refer to us as victors and creators of order in Italy. Whereas in fact there’s civil war and chaos.—Sure sign of a crisis: yesterday’s headline in the Dresdener Zeitung is “Japan’s fighting strength is further increased.” […] Headline of the military bulletin: “Disengagement proceeds according to plan.” “According to plan” has been much in favor recently.—

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