Language:
German
Year of publication:
1997
Titel der Quelle:
Tel Aviver Jahrbuch für Deutsche Geschichte
Angaben zur Quelle:
26 (1997) 307-344
Keywords:
Klemperer, Victor,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Personal narratives
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Abstract:
Criticizes the enthusiastic reception of Klemperer's diaries in Germany because they were thought to present an image of the true, good Germany and thus exonerate Germans from the damning image presented by Goldhagen. In fact, in spite of Klemperer's efforts to be wholly German, his Jewish origins were an obstacle to his career even in the 1920s. After 1933 he felt homeless; in Hitler he saw an authentic, deeply rooted expression of German identity. Instances of aid and encouragement by individual Germans - which he noted because they were rare, and which are now made much of - do not redeem the German people from political guilt. Klemperer was an exception: his life was normal compared to life in the concentration camps, and the ending was happy. This makes it easy for readers to identify with him, forgetting that their own past is really that of the perpetrators.
Description / Table of Contents:
Traverso, Paola. "Klemperer c'est nous"; ein Nachtrag zur deutschen Rezeption der Tagebücher von Victor Klemperer. Babylon 22 (2007) 36-43.
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