I Will Bear Witness, Volume 2
I Will Bear Witness, Volume 2
Victor Klemperer
Christopher Hitchens
Don't start [this book] late at night, you will not get to bed. - Christopher Hitchens
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I Will Bear Witness, Volume 2

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

Victor Klemperer
By
Victor Klemperer
4.4
1465
ratings on Goodreads

In the shadow of a world torn asunder, Victor Klemperer's "I Will Bear Witness, Volume 2" emerges as a beacon of human resilience and an indelible record of the Holocaust's darkest days. Beginning in 1942, as the gears of the Final Solution grind into motion, Klemperer's diary entries weave a narrative of defiance in the face of unfathomable cruelty. His meticulous observations serve not only as a testament to the horrors he endured but also as a poignant commentary on the nature of evil and the indomitable spirit of those who resist it. Through the smoke of the Allied bombing of Dresden and the crumbling facade of Nazi Germany, Klemperer's voice remains unflinching—capturing the hope, despair, and surreal normalcy of life under Hitler's regime. This volume, building on the foundation laid in its predecessor, transcends the genre of war diaries to stand as a literary masterpiece. It challenges us to bear witness alongside Klemperer, to remember the past, and to recognize the seeds of tyranny in the hope they might never again find fertile ground.

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Released
1995
1 Jan
Length
555
Pages

1

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Don't start [this book] late at night, you will not get to bed. - Christopher Hitchens
March 18...[1945]Brief morning reflection arisen from great love. In fact, the main point after all is that for forty years we have so much loved one another and do love one another; in fact, I am not at all sure at all that all this is going to come to an end. For certain, nothingness--en tant que individual consciousness, and there is the true nothingness--is altogether probable, and anything else highly improbable. But have we not continually experienced, since 1914 and even more since 1933 and with ever greater frequency in recent weeks, the most utterly improbable, the most monstrously fantastic things? Has not what was formerly completely unimaginable to us become commonplace and a matter of course? If I have lived through the persecutions in Dresden, if I have lived through February 13 and these weeks as a refugee--why should I not just as well live (or rather: die) to find the two of us somewhere, Eva and I, with angel wings or in some other droll form? It's not only the word "impossible" that has gone out of circulation, "unimaginable" also has no validity anymore.
— Victor Klemperer, I Will Bear Witness, Volume 2

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