EDITH KURZWEIL
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struggle for simple survival. Until June 6, 1944, notes Klemperer, the
media announced that the enemy never would be able to land, would
have to take its time, and couldn't afford such a sacrifice. On that day,
Goebbels immediately shifted gears, stating that the Allies had had no
choice but to invade, and had to do so across the Atlantic. From then on,
Klemperer cites (false) Nazis reports about the fighting: about enemies
who are bleeding to death in Normandy, where "Jews, forever greedy,
already are trying to seize property. After all, it is their war, the war of the
Jews." He concludes that this may well be a response to the fact that
wherever the Allies landed, they immediately annulled the anti- Jewish
decrees - which are central to Nazi iqeology, and "prove" that the Jews
caused the war. From then on, reports about air raids, the invasion, the
"liquidations," and reflections about these take up much space. Klemperer
notes his own ever increasing states of anxiety when Eva is on yet another
errand; his fear of impending deportation. The year 1944 "ends in great
disappointment... I thought the war would be over by now." Soon, he
reports of the misery of refugees, of mass graves, of mass shootings, of
hearsay that the Russians plan taking Dresden. Then, ten pages of par–
ticulars about the destruction of the city. Soon thereafter, Eva resolutely
removed his yellow star, and with false papers the Klemperers fled into
the countryside, where they stayed in hiding until the liberation.
On the afternoon of May 3, 1945, and shortly after the press still had
assured them that events were about to tum around, they knew that Hit–
ler was dead. By May 15th, Klemperer was hoping to live long enough to
again become a professor, to complete some of his writing projects, to
once again enjoy cigarettes, alcohol, and driving a car. In June, they were
on their way to the house they had built in Dolzschen.
Klemperer's fascinating diary, which had been deposited in the Dres–
den Landesarchiv (in the Soviet zone), was recovered in 1988 and edited
by one of his students, Walter Nowojski. Its literary value equals its po–
litical one. In Germany, this diary has become a bestseller and has revived
the debate about what ordinary Germans then knew of the systematic
killing of the Jews. (It will be published here in translation by Random
House.) Klemperer's testimony lays to rest their alleged lack of awareness,
although we can hardly assume that many Germans shared the insights of
Klemperer and his handful of friends, or of Alexander Mitscherlich.
Whether or not the majority of Germans was complicit - as some of my
younger German friends have maintained for some time - remains a moot
point.
