from the rising tide of Hitler's power
But that protection was never
absolute or guaranteed. Nor did it ever
lull Klemperer into an optimistic com-
placency about the political realities
taking shape in his country. A percep-
tive critic of the way the Nazis utilized
language and mass communication, he
fills his diary with prescient observa-
tions worthy of Orwell.
He understood tyranny the way
physicians understand cancer — as
something that spreads silently at first
and then gains an unstoppable
momentum. "What ... I called terror,
was a mild prelude" was his succinct
entry for March 10, 1933, following
Hitler's formal election as chancellor.
Two years after that entry, Klemperer
entered that twilight existence of so
many other Germans, Jewish and non-
Jewish alike, who were not entirely in
danger but never entirely safe. His posi-
tion at the university taken from him
— forcible retirement due to a "surplus"
of academics was the quasi-official rea-
son — he busied himself with writing,
research and introspection. In short, he
joined the resistance.
Readers of the diary may find that
last sentence an exaggeration. In the
pages of his work, Klemperer does not
come across as a hero in the sensational
sense. There are whole sections devoted
to matters that seem trivial compared to
other events — belatedly learning how
to drive, dealing with a much loved but
financially reckless spouse, maintaining
ties with colleagues and students and
even domestics who knew any overt
association with him meant trouble.
Yet add these minor episodes up
and juxtapose them with the midnight
arrests, the rallies that made a pagan
faith out of death and destruction, the
bombings that leveled whole cities
overnight, and you have a summation
of what it is to be human. And to be
human in the face of something that is
utterly inhuman is resistance in the
utterly heroic sense.
Special Note: This is actually only the
first volume of the complete diary The years
1941 to 1945 are covered in the second
volume which will hopefully see publication
either later this year or in early 2000. P1

At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23,
Robert del Valle leads the Jewish
Authors Book Group at Borders in
Farmington Hills in a discussion of
I Will Bear Witness by Victor
Klemperer. The public is welcome.
30995 Orchard Lake Road,
Farmington Hills. (248) 737-0110.

An Excerpt ...

0,0,000,:00,00

The following abridged diary
entry is from 1936:

October 9, Friday

This is probably the worst birth-
day of my life.
In the morning Martha informed me
that Wally, who was thought to be saved
after a serious operation — supposedly
removal °flier gallbladder, but no doubt
it was cancer after all — is considered
beyond help; she has been packed off
home from the hospital; Lotte, the doc-
tor, recalled from Switzerland, will care
for her till the end.
In the morning at the library I was
told gently, that as a non-Aryan I was
no longer allowed to use the reading
room. They will let me take every-
thing home or give it to me in the
catalog room, but an official-ban has
been issued for the reading room.
In the afternoon we were in
Tolkewitz for the cremation of Breit,
of whose death we learned quite by
chance: Frau Lahmann had heard of it
at another Jewish cleaning job. At this
funeral ceremony which was attended
by a very large number of people,
most wearing top hats, only a very few
bare-headed brave Christians, like
Gehrig (incidentally Frau Kuhn was
also there), so here I had a firsthand
survey. Instead of a cleric, a friend, a
Berlin lawyer called Magnus, spoke
first of all (he kept his hat on and so I
did too, although Breit was a
Protestant, as I am).
The beginning was an imitation of
a whining clerical tone, but then the
man got into his stride and spoke in
his own fashion. He spoke in such a
way that none of his words would have
been any use to an informer, and yet in
such a way that Genie, who was stand-
ing beside me, whispered to me after-
ward: "For once someone who spoke
from the heart." An instruction had
been issued the day before, removing
all legal works by non-Aryan authors
from the libraries and forbidding any
new editions. Breit, however, a former
examiner of candidates for the bench,
published many important texts. The
speaker repeatedly emphasized how
much he had given German law, and
how he had constantly argued for liv-
ing German law and against formal-
ism, and how that had been acknowl-
edged everywhere and how influential
it had been, and how the future will
value it. [...] So it turned out to be a
particularly "good funeral."

.

PAUL AND JIMMY PANAGOPOULOS,
AND CHEF THEODORE OF THE
NEW AND OLD DOWNTOWN
PARTHENON AND
LEO STASSINOPOULOS,
NOW BRING FINE
AUTHENTIC GREEKTOWN
CUISINE TO YOU.

1999

Detroit Jewish News

77