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Dagboek van een Arts: Oost-Pruisen 1945-1947
Deze dagboekaantekeningen van de Duitse arts Hans Graf von Lehndorff zijn een getuigenis van zijn liefde voor zijn Oost-Pruisische vaderland. Als arts voelde hij zich in de eerste jaren na de Tweede Wereldoorlog verantwoordelijk voor het welzijn van ontelbare zieken en invaliden. Hij overleefde de vier maanden van het beleg van de stad Koningsbergen en na de oorlog bleef Von Lehndorff in Oost-Pruisen om de plaatselijke bevolking bij te staan. Ook schrijft hij over de willekeur en chaos van Poolse en Russische autoriteiten in ziekenhuizen en kampen.
375 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
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April 14, 2019
As a physician and as a member of the East Prussian aristocracy (the so-called Junkers) whose family had for the most part also been both vocally and even rather vehemently anti-Nazi (with some members even having been actively involved with and in the famous but sadly unsuccessful July 1944 assassination plot against Adolf Hitler, and I think it is indeed both telling and important to realise and point out that the vast majority of the assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler were actually and in fact planned and carried out by aristocratic members of the National Socialist, of the German military complex), Hans Graf von Lehndorff and his Ostpreußisches Tagebuch: Aufzeichnungen eins Arztes aus den Jahren 1945-1947 detail with factuality and yes often incredible but understated, dryly distant brutality the end and immediate aftermath of WWII in East Prussia and in particular the city of Königsberg (now the Russian city of Kaliningrad) as well as the many horrors that were often deliberately visited upon its citizens, upon its remaining residents by the invading Red Army (the Russians), albeit with the author, with Hans Graf von Lehndorff always also attempting to, continuously striving to be fair and reasonable and therefore NEVER (at least in my humble opinion) in any manner losing sight of or attempting to show or even remotely claim that the horrors of WWII and the atrocities experienced in East Prussia and by the East Prussians were NOT originally and in fact instigated and caused by the Nazis themselves, by in particular how the National Socialists violently and with racial hatred rampaged through Russia, but with the author and indeed thankfully then also and equally, clearly showing and demonstrating that the Red Army, that the Russians were sadly in oh so many ways totally akin and alike to the Nazis with regard to monstrosity and terror, and that thus Hitler and Stalin really were and should be considered as conjoined identical twins of terrorising war criminality, with their similar and always present tendency towards hatred, towards racism and promoting so-called ethnic and cultural cleansing. And just to give a strident and telling example of how akin and alike the Nazis and Red Army seem to have been with regard to the promotion and celebration of the latter, with regard to wallowing and revelling in cultural, ethnic and socio-economic hatred and horror, one needs to only look at what happened to Hans Graf von Lehndorff's own family (as many of his family members were due to their constant and public criticism of National Socialism often being arrested and sometimes even gratuitously tortured by the Nazis, and where his own mother and oldest brother, immediately after having been liberated from a Gestapo prison, were then brutally put to death by Russian soldiers both because they were "German" and actually even more so because they were considered as part of the hated and despised aristocracy, the landed gentry).
Now I originally read Ostpreußisches Tagebuch: Aufzeichnungen eines Arztes aus den Jahren 1945-1947 in 2013. And while I was indeed originally toying with the idea of rereading the book before posting my review, sorry, but the information and details presented and listed by von Lehndorff (the starvation, the disease, the torturing and the relentless belief by many of the Russians that EVERY German must somehow be a Nazi and deserving of destruction and doom, the unrelenting pain experienced and portrayed as being experienced by all and sundry), while this all is definitely an important part of German history and most definitely needs to be more universally known and shown, it is also something that on an emotional level, I do not think I could handle reading more than once (at least at present). But nevertheless, Ostpreußisches Tagebuch: Aufzeichnungen eines Arztes aus den Jahren 1945-1947 is still a personal dairy (a non fiction account) of Hans Graf von Lehndorff's post WWII experiences in East Prussia that I am most definitely and unfailingly glad to have read (even if at present, I just could not imagine revisiting it), and I do therefore also most highly recommend this book (with the caveat that Ostpreußisches Tagebuch: Aufzeichnungen eines Arztes aus den Jahren 1945-1947 is penned entirely in German and does indeed show both the Red Army and the Nazis as deservedly portrayed and depicted monsters and evil entities, even though, and this also must be strongly indicated and realised, Ostpreußisches Tagebuch: Aufzeichnungen eines Artztes aus den Jahren 1945-1947 concurrently celebrates humanity, bravery, love and forgiveness, and how the author's Christian faith and his firm belief that God is love helped him to survive, to not despair and to finally be able to flee East Prussia and make his way to the West).
Now I originally read Ostpreußisches Tagebuch: Aufzeichnungen eines Arztes aus den Jahren 1945-1947 in 2013. And while I was indeed originally toying with the idea of rereading the book before posting my review, sorry, but the information and details presented and listed by von Lehndorff (the starvation, the disease, the torturing and the relentless belief by many of the Russians that EVERY German must somehow be a Nazi and deserving of destruction and doom, the unrelenting pain experienced and portrayed as being experienced by all and sundry), while this all is definitely an important part of German history and most definitely needs to be more universally known and shown, it is also something that on an emotional level, I do not think I could handle reading more than once (at least at present). But nevertheless, Ostpreußisches Tagebuch: Aufzeichnungen eines Arztes aus den Jahren 1945-1947 is still a personal dairy (a non fiction account) of Hans Graf von Lehndorff's post WWII experiences in East Prussia that I am most definitely and unfailingly glad to have read (even if at present, I just could not imagine revisiting it), and I do therefore also most highly recommend this book (with the caveat that Ostpreußisches Tagebuch: Aufzeichnungen eines Arztes aus den Jahren 1945-1947 is penned entirely in German and does indeed show both the Red Army and the Nazis as deservedly portrayed and depicted monsters and evil entities, even though, and this also must be strongly indicated and realised, Ostpreußisches Tagebuch: Aufzeichnungen eines Artztes aus den Jahren 1945-1947 concurrently celebrates humanity, bravery, love and forgiveness, and how the author's Christian faith and his firm belief that God is love helped him to survive, to not despair and to finally be able to flee East Prussia and make his way to the West).
February 1, 2014
A moving, first-person account (the title translates to "East Prussian Diary") of a surgeon working in the German province of East Prussia in the closing months of WWII who continues to serve as a doctor for another two years under Soviet and Polish occupation. The conditions are horrendous in the German field hospitals and later in the internment centers for German civilians run by the Soviet authorities in and around the East Prussian capitol of Koenigsberg.
Ultimately in an example of ethnic cleansing the remaining Germans including the author are forcibly sent west and cleared from East Prussia-at least those Germans that did not die from hunger, disease, or execution during the brutal occupation.
Ultimately in an example of ethnic cleansing the remaining Germans including the author are forcibly sent west and cleared from East Prussia-at least those Germans that did not die from hunger, disease, or execution during the brutal occupation.
January 6, 2022
Trochu iná knižka o 2. svetovej vojne. Suverénne si vykračuje po okrajoch toho, kde sa láme žáner, čas, hranice i rozlišovanie medzi nepriateľmi a súputníkmi. Zachytáva posledné mesiace končiacej vojny cez každodenné prežívanie východopruského nemeckého lekára. Aj jeho pozícia v celej tejto katastrofe sa pohybuje na okraji – ako lekár, ktorý je v krízových časoch potrebný všade a pre všetky strany, má vyššie šance, že z toho súboja vyjde živý. Niekto potrebuje vytrhnúť zub, niekoho opitého omylom postrelil kamoš, a takmer všetci trpia sifylisom. Je koniec vojny a je to otrasné. Storočia budované mestá, mestečká, hospodárstva, rodiny, všetko je vyrabované, rozbité a v prachu. Všetko nechané na pospas ruským vojakom, často ešte len deťom z najhorších pomerov a absolútnej biedy. Je ťažké povedať kto je väčší barbar, či tí čo si opekajú na barokových skriniach, berú so sebou aj okná domov v ktorých prenocujú, zabíjajú pre hodinky, alebo tí, ktorí podľahli idei poriadku, "čistoty" a nadradenosti a dokázali efektívne cielene vyvraždiť milióny ľudí.
Nikto už nemá nikoho blízkeho, ľudia sú sami, v náhodných kombináciach, neustálnom pohybe za kúskom niečoho na zjedenie, závetrím a ochranou pred severskou zimou. Dobrá výchova, mravy, dedičstvo sú nanič, existencia sa okresáva na úplnú esenciu. Mesiace plynú, každodenný boj o to najzákladnejšie sa stáva normou, na nemcov sa lepí základná poľština a ruština a naopak. Hrany sa obrusujú, hranice sa delia, obyvateľstvo sa presúva a v ruinách sa zachytávajú ľudia, ktorí už musia po tých hrôzach niekde začať odznova žiť. Je to taký dlhý pohľad na to, aké sú tie hrany neostré. Ako sa kapituláciou nič nemení a zotaviť Európu po tomto všetkom bude dlhé a strastiplné. Napriek všetkému jelšové lesy tam celý čas stoja, na oblohe lietajú tisíce slúk a jar príde vždy nečakane a ohúri aj človeka na pokraji síl.
Nikto už nemá nikoho blízkeho, ľudia sú sami, v náhodných kombináciach, neustálnom pohybe za kúskom niečoho na zjedenie, závetrím a ochranou pred severskou zimou. Dobrá výchova, mravy, dedičstvo sú nanič, existencia sa okresáva na úplnú esenciu. Mesiace plynú, každodenný boj o to najzákladnejšie sa stáva normou, na nemcov sa lepí základná poľština a ruština a naopak. Hrany sa obrusujú, hranice sa delia, obyvateľstvo sa presúva a v ruinách sa zachytávajú ľudia, ktorí už musia po tých hrôzach niekde začať odznova žiť. Je to taký dlhý pohľad na to, aké sú tie hrany neostré. Ako sa kapituláciou nič nemení a zotaviť Európu po tomto všetkom bude dlhé a strastiplné. Napriek všetkému jelšové lesy tam celý čas stoja, na oblohe lietajú tisíce slúk a jar príde vždy nečakane a ohúri aj človeka na pokraji síl.
January 5, 2022
Brutal testimony to the suffering of German civilians at the end (and after) World War II. Yes, I know that Germans started the war, I know they committed the Holocaust and other atrocities. But also it’s important to know that they suffered no less than other occupied nations. And this suffering lasted for years after the war was over. The Red Army soldiers behaved like medieval barbarians in the conquered territory.
What shocked me most was how many Germans died in the Russian-occupied territories years after the war: from malnutrition and famine, freezing, repeated rapes, arbitrary murders by soviet soldiers - for petty robberies, revenge, for fun, or just without a motive...
And on the other side, there is this complete resignation of the Germans - tired of everything, dying without the will to fight for life.
There are also numerous weak spots in the book. The author is no writer and the austere style of his diary can be boring sometimes. Some days don’t seem to be worth recording, but he still writes them down with the typical German pedantism: as he wanders aimlessly through the ruined land, has banal conversations with acquaintances or simply observes nature. But even behind these dull descriptions, you can feel the pain and terror.
The author often expresses guilt and shame that he is still alive - that he failed to prevent robberies, murders, and rapes. Lehndorff was an old school gentleman and a conservative catholic, so he never goes into full detail of terrible events. As if he wanted to preserve at least a little dignity for the Germans - especially women and the dead. But even his factual, diary style reveals more than enough to understand the essence – here are some of my highlights:
On cyanide poisoning:
- Wherever one looks, there is talk about cyanide, which seems to be available in any amount. There is no dispute whether it should be used at all. People only debate about the right dose - with ease - as if it was nothing serious, as if they were talking about, say, food.
On rapes:
- And those outraged children, fifteen - sixteen-year-old soldiers, leaping on women like wolves, without even understanding what they are doing. This has nothing to do with Russia, with a particular nation or race - this is a man without God, this is the averted face of man.
- She told me with surprising, undisguised pride that she was the holder of all records when it comes to rape. One hundred and twenty, she counted. Non-reproducible details follow in quick succession in her story.
- "Davaj sjudá! Frau komm!” It sounds to me worse than all the swearing in the world. This is the perfect triumph of Satan - when what symbolizes life is turned into the sign of death. They don't mind at all that the women are half-dead. Eighty-year-olds are not safe, nor are the unconscious. One of my patients with a head injury was repeatedly raped and was not aware of it at all. I feel constant guilt for being still alive.
On dying from cold:
- Most of the deaths were due to hypothermia. Even such a death is an inconspicuous affair. There were no signs of a struggle for life. People moved less and less from day to day, they responded only when person touched them. In the end, we were happy when it was finally over and we could put them in the cellar on the pile of bodies, that were buried every day. More patients were waiting for the vacant beds.
On starvation to death:
- That death from starvation – what a strange death! Not a trace of revolt. Those people looked like they had been dead already. They still walked, reacted to the questions, reached for a cigarette butt - rather than for a piece of bread they were no longer able to chew - and then finally collapsed into themselves like if under a weight of a fly that sits on them.
On Russians:
- For the Russians, nothing existed but the present moment. Everything else was less important. They would easily destroy something they would need in the very next minute. What kept bothering me was the complete absence of any relationship to things that were a natural part of our lives. Man eventually gave up trying to perceive them as equals and gradually adopted the position of some kind of a beast-tamer.
- In a place where no rules apply, all human qualities are revealed in all their nakedness. The fact that someone else can see our behavior ceases to be a reason to control ourselves and give up bad intentions. Everything is allowed because there is no one left who can forbid us. Eventually, one starts to wonder whether education and morals are not just a luxury intended for times of peace.
- For the Russians, I am nothing but a clothes rack with pockets they can empty.
- Russians apparently don't know what it means to live anywhere. When they move from somewhere, they take everything with them, including the windows. We sent eight-year-old Alice to see if a group of Russians had already moved out. "No," she said, "there are still windows."
- That letter was unique to me, because it came from count Brünneck, one of the most famous and honorable men in our region. In his manor house in Bellschwitz, the Russians now have their headquarters and gradually smoke-out his huge library - they are making cigarettes from the book pages.
What shocked me most was how many Germans died in the Russian-occupied territories years after the war: from malnutrition and famine, freezing, repeated rapes, arbitrary murders by soviet soldiers - for petty robberies, revenge, for fun, or just without a motive...
And on the other side, there is this complete resignation of the Germans - tired of everything, dying without the will to fight for life.
There are also numerous weak spots in the book. The author is no writer and the austere style of his diary can be boring sometimes. Some days don’t seem to be worth recording, but he still writes them down with the typical German pedantism: as he wanders aimlessly through the ruined land, has banal conversations with acquaintances or simply observes nature. But even behind these dull descriptions, you can feel the pain and terror.
The author often expresses guilt and shame that he is still alive - that he failed to prevent robberies, murders, and rapes. Lehndorff was an old school gentleman and a conservative catholic, so he never goes into full detail of terrible events. As if he wanted to preserve at least a little dignity for the Germans - especially women and the dead. But even his factual, diary style reveals more than enough to understand the essence – here are some of my highlights:
On cyanide poisoning:
- Wherever one looks, there is talk about cyanide, which seems to be available in any amount. There is no dispute whether it should be used at all. People only debate about the right dose - with ease - as if it was nothing serious, as if they were talking about, say, food.
On rapes:
- And those outraged children, fifteen - sixteen-year-old soldiers, leaping on women like wolves, without even understanding what they are doing. This has nothing to do with Russia, with a particular nation or race - this is a man without God, this is the averted face of man.
- She told me with surprising, undisguised pride that she was the holder of all records when it comes to rape. One hundred and twenty, she counted. Non-reproducible details follow in quick succession in her story.
- "Davaj sjudá! Frau komm!” It sounds to me worse than all the swearing in the world. This is the perfect triumph of Satan - when what symbolizes life is turned into the sign of death. They don't mind at all that the women are half-dead. Eighty-year-olds are not safe, nor are the unconscious. One of my patients with a head injury was repeatedly raped and was not aware of it at all. I feel constant guilt for being still alive.
On dying from cold:
- Most of the deaths were due to hypothermia. Even such a death is an inconspicuous affair. There were no signs of a struggle for life. People moved less and less from day to day, they responded only when person touched them. In the end, we were happy when it was finally over and we could put them in the cellar on the pile of bodies, that were buried every day. More patients were waiting for the vacant beds.
On starvation to death:
- That death from starvation – what a strange death! Not a trace of revolt. Those people looked like they had been dead already. They still walked, reacted to the questions, reached for a cigarette butt - rather than for a piece of bread they were no longer able to chew - and then finally collapsed into themselves like if under a weight of a fly that sits on them.
On Russians:
- For the Russians, nothing existed but the present moment. Everything else was less important. They would easily destroy something they would need in the very next minute. What kept bothering me was the complete absence of any relationship to things that were a natural part of our lives. Man eventually gave up trying to perceive them as equals and gradually adopted the position of some kind of a beast-tamer.
- In a place where no rules apply, all human qualities are revealed in all their nakedness. The fact that someone else can see our behavior ceases to be a reason to control ourselves and give up bad intentions. Everything is allowed because there is no one left who can forbid us. Eventually, one starts to wonder whether education and morals are not just a luxury intended for times of peace.
- For the Russians, I am nothing but a clothes rack with pockets they can empty.
- Russians apparently don't know what it means to live anywhere. When they move from somewhere, they take everything with them, including the windows. We sent eight-year-old Alice to see if a group of Russians had already moved out. "No," she said, "there are still windows."
- That letter was unique to me, because it came from count Brünneck, one of the most famous and honorable men in our region. In his manor house in Bellschwitz, the Russians now have their headquarters and gradually smoke-out his huge library - they are making cigarettes from the book pages.
October 20, 2025
Erschütternde Aufzeichnungen eines Arztes vom Ende des 2. Weltkriegs, nachdem die Russen Ostpreußen eingenommen haben. Die Menschen sterben wie die Fliegen vor Hunger und Kälte. Ein Arzt kann nur noch lindern, nicht mehr helfen. Es fällt mitunter schwer, diese Beschreibungen der katastrophalen Zustände dort zu lesen. Einzig der immer wiederkehrende und intensive Gottesbezug des Autors nervt. Warum lässt ein Gott so ein Elend zu? (finde den Fehler!)
March 30, 2021
Som rád že sa publikuju aj knihy z pohľadu "porazených", teda Nemcov po WWII, ešte v takej špecifickej obalsti ako Východné Prusko. Porazení boli všetci, aj Nemci, aj Poliaci a aj chudáci Sovieti, ktorí to tam obsadili.
December 18, 2013
Eindrücklicher Bericht über das Leiden der Bevölkerung nach Kriegsende, niedergeschrieben von einem Arzt. Es wird dem Leser schnell bewusst dass die Vorgänge aus jener Zeit durch Worte nur bis zu einer bestimmten Grenze erfasst werden können. Auch der Autor muss an einigen Stellen resignieren und kann die Taten nur umschreiben. Trotzdem kann er durch sein schriftstellerisches Talent einen authentischen Eindruck vermitteln.
Interessant auch dass für die Ostpreussen der Krieg mit der Kapitulation Deutschlands noch lange nicht zu Ende war.
Der Autor durchlebt mehrere Male ein Auf und Ab von Gefangenschaft über Flucht zu relativer Freiheit und wieder zurück hinter Stacheldraht.
Alles in allem ein sehr lesenswertes Tagebuch.
Interessant auch dass für die Ostpreussen der Krieg mit der Kapitulation Deutschlands noch lange nicht zu Ende war.
Der Autor durchlebt mehrere Male ein Auf und Ab von Gefangenschaft über Flucht zu relativer Freiheit und wieder zurück hinter Stacheldraht.
Alles in allem ein sehr lesenswertes Tagebuch.
March 13, 2017
Książka, która świetnie pokazuje, jak koniec drugiej wojny wyglądał z perspektywy Niemców, którzy tracili swoją ojczyznę. Bez zbędnego patosu tam, gdzie nie był potrzebny, ale bardzo dokładna. Ciekawie jest spojrzeć na te same wydarzenia z innej strony.
January 29, 2023
Entdeckt in dem Buch von Stefan Seidel, „Grenzgänge - Gespräche über das Gott suchen“. Darin das Interview mit Daniela Krien, die dieses Zeitzeugnis für ihren persönlichen Weg des Gottsuchens besonders wichtig findet.
Krien: „Was ihn stabilisiert und überhaupt am Leben erhält, ist in vielen Momenten einzig sein Glaube daran, dass Gott nichts Unmögliches, von uns verlangt.“
Das ist für mich persönlich eine Pflichtaufgabe es zu lesen, gerade jetzt angesichts der Lage in der Ukraine. Geschrieben 1967 fast so alt wie ich.
„Was ist das eigentlich so frage ich mich, was wir hier erleben? Hat das noch etwas mit natürlicher Wildheit zu tun oder mit Rache? Mit Rache vielleicht, aber in einem anderen Sinn. Rächt sich hier nicht in einer und derselben Person, das Geschöpf am Menschen, das Fleisch an dem Geist, den man ihm aufgezwungen hat? Woher kommen diese Typen, Menschen, wie wir, im Bann von Trieben, die zu ihrer äußeren Erscheinung in einem grauenvollen Missverhältnis stehen? Welch ein bemühen, das Chaos zur Schau zu tragen ….. das hat nichts mit Russland zu tun, nichts mit einem bestimmten Volk oder eine Rasse - das ist der Mensch ohne Gott, die Fratze des Menschen.“
Krien: „Was ihn stabilisiert und überhaupt am Leben erhält, ist in vielen Momenten einzig sein Glaube daran, dass Gott nichts Unmögliches, von uns verlangt.“
Das ist für mich persönlich eine Pflichtaufgabe es zu lesen, gerade jetzt angesichts der Lage in der Ukraine. Geschrieben 1967 fast so alt wie ich.
„Was ist das eigentlich so frage ich mich, was wir hier erleben? Hat das noch etwas mit natürlicher Wildheit zu tun oder mit Rache? Mit Rache vielleicht, aber in einem anderen Sinn. Rächt sich hier nicht in einer und derselben Person, das Geschöpf am Menschen, das Fleisch an dem Geist, den man ihm aufgezwungen hat? Woher kommen diese Typen, Menschen, wie wir, im Bann von Trieben, die zu ihrer äußeren Erscheinung in einem grauenvollen Missverhältnis stehen? Welch ein bemühen, das Chaos zur Schau zu tragen ….. das hat nichts mit Russland zu tun, nichts mit einem bestimmten Volk oder eine Rasse - das ist der Mensch ohne Gott, die Fratze des Menschen.“
December 27, 2021
In diesem Tagebuch, geht es um das Leben eines Arztes in dem ehemaligen Ostpreußen, nun unter den Russen. Das Buch ist sehr interessant, vor allem nachdem ich viele Bücher über die KZs gelesen habe. Es ist eine gute Abwechslung in der Geschichtskunde, da man mal sieht wie viel Leid auch Ostpreußen zugefügt wurde. Außerdem hatte ich familiäre Verbindungen dazu, weil meine Oma damals auch aus Ostpreußen fliehen musste.
Sollte man auf jeden Fall mal gelesen haben, wenn man sich für Ostpreußen unter den Russen interessiert.
Sollte man auf jeden Fall mal gelesen haben, wenn man sich für Ostpreußen unter den Russen interessiert.
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