Outside Verdun

Der große Krieg der weißen Männer #3

by Arnold Zweig, Fiona Rintoul (Translation)

A new translation of a  forgotten masterpiece of German World War I literature, based on the author's own first-hand experiences of combat.

"The war, an operation instigated by men, still felt to him like a storm decreed by fate, an unleashing of powerful elements, unaccountable and beyond criticism."

Arnold Zweig's novel was first published in 1933 and is based on his own experiences in the German army during World War I. Following the unlawful killing of his younger brother by his own superiors, Lieutenant Kroysing swears revenge, using his influence to arrange for his brother's unit, normally safely behind the lines, to be reassigned to the fortress at Douaument, in the very heart of the battle for France. Bertin, a lowly but educated Jewish sapper through whose eyes the story unfolds, is the innocent man caught in the cross-fire.

The book not only explores the heart-breaking tragedy of one individual trapped in a nightmare of industrialized warfare but also reveals the iniquities of German society in microcosm, with all its injustice, brutality, anti-Semitism, and incompetence.  A brilliant translation captures all the subtleties, cadences, and detachment of Zweig's masterful prose.

Genres: Fiction, German Literature, War, Germany, World War I, Novels, Historical Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

German writer and anti-war, anti-fascist activist.

He is best known for his six-part cycle on World War I Der große Krieg der weißen Männer

In 1934 he settled in Mandatory Palestine where he wrote a novel based on the assassination of Jacob Israël de Haan.

In 1948 he settled in the Soviet occupation zone in East-Germany. From 1949 - 1967 he was a member of the parliament of the German Democratic Republic.

Reviews

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This work is considered, rightly, one of the pieces which make up the Canon of Great War literature. As a novel, perhaps, it has its flaws as pointed out by others. However, this is a work which must be contextualised in order to gain a better appreciation, like all of the Canonic works.

Zweig was born in Prussia, now part of, and main political player in, imperial Germany. From a Jewish family Zweig studied literature, philosophy and history at University before the Great War.

The novel, inspired by his war experiences, was written in the late 1920s. In a Germany, in many ways, in a state of decline. With the fall of the Weimar republic and the rise of Nazism. (This is a basic outline to be taken as merely a necessary injunction)

Zweig's novel, unlike other works within the Canon such as Sasoon or Graves, represents a second line soilder. He is, however, a complex character. A lawyer, an intellectual, an author, a Jew, a modest man, understated, thoughtful.

War is killing ones fellow man, this is it's modus operandi. It may be justified or held up by pillars of politics or nationalism or ideology, but the ultimate result is killing. Zweig's novel is unique in the Canon as it seeks to find, to explore does unlawful killing, murder, exist within war. In a war where desertion is a capital offence, hundreds of thousands over scraps of territory, where death and destruction walk hand in hand with each man. Zweig asks, is conspiring to put man in a dangerous situation, to cause his death, wilful murder?

This is a work to be understood as well as read. It covers philosophical questions surrounding war, it shows antisemitism, Prussian dominance over Germany it is a political and philosophic allusion to 1920s Germany. And much more.

So, if you wish to read this book, I advise that you have some background knowledge in imperial, Weimar and Nazi Germany before you begin. This gives a greater appreciation of the work.

Highly recommended, given the above paragraph

Thanks for reading

[Graeme · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had the makings of an epic war novel, but it loses its way in the storm of battle and very nearly founders in the seductive shallows of nurse Sister Klara. On arrival at the Dannevoux field hospital, the characters become hopelessly bogged down in a glutinous morass of clumsy romance and cod philosophy and the author is forced to resort to a French bombing raid in order to retrieve the plot.

The translation is excellent, with Fiona Rintoul drawing on her knowledge of the Scots language in representing dialect speech. Unfortunately, the text has not been adequately proof-read.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed “Outside Verdun” by Arnold Zweig. This is an anti-war novel set in the First World War and written by a German Jewish veteran of that war (and written in British Palestine in the 1930s of all places), it’s an interesting take on a murder and revenge story, as well as giving a lot of day-to-day mundane detail of the war and insights into the roots of Nazism. The plot is essentially around a morally good sergeant who is a threat to his superiors and so those superiors ensure that he is killed on the frontline - the wartime murder. But they don’t reckon on his capable and well-respected sapper officer brother, who in his turn tries to exact revenge on those superiors, including bringing one of them into his realm at Fort Douamont. Meanwhile the story is seen from the perspective of a service corps soldier, a German Jewish lawyer and writer - clearly Arnold Zweig himself.

My great-great-grandfather was killed outside Verdun during the time that this book is set, so I was particularly interested in the day-to-detail that wouldn’t normally make it into a history book. What was the daily routine like? What was the accommodation and food like? What did the soldiers know and talk about? At one point there is a military funeral which was especially interesting and moving, as I imagined this was probably what it was like for him and his colleagues.

Some of the characters are committed socialists, like the author himself, and it was evident to me how the First World War fostered so much socialism. The unprecedented circumstances of the war clearly caused people to figure out ways to stop it continuing or happening again, and some saw it as necessary to overturn the system of exploitation that went to such an extreme in the war, and to react against nationalism (and when you throw in the disastrous effects of capitalism on Weimar Germany, it’s absolutely no surprise that so many saw Communism as the answer). The book also shows how others turned to nationalism as their reaction to the war, and in particular sought sought out “traitors” like Jews. The book shows that already by the end of 1916 that defeat was inevitable for Germany - the decline in food, the scavenging for unexploded shells to recycle, and the declining quality and quantity of recruits were all strong indicators of this.

The translation was pretty good, including with military terminology, although occasionally it is a direct translation without further explanation, so the average reader may not understand that particular detail. A couple of times I wondered what the original word was as it didn’t quite make sense to me - I’ve become quite familiar with German military terminology through my own research.

Until about the halfway point, I would have given this book 5 stars, but there’s a lengthy chunk towards the end where things slowed down and it was less interesting. The style changed slightly, and there was much more political discussion between characters, some of it a bit esoteric and heavy-going, with otherwise not a lot happening. But things picked up towards the end again, and the dread as to what would happen in the last few chapters was quite high.

I’ve often wondered how a wartime murder could make a decent story fir a novel, when it is amid so much death, and this book shows one interesting way. All in all, this was an excellent book.

[Andres "Ande" Jakovlev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ajalooraamatud ei ole kunagi minu lemmikud olnud. Tõsi, samuti esimesest maailmasõjast rääkiv "Läänerindel muutuseta" meeldis mulle väga, aga seda lugesin enam kui tosin aastat tagasi. Nii et ülemäära palju mul just meeles ei ole.

Küll aga meeldib mulle Sabaton. Ja et neil on laul "Fields of Verdun", mis samuti räägib Verduni lahingust, otsustasin kätte jäänud "Õppetund Verduni all" läbi lugeda.

Kahjuks tuleb aga tunnistada, et nii Sabatoni lugu kui ka Verduni lahingust rääkiv ajaloovideo ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOTgizE36To ) on raamatust oluliselt põnevamad.

Verduni lahing on I MS pikim, kestes 303 päeva ning nõudes üle 700 000 inimelu. See teeb üle 2300 surnu päevas!

Nii et kui raamatu fookuses on sõja mõttetus, sobib Verduni lahing seda väga hästi ilmestama. Ligi miljon surnut, ilma mingisuguse tulemuseta. Seda enam, et (väidetavalt) oli sakslaste jaoks tegu mitteolulise lahinguga, nö katteoperatsiooniga, et meelitada prantsuse sõdurid tõelisest rünnakukohast eemale. Aga "õiget" rünnakut ei tulnud, Verdun võttis liiga palju ressursse.

Et mitte ajalooteemadel heietada ja ka raamatu kohta miskit öelda, siis... Tuleb tõdeda, et ega siin väga midagi öelda ei olegi. Eks see sõda üks suur arulagedus oli, nii üldisel kui ka igasugustel väiksematel tasanditel. Ja selle toob raamat ka välja - kuigi tõsi, mitte väga kaasavalt.

Huvitav on see, et raamatu eessõnas on öeldud, et tegu on autori teise raamatuga kolmeosalisest sarjast "Valgete meeste suur sõda". Tegelikult on sari aga kuueosaline, millest "Õppetund Verduni all" on kolmas ilmunud raamat. Tõlkimise ja eesti keeles avaldamise ajaks olid ilmunud sarja kõik kuus raamatut.

Ei tea, kas nõukogude tsensuurile sobisid kuuest raamatust vaid kolm ja nii sai kuueosalisest sarjast kolmeosaline? See tekitab muidugi ka küsimuse, et kas ja kui palju on raamatut tõlkes kärbitud / muudetud. Ehk oleks mõnd teist trükki lugedes ka muljed teised olnud...

[Fishface · Rating 5 out of 5]

All superlatives. A very fine novel about German "grunts" in the Great War, reminding us that there was far more to their lives than the war -- they were fighting all kinds of private battles, sometimes together, sometimes opposing each other. This is also a great statement about the essential randomness and bizarrely coincidental nature of the war that gave us Dada and Surrealism. If you're interested in that sort of thing, this is profoundly Discordian reading. My edition was plagued by Spellchecky errors -- "solider" used in place of "soldier," "canon" in place of "cannon" -- that got worse as I got deeper into the story, as if someone started to correct the mess but then just gave up. That didn't slow me down.

[I Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the concept of Outside Verdun and I found it interesting.

[Ulrich R. Rieger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty boring plot and tiresomely long descriptions made this a hard read for me. Remarque and Barbusse are much better.

[Peter Jakobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent novel about the nonsense of war, especially the German army during World War I. Whereas one expects the enemy to be the French army, it is rather the treatment by their own officers that makes the soldiers' lifes particularly horrible.

[Stephan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eine interessante Darstellung der Unterstützungsverbände hinter der Front, aber schwer zu lesen und sehr langatmig.