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Das Echolot #4
Swansong 1945: A Collective Diary from Hitler's Last Birthday to VE Day
Swansong 1945 chronicles the end of Nazi Germany and World War II in Europe through hundreds of letters, diaries, and autobiographical accounts covering four days that fateful spring: Hitler s birthday on April 20, American and Soviet troops meeting at the Elbe on April 25, Hitler s suicide on April 30, and finally the German surrender on May 8. Side by side, we encounter vivid, first-person accounts of civilians fleeing Berlin, ordinary German soldiers determined to fight to the bitter end, American POWs dreaming of home, concentration-camp survivors first descriptions of their horrific experiences, as well as the intimate thoughts of figures such as Eisenhower, Churchill, Stalin, Joseph Goebbels, and Hitler himself.
These firsthand accounts, painstakingly collected and organized by renowned German author Walter Kempowski, provide the raw material of history and present a panoramic view of those tumultuous days. The more than 1,000 extracts include a British soldier writing to his parents to tell them there are no baths but plenty of eggs and chocolate, an American soldier describing the tremendous burst of lilacs as he approaches the Elbe, Mussolini wishing Hitler a happy birthday, Eva Braun bragging to a girlfriend about what a crack shot she s become, and much more.
An extraordinary account of suffering and survival, Swansong 1945 brings to life the end of Nazi Germany and the war in Europe."
These firsthand accounts, painstakingly collected and organized by renowned German author Walter Kempowski, provide the raw material of history and present a panoramic view of those tumultuous days. The more than 1,000 extracts include a British soldier writing to his parents to tell them there are no baths but plenty of eggs and chocolate, an American soldier describing the tremendous burst of lilacs as he approaches the Elbe, Mussolini wishing Hitler a happy birthday, Eva Braun bragging to a girlfriend about what a crack shot she s become, and much more.
An extraordinary account of suffering and survival, Swansong 1945 brings to life the end of Nazi Germany and the war in Europe."
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
250 people are currently reading
1723 people want to read
About the author
Walter Kempowski
58 books100 followersWalter Kempowski was a German writer. He was known for his series of novels called German Chronicle ("Deutsche Chronik") and the monumental Echolot ("Sonar"), a collage of autobiographical reports, letters and other documents by contemporary witnesses of the Second World War.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
December 1, 2018
This is the 10th and last volume of a monumental work that captures the history of the Third Reich. It concentrates on the last days in 1945 of Hitler's Germany and is divided into four parts: Hitler's birthday, 20 April; American and Russian troops meeting at the Elbe, 25 April; Hitler's suicide, 30 April; and the German surrender,8 May. The story of these day is told through letters, diary entries, memos, meeting notes, and interviews of those where were there. And they range from the words of American/British POWs, civilians fleeing Berlin, Holocaust survivors, staff in the Fuehrerbunker, and soldiers and military leaders. It is a collage of disparate elements that make up the whole and is absolutely fascinating from the first page to the last.
This is a book that one reads in sections as it is long and told in such a way that it can be put down and picked up at leisure without needing to follow a plot.....for the plot is the final days of the destruction of the 1,000 Year Reich and the observations, horror, panic, and joy that accompanied it. The research and sources are impeccable and I highly recommend this magnificent opus.
This is a book that one reads in sections as it is long and told in such a way that it can be put down and picked up at leisure without needing to follow a plot.....for the plot is the final days of the destruction of the 1,000 Year Reich and the observations, horror, panic, and joy that accompanied it. The research and sources are impeccable and I highly recommend this magnificent opus.
February 7, 2021
Obviously, this collection of voices from the last days of the Second World War in Europe is quite impressive. Kempowski really did his best to go very broad and to illuminate the last days of the war from very different angles. Political and military protagonists (Churchill, Nazi chiefs, Mussolini) as well as ordinary soldiers and people have their say, Germans, English, French, Russians, and so on. And they are all personal testimonials, which increases the emotional involvement.
Does this yield new insights? No, of course not, certainly not if you have already read a lot about this time period or have seen documentaries about it. It once again makes you realize that war has an enormous impact on a human life, and also that even in hopeless circumstances people persistently hold on to past convictions. In that sense, this book does not add much.
I also had a hard time with this publication for other reasons. And that is that the different voices are placed next to each other, without much explanation. In many cases this is indeed not necessary: the protagonists are well-known, and additions such as SS officer or French prisoner of war are often sufficient. But in some cases, the lack of additional information is problematic. I'll only give two. The Belgian fascist leader, and also SS officer, Leon Degrelle, speaks about his heroic flight to Spain, while it has been widely proven that Degrelle was a stubborn liar and his story was absolutely wrong. A German writer like Gerhart Hauptmann also passes by, without the reader knowing that his relationship with the Nazis was at least dubious. These are missed opportunities to interpret the testimonials.
But the problem with this collection is more fundamental: no fragment is precisely situated in time (I mean the time it is written and published), so crucial questions cannot be answered. Does the text really date from that period itself, or was it written much later, with all the risk of adaptation and distortion? Even so-called diary excerpts may have been rewritten on their release, according to a truth that was more appropriate at the time. And some of the testimonials very clearly were written 20-30 years later, which makes them totally problematic. In that sense, the value of this book is very relative.
Does this yield new insights? No, of course not, certainly not if you have already read a lot about this time period or have seen documentaries about it. It once again makes you realize that war has an enormous impact on a human life, and also that even in hopeless circumstances people persistently hold on to past convictions. In that sense, this book does not add much.
I also had a hard time with this publication for other reasons. And that is that the different voices are placed next to each other, without much explanation. In many cases this is indeed not necessary: the protagonists are well-known, and additions such as SS officer or French prisoner of war are often sufficient. But in some cases, the lack of additional information is problematic. I'll only give two. The Belgian fascist leader, and also SS officer, Leon Degrelle, speaks about his heroic flight to Spain, while it has been widely proven that Degrelle was a stubborn liar and his story was absolutely wrong. A German writer like Gerhart Hauptmann also passes by, without the reader knowing that his relationship with the Nazis was at least dubious. These are missed opportunities to interpret the testimonials.
But the problem with this collection is more fundamental: no fragment is precisely situated in time (I mean the time it is written and published), so crucial questions cannot be answered. Does the text really date from that period itself, or was it written much later, with all the risk of adaptation and distortion? Even so-called diary excerpts may have been rewritten on their release, according to a truth that was more appropriate at the time. And some of the testimonials very clearly were written 20-30 years later, which makes them totally problematic. In that sense, the value of this book is very relative.
December 5, 2020
When in the 1950s Walter Kempowski found a pile of photos and letters on the street, they turned out to be letters from a soldier to his bride. The soldier never returned from the front. Kempowski decided to collect fragments from letters, diaries and other accounts from World War II. This resulted in Das Echelot, a ten-part series which was a great success in Germany.
The first volume was published in 1993, the last in 2005. Swansong 1945: A Collective Diary of the Last Days of the Third Reich is the last part of the serie and covers the final days of the Third Reich: April 2oth, April 25th, April 30th and the 8th and 9th of May 1945.
This book takes the reader on a travel across a devastated continent seen through the eyes of leaders, soldiers, farmers, city dwellers, prisoners of war and camp victims.
Through Kempowski, we learn through all of the fragments of varying persons how it must have been, those last days of a dying Reich. Russians have surrounded Berlin while German troops are still at the North Cape, in the Apennines and Crete. In the Reich, we learn of the horrors of fleeing people, flowing aimlessly back and forth, while a carpet of bombs falls around them. Meanwhile Hitler is preparing his suicide in the Führerbunker, which is related in personal accounts from his attendant Heinz Linge and Hermann Kandau, who sees the burned corpses of Hitler and Eva Braun.
Particularly harrowing are the accounts of the ‘normal’ people such as the accounts of a German housewife, who is instructed by her Volkssturm father how to kill herself, when the Russians will arrive. Or another housewife, who is victim of the rape by Russians soldiers, including her 8 year old daughter.
All set in the background of the gruesome thruth about the horrible crimes, which slowly come to light and for which the eye witnesses slowly need to come to terms with.
In the end, you realise what a miracle it has been how Europe has been able to recover from this enormous tragedy and learn to appreciate the world we live in today.
Read in Dutch
The first volume was published in 1993, the last in 2005. Swansong 1945: A Collective Diary of the Last Days of the Third Reich is the last part of the serie and covers the final days of the Third Reich: April 2oth, April 25th, April 30th and the 8th and 9th of May 1945.
This book takes the reader on a travel across a devastated continent seen through the eyes of leaders, soldiers, farmers, city dwellers, prisoners of war and camp victims.
Through Kempowski, we learn through all of the fragments of varying persons how it must have been, those last days of a dying Reich. Russians have surrounded Berlin while German troops are still at the North Cape, in the Apennines and Crete. In the Reich, we learn of the horrors of fleeing people, flowing aimlessly back and forth, while a carpet of bombs falls around them. Meanwhile Hitler is preparing his suicide in the Führerbunker, which is related in personal accounts from his attendant Heinz Linge and Hermann Kandau, who sees the burned corpses of Hitler and Eva Braun.
Particularly harrowing are the accounts of the ‘normal’ people such as the accounts of a German housewife, who is instructed by her Volkssturm father how to kill herself, when the Russians will arrive. Or another housewife, who is victim of the rape by Russians soldiers, including her 8 year old daughter.
All set in the background of the gruesome thruth about the horrible crimes, which slowly come to light and for which the eye witnesses slowly need to come to terms with.
In the end, you realise what a miracle it has been how Europe has been able to recover from this enormous tragedy and learn to appreciate the world we live in today.
Read in Dutch
June 3, 2022
4 of the last days of the 3rd Reich described through diary excerpts, remembrances, communiques, reports, by the widest variety of people and nationalities imagined; from the leaders, the loneliest POW, the hausfrau. The coming victory of Allies looms over both sides, of what is to come when the shooting in Europe finally stops.
The famous, and infamous, characters will be evident to history fans, and there are plenty of ‘everyday’ people reporting on these historic events, however there are a variety of entries from those not so well known, for example a pair of French politicians in concentration camp. Some you are going to recognize, others if you did know more about them, would put a context to their comments. That is one addition to the book that could help, a glossary of some sort on who is who.
All in all though a fascinating look ,especially from those in Germany who are riding a wave of which they have no control over, all they can see are the rocks ahead.
As the one French inmate said to the other, “You must admit, there’s something magnificent about this catastrophe. “
The famous, and infamous, characters will be evident to history fans, and there are plenty of ‘everyday’ people reporting on these historic events, however there are a variety of entries from those not so well known, for example a pair of French politicians in concentration camp. Some you are going to recognize, others if you did know more about them, would put a context to their comments. That is one addition to the book that could help, a glossary of some sort on who is who.
All in all though a fascinating look ,especially from those in Germany who are riding a wave of which they have no control over, all they can see are the rocks ahead.
As the one French inmate said to the other, “You must admit, there’s something magnificent about this catastrophe. “
June 28, 2022
Walter Kempowksi compiled a collection of daily diary entries, letters, announcements, messages and reports from World War II into a ten volume collection.
“Swan Song 1945” is the last volume covering the final eighteen days of the war from Hitler’s birthday on April 20 to VE-Day May 8th.
The Russians are tightening their noose around Berlin and the Führerbunker. Photos from the concentration camps have grabbed the world by the throat, leaving it speechless with horror. Everyone knows that the killing will soon be over. Most want to survive. Some vow to fight to the end because they feel death awaits them at the hands of the Russians.
These brief entries are the thoughts and struggles of people trying to survive one more day as they carefully, sometimes desperately, weigh their diminishing options.
Some are the witnesses to family members being raped and brutally slaughtered in repayment for the rapes and murders committed by German soldiers when they invaded Russia. Some are letters between Allied soldiers and their families eagerly looking forward to peace and reunion. Some are entires from concentration camp survivors written as they survey the lifeless carnage around them. A few of the entries are literally epitaphs jumping off from their tombstones to shout into the reader’s face about families of three, four or five members who committed suicide on the same day rather than surrender.
These are mainly entries from ordinary people and soldiers. There are a few messages between world leaders, military commanders and journalists that keep the storyline rolling to its conclusion.
This collection is both stunning and numbing. It might be a bit much if the reader is not a student of history, but it is an indispensable addition to your library if you are.
I was not immune. I was left shaking my head so I pulled up Leni Riefenstahl’s classic movie “Triumph des Willens” to remind myself of how Hitler had hypnotized a small flock of rabid followers into an entire nation of sheep with his mesmerizing aurora borealis. One need only watch Hitler’s closing remarks at the Sixth Party Congress in Nuremberg during the final ten minutes of the film to help you understand the force of his personality upon the bleating masses. If you are interested, simply Google “Triumph des Willens.”
“Swan Song 1945” is the last volume covering the final eighteen days of the war from Hitler’s birthday on April 20 to VE-Day May 8th.
The Russians are tightening their noose around Berlin and the Führerbunker. Photos from the concentration camps have grabbed the world by the throat, leaving it speechless with horror. Everyone knows that the killing will soon be over. Most want to survive. Some vow to fight to the end because they feel death awaits them at the hands of the Russians.
These brief entries are the thoughts and struggles of people trying to survive one more day as they carefully, sometimes desperately, weigh their diminishing options.
Some are the witnesses to family members being raped and brutally slaughtered in repayment for the rapes and murders committed by German soldiers when they invaded Russia. Some are letters between Allied soldiers and their families eagerly looking forward to peace and reunion. Some are entires from concentration camp survivors written as they survey the lifeless carnage around them. A few of the entries are literally epitaphs jumping off from their tombstones to shout into the reader’s face about families of three, four or five members who committed suicide on the same day rather than surrender.
These are mainly entries from ordinary people and soldiers. There are a few messages between world leaders, military commanders and journalists that keep the storyline rolling to its conclusion.
This collection is both stunning and numbing. It might be a bit much if the reader is not a student of history, but it is an indispensable addition to your library if you are.
I was not immune. I was left shaking my head so I pulled up Leni Riefenstahl’s classic movie “Triumph des Willens” to remind myself of how Hitler had hypnotized a small flock of rabid followers into an entire nation of sheep with his mesmerizing aurora borealis. One need only watch Hitler’s closing remarks at the Sixth Party Congress in Nuremberg during the final ten minutes of the film to help you understand the force of his personality upon the bleating masses. If you are interested, simply Google “Triumph des Willens.”
August 18, 2015
This book is an apt companion to Ian Kershaw's "The End." In many ways, this book is a masterpiece of compilation and selection and translation: gathering this material from so many different sources, from ordinary individuals and important historical figures, the task must have been monumental.
Walter Kempowski has called his work, "rescuing the voices of the dead." It is a book that was difficult to put down: profoundly moving and very disturbing, and unforgettable.
Walter Kempowski has called his work, "rescuing the voices of the dead." It is a book that was difficult to put down: profoundly moving and very disturbing, and unforgettable.
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October 21, 2024Interesting and impressive take on the last days of the Second World War in Europe, but from a methodological point of view very questionable. See my review in my general account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
May 31, 2015
This was my "Published in 2015" selection for the Read Harder challenge.
I am endlessly fascinated by first-person historical accounts. I think you get insight and honesty in a letter from the Front that you'll never get from a history book written decades later, no matter how much context and hindsight it offers. Reading about food shortages is very different than reading a diary entry filled with excitement over finding a bit of meat in the rubble that wasn't too rancid. And that's why I was super excited to hear that this book was being released in English.
The subtitle is A Collective Diary of the Last Days of the Third Reich. It chooses four important days at the end of the war in Europe (Hitler's Birthday, the fall of Berlin, Hitler's suicide day, and V.E. Day) and explores them through firsthand accounts from everyone they could find - anonymous German schoolboys, Russian soldiers, American journalists, concentration camp victims, Norwegian photographers, intellectuals in exile, up to the big names like Churchill, Stalin, Truman, and even Hitler. This technique gives a fuller understanding of what the chaos of those final days was like. You don't just see the Allies' grim determination to win and Hitler's crazed, manic overconfidence, but the exhaustion of German citizens trying to pick the ideal moment to fly the white flag. You get the exultation of Russian and American soldiers finally meeting as they fight their way to Berlin. Perspectives range from fanatical fascists planning the perfect suicide to people so beaten down that they can't bring themselves to believe, or care, that it will ever end. You get chatty letters home, pictures of marriages starting to crash and burn, diaries written in deep depression, and weighty philosophical musings on how this all was allowed to happen. It's absolutely fascinating. And seeing the same event from the same place through different eyes was just amazing. Whether it's two accounts of the V.E. Day celebrations at Trafalgar Square and Whitehall, or three accounts (from Russian Zhukov, German Keitel, and a Russian reporter) of the signing of the unconditional surrender, you can learn so much from the tiny details that differ, or the bits that are selected for inclusion, or left out entirely.
Highly recommended to anyone interested in World War II, especially the fall of the Reich.
I am endlessly fascinated by first-person historical accounts. I think you get insight and honesty in a letter from the Front that you'll never get from a history book written decades later, no matter how much context and hindsight it offers. Reading about food shortages is very different than reading a diary entry filled with excitement over finding a bit of meat in the rubble that wasn't too rancid. And that's why I was super excited to hear that this book was being released in English.
The subtitle is A Collective Diary of the Last Days of the Third Reich. It chooses four important days at the end of the war in Europe (Hitler's Birthday, the fall of Berlin, Hitler's suicide day, and V.E. Day) and explores them through firsthand accounts from everyone they could find - anonymous German schoolboys, Russian soldiers, American journalists, concentration camp victims, Norwegian photographers, intellectuals in exile, up to the big names like Churchill, Stalin, Truman, and even Hitler. This technique gives a fuller understanding of what the chaos of those final days was like. You don't just see the Allies' grim determination to win and Hitler's crazed, manic overconfidence, but the exhaustion of German citizens trying to pick the ideal moment to fly the white flag. You get the exultation of Russian and American soldiers finally meeting as they fight their way to Berlin. Perspectives range from fanatical fascists planning the perfect suicide to people so beaten down that they can't bring themselves to believe, or care, that it will ever end. You get chatty letters home, pictures of marriages starting to crash and burn, diaries written in deep depression, and weighty philosophical musings on how this all was allowed to happen. It's absolutely fascinating. And seeing the same event from the same place through different eyes was just amazing. Whether it's two accounts of the V.E. Day celebrations at Trafalgar Square and Whitehall, or three accounts (from Russian Zhukov, German Keitel, and a Russian reporter) of the signing of the unconditional surrender, you can learn so much from the tiny details that differ, or the bits that are selected for inclusion, or left out entirely.
Highly recommended to anyone interested in World War II, especially the fall of the Reich.
August 5, 2015
The tenth volume in what is considered a modern German classic, Swansong 1945 is the only volume to be published in English. This volume covers four dates during the last two months of the war: Hitler's birthday, the meeting of the Americans and Russians at the Elbe river, Hitler's suicide, and the German surrender. It is a stunning piece of work and an absolutely fascinating read of first-hand accounts of WWII. Kempowski has done the world a favor with his tireless compilation of these documents.
April 7, 2018
This is a must read for any who are fascinated with WW2 history. The horrors of WW2 are fully exemplified through the interviews of participants including servicemen , citizens, politicians, refugees, and world leaders. This is compelling reading; one wonders why we as a nation persist in continued warring.
June 21, 2023
Prachtige compilatie van allerhande teksten uit de laatste dagen van WO2 die het tiende en laatste deel is van de "Echolood serie" van romancier Kempowski over de periode 1940-1945 (Duitse titel: Abgesang, 2005). De stukken uit de laatste stafbesprekingen uit de Führerbunker zijn wereldberoemd geworden door de film Der Untergang (2004) en vormen een rode draad in het boek, maar het is juist de caleidoscopische blik op deze Abgesangen Untergang die het boek zo rijk maakt.
In twintig dagen (20 april - 9 mei 1945) beschrijft de auteur de dood van Hilter, Mussolini, maar ook die van Roosevelt ("hoe kan een land zonder leider nu een oorlog winnen?"). Militaire details zijn er in overvloed: De bewondering van een Amerikaanse vliegenier voor de laatst overgebleven toestellen van de Luftwaffe, een Russische piloot die met pijn in zijn hart de enorme branden beschrijft die zijn bommen in Berlijn veroorzaken, dat hij door de rook al nauwelijks mee kon zien, maar Duitse SS-ers die overlopende soldaten een nekschot geven. De gekte van deze laatste weken is compleet en de ontreddering volkomen.
Die komt het mooist naar voren in het laatste deel, dinsdag 8 mei op woensdag 9 mei. Als om exact 0:01 uur de oorlog eindigt en generaals koortsachtig overleggen over de overgaven, slijpen schrijven hun gerei. Alfred Döblin, Thomas Mann, Arthus Miller, Ilja Ehrenburg en Elias Canetti schrijven prachtige chaconnes en Knut Hamsun een volle hilteriaanse dissonant. Maar het meest raakte mij toch de mij onbekende schrijver en jurist Alfred Kantorowicz, vanuit New York
"Vandaag is het goed om alleen te zijn. Het is dus achter de rug. (...) Ik durf nog steeds niet verder te denken. Ergens wordt Beethovens Vijfde Symfonie uitgezonden. De hymne van de overwinning?! Er is geen overwinning. Er zijn alleen overwonnennen."
Prachtig, maar zijn er dan helemaal geen kanttekeningen te plaatsen? Toch wel: Opvallend is de milde toon die de auteur geeft aan het gedrag van de Russische soldaten, met name als het gaat om hun behandeling van Duitse vrouwen. Er wordt wel geregeerd aan verkrachting en misbruik als oorlogsinstrument, maar die blijft dan toch beperkt tot Oost-Pruisen en wordt zelf niet beschreven, ook niet in de laatste dagen in Berlijn. Op dit punt doet het boek (2005) misschien wat gedateerd aan. Ook het Nederlandse perspectief komt er met een tweetal korte passages (waaronder die van de Zeeuwe chroniqueur Hans Warren ) bekaaid af. Hadden Harry Mulisch of W.F. Hermans maar een dagboek bijgehouden in die tijd...
In twintig dagen (20 april - 9 mei 1945) beschrijft de auteur de dood van Hilter, Mussolini, maar ook die van Roosevelt ("hoe kan een land zonder leider nu een oorlog winnen?"). Militaire details zijn er in overvloed: De bewondering van een Amerikaanse vliegenier voor de laatst overgebleven toestellen van de Luftwaffe, een Russische piloot die met pijn in zijn hart de enorme branden beschrijft die zijn bommen in Berlijn veroorzaken, dat hij door de rook al nauwelijks mee kon zien, maar Duitse SS-ers die overlopende soldaten een nekschot geven. De gekte van deze laatste weken is compleet en de ontreddering volkomen.
Die komt het mooist naar voren in het laatste deel, dinsdag 8 mei op woensdag 9 mei. Als om exact 0:01 uur de oorlog eindigt en generaals koortsachtig overleggen over de overgaven, slijpen schrijven hun gerei. Alfred Döblin, Thomas Mann, Arthus Miller, Ilja Ehrenburg en Elias Canetti schrijven prachtige chaconnes en Knut Hamsun een volle hilteriaanse dissonant. Maar het meest raakte mij toch de mij onbekende schrijver en jurist Alfred Kantorowicz, vanuit New York
"Vandaag is het goed om alleen te zijn. Het is dus achter de rug. (...) Ik durf nog steeds niet verder te denken. Ergens wordt Beethovens Vijfde Symfonie uitgezonden. De hymne van de overwinning?! Er is geen overwinning. Er zijn alleen overwonnennen."
Prachtig, maar zijn er dan helemaal geen kanttekeningen te plaatsen? Toch wel: Opvallend is de milde toon die de auteur geeft aan het gedrag van de Russische soldaten, met name als het gaat om hun behandeling van Duitse vrouwen. Er wordt wel geregeerd aan verkrachting en misbruik als oorlogsinstrument, maar die blijft dan toch beperkt tot Oost-Pruisen en wordt zelf niet beschreven, ook niet in de laatste dagen in Berlijn. Op dit punt doet het boek (2005) misschien wat gedateerd aan. Ook het Nederlandse perspectief komt er met een tweetal korte passages (waaronder die van de Zeeuwe chroniqueur Hans Warren ) bekaaid af. Hadden Harry Mulisch of W.F. Hermans maar een dagboek bijgehouden in die tijd...
June 11, 2021
A very special book that gives you - via the life's of ordinary people, soldiers, diplomats, generals and other key players of the last stage of the war - a taste of those last days of WW2. I think it is unique in it's kind and it really does give a very good insight what those people went through and how life was at that moment in time. Amazing to read how people cope with the madness and how they experience it. Great book.
June 2, 2025
Not as satisfying a read as I'd hoped, and I'm not exactly sure why.
April 27, 2019
Walter Kempowski - Swansong: There is more than the "official", or even "popular" viewpoint to understanding the past, and this is brought home in Kempowski's powerful collection of the writings, notes, statements, letters and diaries of those who lived the dramatic conclusion at the end of the world's most catastrophic war. No source is denied. No argument is pursued, other than an illumination of the varied visions of lived reality. It is but left to the reader to interpret and disentangle the maze of concurrent experiences. Inevitably one is left with a gnawing shadow of doubt. A doubt: for to see "all" is to see "nothing". An emptiness whose voice can only ever be filled with the prejudices of ones own experiences. For me, the tremor of a writers soul vented a deep sadness:
The following is an extract from the diary/letter of a German prisoner of war, Wolfgang Soergel, captive in a Scottish POW camp, and written on the 8th/9th May 1945. Victory in Europe Day. His thoughts were for his loved ones:
"Adolf Hitler is dead. There is still fighting around Chemnitz. In the scrappy newspaper reports I read about civil-war-type situations in the area where I'm looking for you. Will I see you again?"
"At the end of April Nazi concentration camps were liberated by British troops, and the British Intelligence Officers have been giving out the most terrible reports of them. Serious criminals were arrested, the picture of Commandant Koch, the 'Beast of Belsen', is pinned to the information board, a vulgar contemptible face. The reality is much worse than the whispers and mutterings of the past few months, the portals of the underworld are opening up. No one lies honourably defeated on the ground, we are seen as gangs of murderers whose masks have been torn off. Blood, suffocating torture, skeletons and mass deaths drag their traces behind the beaten troops of the Reich. No cry for mercy helps, where ears are deaf and eyes blind. All Germans stand accused, from the youngest to the oldest, now burdened with the fate of Sisyphus, seeking in vain torment to throw off the stone of guilt, again and again, always in vain, as there can be no forgetting".
The following is an extract from the diary/letter of a German prisoner of war, Wolfgang Soergel, captive in a Scottish POW camp, and written on the 8th/9th May 1945. Victory in Europe Day. His thoughts were for his loved ones:
"Adolf Hitler is dead. There is still fighting around Chemnitz. In the scrappy newspaper reports I read about civil-war-type situations in the area where I'm looking for you. Will I see you again?"
"At the end of April Nazi concentration camps were liberated by British troops, and the British Intelligence Officers have been giving out the most terrible reports of them. Serious criminals were arrested, the picture of Commandant Koch, the 'Beast of Belsen', is pinned to the information board, a vulgar contemptible face. The reality is much worse than the whispers and mutterings of the past few months, the portals of the underworld are opening up. No one lies honourably defeated on the ground, we are seen as gangs of murderers whose masks have been torn off. Blood, suffocating torture, skeletons and mass deaths drag their traces behind the beaten troops of the Reich. No cry for mercy helps, where ears are deaf and eyes blind. All Germans stand accused, from the youngest to the oldest, now burdened with the fate of Sisyphus, seeking in vain torment to throw off the stone of guilt, again and again, always in vain, as there can be no forgetting".
January 1, 2021
These first-person accounts from letters, diaries, and autobiographical accounts chronicle four significant days in the last three weeks of WWII from allied and axis countries, but primarily from Germans in the military. The most interesting are the ones documented from the Fuhererbunker in Berlin describing Hitler's deteriorating mind at this time through his discussions with the military and staff personnel. There are also many excerpts from concentration camp victims during their last few weeks and after release which provided me new information on what they had to experience after release in countries whose citizens were already in dire straights during the last phase of the war.
November 13, 2021
This is the third work by Kempowski that I've read this fall and I'd like to read more. It's not a novel and felt a tad disjointed which slowed me down. But it was a worthwhile read and the disjointedness is a necessary part of the experience. Highly recommended.
May 9, 2020
"The soldier Popov was a strange person. He had nothing but bees in his bonnet. Thus he kept a diary in a thick volume of soft newsprint that he had bound himself. It was his pride and joy. At every free moment he had written something in it with the stump of an indelible pencil. As he was forever putting the pencil in his mouth to moisten it, he was always walking around with blue lips. Hence his nickname -- Ivan-Pencil Brigade. Just outside of Berlin his diary disappeared without a trace. He tried very hard, offered a big reward for its return, even reported it to the battalion commander. He wept! 'It's all over. For two years I've written down every village, every metre of the roads we traveled, from Stalingrad to Berlin. Now my book will be used to roll cigarettes...'"
Leonid Voytenko, Red Army Soldier b. 1922 (near Berlin)
Weaving the transcripts of published and broadcast sources, German historian Walter Kemposwski delivers a multi-faceted perspective of lives in the final weeks of Hitler's Europe. From the last, grim, state observances of the Fuhrer's birthday on April 20 to the final Wehrmacht report on May 9, and from voices ranging from well-known players like Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle and even Stalin's daughter to the front lines of army nurses, widows, soldiers, prisoners, prisoners of war and more in between, this is Kempowski's tenth volume of history of the period. Sadly the only one translated into English.
This copy was originally on the nightstand in the 'read and donate' pile, but you can see it survives in the household as a staple on the history shelf. And two and half years on, I return to complete my review.
Using the words of others, Kempowski's authorial voice is there in the choices of material he makes and the juxtapositions in his editing. There's dark irony that Hitler's first entry is the thank you note he wrote to Mussolini for sending him a birthday greeting. (One wonders if it arrived in time for Mussolini to read it...it had a scant seven days and counting) Goebbels' radio addresses cheering on the country and reveling in an assured victory that's just beyond the next brave push are damned in the same-day testimonies of ordinary German soldiers making do with half-rations for the birthday celebration and noting the collapse of morale all around them. Soviet army reports track westward progress and civilian diaries and letters in their path record fear and grief. London women embrace the giddiness of victory with the mobs in the West End, but still heed the advice of their mums and aunts who "remembered scenes of rape and wild debauchery from World War I" and put on "heavy man-proof" trousers before heading out.
Throughout this volume, Kempowski gives the voices of ordinary people as custodians of History the same weight and respect as the Great and Powerful. Perhaps even more as he shows that these are the people who bore the full brunt of War.
I gained two main lessons from this work. The first was a powerful reminder of just how far a seemingly advanced and educated country will delude itself in thinking all is well when all is clearly not, after it elects a disruptive and theatrical leader backed by a compliant media and an accomplished propagandist. The second is that America does not loom as large in the historical scope of Berlin's liberation as I was brought up to believe. That Soviet Army meant business! It's true that American voices and testimonies are thin on the ground here, but then...we'll always have Paris.
Excellent work. Five stars. Here's hoping the rest will be translated soon.*
Original snippet review from January 2018
Longer review in draft format but this is a rare instance of me rating a book with five stars. My only regret is that this volume is one of ten from German historian Walter Kempowski but it is the only one translated into English so far.
*I could do a whole separate review of the role of translating in this work. Kempowski originally translated English, French and Russian voices (to name but a few) into German. Did his translator translate that back or return to the original sources?
Leonid Voytenko, Red Army Soldier b. 1922 (near Berlin)
Weaving the transcripts of published and broadcast sources, German historian Walter Kemposwski delivers a multi-faceted perspective of lives in the final weeks of Hitler's Europe. From the last, grim, state observances of the Fuhrer's birthday on April 20 to the final Wehrmacht report on May 9, and from voices ranging from well-known players like Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle and even Stalin's daughter to the front lines of army nurses, widows, soldiers, prisoners, prisoners of war and more in between, this is Kempowski's tenth volume of history of the period. Sadly the only one translated into English.
This copy was originally on the nightstand in the 'read and donate' pile, but you can see it survives in the household as a staple on the history shelf. And two and half years on, I return to complete my review.
Using the words of others, Kempowski's authorial voice is there in the choices of material he makes and the juxtapositions in his editing. There's dark irony that Hitler's first entry is the thank you note he wrote to Mussolini for sending him a birthday greeting. (One wonders if it arrived in time for Mussolini to read it...it had a scant seven days and counting) Goebbels' radio addresses cheering on the country and reveling in an assured victory that's just beyond the next brave push are damned in the same-day testimonies of ordinary German soldiers making do with half-rations for the birthday celebration and noting the collapse of morale all around them. Soviet army reports track westward progress and civilian diaries and letters in their path record fear and grief. London women embrace the giddiness of victory with the mobs in the West End, but still heed the advice of their mums and aunts who "remembered scenes of rape and wild debauchery from World War I" and put on "heavy man-proof" trousers before heading out.
Throughout this volume, Kempowski gives the voices of ordinary people as custodians of History the same weight and respect as the Great and Powerful. Perhaps even more as he shows that these are the people who bore the full brunt of War.
I gained two main lessons from this work. The first was a powerful reminder of just how far a seemingly advanced and educated country will delude itself in thinking all is well when all is clearly not, after it elects a disruptive and theatrical leader backed by a compliant media and an accomplished propagandist. The second is that America does not loom as large in the historical scope of Berlin's liberation as I was brought up to believe. That Soviet Army meant business! It's true that American voices and testimonies are thin on the ground here, but then...we'll always have Paris.
Excellent work. Five stars. Here's hoping the rest will be translated soon.*
Original snippet review from January 2018
Longer review in draft format but this is a rare instance of me rating a book with five stars. My only regret is that this volume is one of ten from German historian Walter Kempowski but it is the only one translated into English so far.
*I could do a whole separate review of the role of translating in this work. Kempowski originally translated English, French and Russian voices (to name but a few) into German. Did his translator translate that back or return to the original sources?
July 22, 2021
One negative comment and on positive comment.
First, I perhaps foolishly expected that this collection would be like Alexievitch’s work — for example, Voices from Chernobyl. This collection is, however, a gathering of passages from written material — diaries, letters, testaments, reports, official communications, etc. Although they are written by people on the ground and are contemporary with events — German housewives, running soldiers, camp survivors, Russian soldiers, officials, newspaper reporters, young men and women — the written format deprives them of the life evident in the oral stories and testimonies that Alexievitch collected. Therefore, although I read the whole book because I thought it was important, it was not very alive.
Second, and better, the book is an amazing record of chaos. The delusion and denial in the highest German echelons (except perhaps in the High Command) is startling. A general sense of the collapse of a whole people and the anxiety about future justice, indiscriminate and targeted, is profound. The physical danger, the psychological beating of warfare, the deprivations, the mass movements of a whole nation fleeing in different directions (mainly toward the Americans) is simply amazing. The points of view regarding National Socialism and nationhood are diverse, and the loss of the nation seems more lamented than the loss of its ideological rulers.
A couple of criticisms: The book badly needs a map. A non-German reader may not know where many of the locations are and why people may be leaving them en masse. This would be particularly helpful given how the map has changed radically since 1945. Additionally, a short afterword might provide some background regarding, for example, why people from Rostock or the former Prussia were on the move. Unless, one knows somethig about the closing months of the war in Europe, the events and their geography are obscured by the stories of victory on the other side.
Last, the conditions and liberation of the camps and what is found there could be much better. For example, there are several entries about Theriesenstadt and transports of people there, but very little about what is actually going on. The topic really needs some overview.
On the whole, this is actually not a splendid archive. But I thank Mr. Kempowski for creating it. Given its creation, I am left with an understanding how hard Germany has worked to deal with its past in the post-war years and now. And of how it had to do so for its own sake as well as for the sake of the victims of the National Socialist culture.
First, I perhaps foolishly expected that this collection would be like Alexievitch’s work — for example, Voices from Chernobyl. This collection is, however, a gathering of passages from written material — diaries, letters, testaments, reports, official communications, etc. Although they are written by people on the ground and are contemporary with events — German housewives, running soldiers, camp survivors, Russian soldiers, officials, newspaper reporters, young men and women — the written format deprives them of the life evident in the oral stories and testimonies that Alexievitch collected. Therefore, although I read the whole book because I thought it was important, it was not very alive.
Second, and better, the book is an amazing record of chaos. The delusion and denial in the highest German echelons (except perhaps in the High Command) is startling. A general sense of the collapse of a whole people and the anxiety about future justice, indiscriminate and targeted, is profound. The physical danger, the psychological beating of warfare, the deprivations, the mass movements of a whole nation fleeing in different directions (mainly toward the Americans) is simply amazing. The points of view regarding National Socialism and nationhood are diverse, and the loss of the nation seems more lamented than the loss of its ideological rulers.
A couple of criticisms: The book badly needs a map. A non-German reader may not know where many of the locations are and why people may be leaving them en masse. This would be particularly helpful given how the map has changed radically since 1945. Additionally, a short afterword might provide some background regarding, for example, why people from Rostock or the former Prussia were on the move. Unless, one knows somethig about the closing months of the war in Europe, the events and their geography are obscured by the stories of victory on the other side.
Last, the conditions and liberation of the camps and what is found there could be much better. For example, there are several entries about Theriesenstadt and transports of people there, but very little about what is actually going on. The topic really needs some overview.
On the whole, this is actually not a splendid archive. But I thank Mr. Kempowski for creating it. Given its creation, I am left with an understanding how hard Germany has worked to deal with its past in the post-war years and now. And of how it had to do so for its own sake as well as for the sake of the victims of the National Socialist culture.
September 16, 2018
A thoroughly riveting compilation of the thoughts and writings of Germans as the Reich was self-destructing. Ranging from Hitler, the progenitor of "The 1,000 Year Reich" that died in infancy, his enablers and sycophants, to non-official Germans and a host of other people, their thoughts and impressions are recorded for posterity. Walter Kempowski chose four pivotal dates from which to capture the mood of Germans:- April 20: Hitler's birthday, on which even his most ardent and deluded liutenants could not summon up joy to counter the over-riding sense of impending doom. April 25: the date on which U S and Russian forces met at the Elbe, signalling that the end was near for German troops. April 30: the date of Hitler's suicide. May 8/9: the end of the war in Europe. Winston Churchill shares ink with Benito Mussolini, Arthur Miller too. Kurt Weill writes from Germany to Lotte Lenya in New York, rejoicing that they are both young enough to enjoy their lives "without Nazis." But the truest and most honest comments are from ordinary Germans, divested or undressed as they are of official jargon. This is a book to treasure, to dip into from time to time when we need reminding that 1945 is only 73 years ago, and although the world said "never again" upon discovering Hitler's Holocaust of Europe's Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and union members, this declaration has not prevented the Syrian catastrophe, the persecution of the Rohingya people of Burma, in both cases wars directed against defenseless populations because of their ethnic identities, following the examples in Hitler's play-book. A quote from Winston Churchill from Apri 25, 1945 could have been made today and still applies - "The indispensable political direction was lacking at the moment when it was most needed. The United States stood on the scene of victory, master of world fortunes, but without a true and coherent design."
November 1, 2015
Very good book! Moving and sometimes chilling telling of the final days of the Third Reich. This book is a compilation of diary excerpts from many different people. Germans, Soviets, French, Americans, British, and also people from the many Concentration camps (these are so heart breaking!!) I do not recall the man's name, but one of the camp victims reaction to the liberation of Dachau just made me cry a river!!! If you enjoy reading about things that actually happened, you will LOVE this book.
August 17, 2016
As a librarian, I am very interested in original document research. I especially like correspondence and diaries, so this book is right up my alley.
Comprised of excerpts from letters, diaries, speeches, and other original documents, the text reads like a collage of thoughts about three days at the end of 1945. I could not stop reading. From people in Hitler's inner circle, to prisoners of war, to concentration camp inmates, to soldiers, to world leaders....so many impressions from different points of view.
An amazing portrait in words.
Comprised of excerpts from letters, diaries, speeches, and other original documents, the text reads like a collage of thoughts about three days at the end of 1945. I could not stop reading. From people in Hitler's inner circle, to prisoners of war, to concentration camp inmates, to soldiers, to world leaders....so many impressions from different points of view.
An amazing portrait in words.
November 27, 2016
I read it compulsively. these are all diary entries from various public and private historical figures. the only issue I had was understanding the contexts of the various authors. kempowski will tell you where they are located but nothing else about who they were. this often makes understanding their comments difficult.
still I couldn't put the book down.
Hitler and many of the Germans were true believers till the last minutes. the invaders were no angels either. the stories of rape were routine.
still I couldn't put the book down.
Hitler and many of the Germans were true believers till the last minutes. the invaders were no angels either. the stories of rape were routine.
May 7, 2018
A selection of letters, diaries, and other notes. From top-level politicians and generals to lowly privates and civilians. All levels, all sides. A good way to understand the sentiment on both sides at the end of WWII.
Could have used occasional intros to provide context. Even one sentence would help to put things in a bit of context, but I think they didn't want to slant the direct nature of the entries.
I don't suggest for nighttime reading as some of the entries contain some disturbing realities. As you can imagine, some horrible things happened.
Could have used occasional intros to provide context. Even one sentence would help to put things in a bit of context, but I think they didn't want to slant the direct nature of the entries.
I don't suggest for nighttime reading as some of the entries contain some disturbing realities. As you can imagine, some horrible things happened.
July 25, 2018
“History isn’t what happened but what Historians tell us”
This is the summary of this book.
A unique outlook from the point of view of thousand’s of people in the dying days of the second world war. Their stories and writing gives it a more personal touch to the events that unfolded almost 70 years ago!
Notes from both Allies and Axis are in this book and shows the general psyche of the opposing forces as the war ended.
The heart of this book rests with the stories of the non combatants whose words display pure emotion and anguish that they felt.
A must read for WW2 enthusiasts.
This is the summary of this book.
A unique outlook from the point of view of thousand’s of people in the dying days of the second world war. Their stories and writing gives it a more personal touch to the events that unfolded almost 70 years ago!
Notes from both Allies and Axis are in this book and shows the general psyche of the opposing forces as the war ended.
The heart of this book rests with the stories of the non combatants whose words display pure emotion and anguish that they felt.
A must read for WW2 enthusiasts.
December 5, 2017
A must-read for anyone interested in personal stories about the end of the Second world war. Horrible, but with glimmers of hope and beauty.
I'll always remember this quote from a russian soldier writing to his loved one at home: "I love you and we are forever ours." Sentences like that in the middle of the worst war possible make me feel like there is always something worth going on for. Even in the most dire of situations.
I'll always remember this quote from a russian soldier writing to his loved one at home: "I love you and we are forever ours." Sentences like that in the middle of the worst war possible make me feel like there is always something worth going on for. Even in the most dire of situations.
May 23, 2017
This is a great book, at first I did not like the narrative style but it grows to come at you in waves of horror and sorrow. It gives a first hand account of the last days of the Nazis, of the weak and the devastation that Hitler brought to his people and the massive body count in World War II.
I wish the others in the series were available in English.
I wish the others in the series were available in English.
June 30, 2015
Relentlessly predictable on some level yet full of the unexpected -- famous names popping up without warning. Knut Hamson unreservedly endorsing Hitler as the best of the best for European civilization - on 8 May 1945, for example.
October 10, 2017
Gets right down to the real nitty gritty
I have read the April 20 section over and over. It provides a sense of the disillusionment in Germany as it became clear that the Nazis could not do what they had promised.
I have read the April 20 section over and over. It provides a sense of the disillusionment in Germany as it became clear that the Nazis could not do what they had promised.
Read
November 1, 2015This book is a struggle. Very different concept and it can get tedious, but I finished and learned a great deal.
March 27, 2018
A book of quotes and letters from people in axis countries in the last days of WWII. A person needs a an above average knowledge of WWII history to get much from this book.
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