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Hell on Earth
Hell on Earth is the second book written by Avigdor Hameiri (born Feuerstein; 1890–1970) about his experiences as a Russian prisoner of war during the second half of World War I. Translator Peter C. Appelbaum first became interested in Hameiri's story after learning that one quarter of the Austro-Hungarian army was captured and imprisoned, and that the horrific events that took place at this time throughout Russia and central Asia are rarely discussed in scholarly texts. Available for the first time to an English-speaking audience, this reality-driven novel is comparable to classics like All Quiet on the Western Front and The Gulag Archipelago .
The text is deeply tragic, while allowing some humor to shine through in the darkest hour. The reader is introduced to a procession of complex characters with whom Hamieri comes into contact during his imprisonment. The narrator watches his friends die one by one until he is released in 1917 with the help of Russian Zionist colleagues. He then immigrates to Israel in 1921. Hameiri's perspective on the things surrounding him―the Austro-Hungarian Army, the Russian people and countryside, the geography of Siberia, the nascent Zionist movement, the Russian Revolution and its immediate aftermath―offers a distinct personal view of a moment in time that is often overshadowed by the horrors of the Holocaust. In his preface, Appelbaum argues that World War I was the original sin of the twentieth century―without it, the unthinkable acts of World War II would not have come to fruition.
With an introduction by Avner Holtzman, Hell on Earth is a fascinating, albeit gruesome, account of life in prison camps at the end of the First World War. Fans of historical fiction and war memoirs will appreciate the historic value in this piece of literature.
The text is deeply tragic, while allowing some humor to shine through in the darkest hour. The reader is introduced to a procession of complex characters with whom Hamieri comes into contact during his imprisonment. The narrator watches his friends die one by one until he is released in 1917 with the help of Russian Zionist colleagues. He then immigrates to Israel in 1921. Hameiri's perspective on the things surrounding him―the Austro-Hungarian Army, the Russian people and countryside, the geography of Siberia, the nascent Zionist movement, the Russian Revolution and its immediate aftermath―offers a distinct personal view of a moment in time that is often overshadowed by the horrors of the Holocaust. In his preface, Appelbaum argues that World War I was the original sin of the twentieth century―without it, the unthinkable acts of World War II would not have come to fruition.
With an introduction by Avner Holtzman, Hell on Earth is a fascinating, albeit gruesome, account of life in prison camps at the end of the First World War. Fans of historical fiction and war memoirs will appreciate the historic value in this piece of literature.
192 pages, Paperback
Published October 2, 2017
About the author
Avigdor Hameiri
15 booksAvigdor Hameiri (Hebrew: אביגדור המאירי) was a Hungarian-Israeli author.
Hameiri was born as Avigdor Menachem Feuerstein in 1890, in the village of Odavidhaza (near Munkatsch), Carpathian Ruthenia in Austria-Hungary. Growing up with his grandfather instilled in him a love for the Hebrew language. Even though the bulk of Hungarian Jewry was still anti-Zionist, he had already developed an admiration for Zionism when he moved to Budapest.
He served in the Austro-Hungarian army along the Eastern front of World War I. Taken prisoner by the Russians during the Brusilov Offensive in 1916, he joined a group of Hebrew writers in Odessa after his release. With their support, he emigrated to Palestine in 1921, and fought in the 1948 War of Independence.
He recorded the events of his war service in his memoirs, The Great Madness (1929) and Hell on Earth (1932). Alon Rachamimov writes that Hameiri's war stories "reveal the degree to which Jewish identification processes could be contextual, angst-ridden, and laden with contradictory tendencies. The extent to which Hameiri was aware of his struggles regarding notions of 'loyalty,' 'fatherland,' and 'patriotism'...illuminate the complexities of collective identification among Habsburg Jews." Gershon Shaked argues that Hameiri's anti-war stance is rooted in his Judaism.
His first book of poetry was published around 1912, while he was still living in Budapest. He published the Israeli State's first independent newspaper and helped to organize the workers' bank. Hameiri was the first poet to whom the title Israel's Poet Laureate was awarded.
Hameiri was born as Avigdor Menachem Feuerstein in 1890, in the village of Odavidhaza (near Munkatsch), Carpathian Ruthenia in Austria-Hungary. Growing up with his grandfather instilled in him a love for the Hebrew language. Even though the bulk of Hungarian Jewry was still anti-Zionist, he had already developed an admiration for Zionism when he moved to Budapest.
He served in the Austro-Hungarian army along the Eastern front of World War I. Taken prisoner by the Russians during the Brusilov Offensive in 1916, he joined a group of Hebrew writers in Odessa after his release. With their support, he emigrated to Palestine in 1921, and fought in the 1948 War of Independence.
He recorded the events of his war service in his memoirs, The Great Madness (1929) and Hell on Earth (1932). Alon Rachamimov writes that Hameiri's war stories "reveal the degree to which Jewish identification processes could be contextual, angst-ridden, and laden with contradictory tendencies. The extent to which Hameiri was aware of his struggles regarding notions of 'loyalty,' 'fatherland,' and 'patriotism'...illuminate the complexities of collective identification among Habsburg Jews." Gershon Shaked argues that Hameiri's anti-war stance is rooted in his Judaism.
His first book of poetry was published around 1912, while he was still living in Budapest. He published the Israeli State's first independent newspaper and helped to organize the workers' bank. Hameiri was the first poet to whom the title Israel's Poet Laureate was awarded.
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