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השגעון הגדול : רשימות קצין עברי במלחמה הגדולה
רשימותיו של קצין עברי במלחמת העולם הראשונה, הידועה כמלחמת החפירות. אביגדור המאיר השתתף במלחמתה עולם הראשונה כחייל בצבא האוסטרו-הונגרי, שהה בחזית שנתיים עד שנלקח בשבי ונשלח לסיביר. אביגדור, כשאול טשרניחובסקי וגרינברג נחשפו לזוועות המלחמה, למלחמת הגזים, ללהביורים, ולכלי נשק קטלניים שעד אז לא היו ידועים. אביגדור המאירי היה הסופר העברי שכתב על מלחמתה עולם הראשונה, השני שאנחנו מכירים הוא ישראל ראבון אבל בעיקר למה שקורה עם החייל לאחר המלחמה בספרו 'הרחוב' -ראה בבלוג. התיאורים של המאירי הם קצרים, ישירים ולפעמים בוטים ולפעמים מאופקים אבל תוך כדי הקריאה בספר חווה הקורא את מוראות המלחמה כאילו היה שם.
הספר השגעון הגדול נחשב עד היום כאחד מספרי המלחמה הטובים ביותר בעולם, בעיקר על תיאורי המלחמה הראשונה.
הקדמה מאת דן מירון. אחרית דבר אבנר הולצמן.
הספר השגעון הגדול נחשב עד היום כאחד מספרי המלחמה הטובים ביותר בעולם, בעיקר על תיאורי המלחמה הראשונה.
הקדמה מאת דן מירון. אחרית דבר אבנר הולצמן.
294 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1989
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November 16, 2019מהדורה זו הועלתה כקובץ דיגיטלי לאתר "פרויקט בן-יהודה" והיא זמינה כעת להורדה חופשית אבל נראה לי שהקובץ פגום והתוכן חלקי ביותר.
August 4, 2024
This novel is based on the author's own experiences during WW1 in the Hungarian army in the trenches on the Eastern front in Galicia.
The Hungarian army consisted of men of all milieus and backgrounds:
Magyars, Serbs, Czechs, Jews.
Simple peasants from the provinces and Budapest aristocrats.
The author, himself a Hungarian Jewish journalist from Budapest, describes the wide variety of Hungarian Jewish soldiers he befriends, from liberal Budapest intellectuals to orthodox seminary students from the provinces.
Hameiri writes about the cruelty and rampant antisemitism of the Hungarian officers towards their own men.
The poor privates were crawling in the mud, while the officers strutted around drunken in their fineries and jewels, puffing on their cigars.
They meted out sadistic punishments they concocted for the most insignificant infractions.
".. the staggering worthlessness of man in his stinking cesspool of corruption".
He encounters some redeeming characters-a few decent men.
At one point, a rumor reaches the Jewish soldiers in the trenches about the Balfour declaration, whereby the British promise a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
They can barely believe it.
Most poignant are the passages where he writes about the camaraderie that develops among the soldiers stuck together in that hellhole for nearly three years.
Meanwhile, soldiers are falling like flies, and over time the main character loses his friends one after the other.
In the end, his battalion is completely outnumbered by the Russians and the remaining soldiers surrender as POW.
This novel, published in 1929, is not only an anti-war novel in the vein of "All Quiet on the Western Front", but also an indictment of the rampant antisemitism in the Hungarian army.
Hameiri wrote the novel in Hebrew, after he emigrated to Palestine in 1921.
The Hungarian army consisted of men of all milieus and backgrounds:
Magyars, Serbs, Czechs, Jews.
Simple peasants from the provinces and Budapest aristocrats.
The author, himself a Hungarian Jewish journalist from Budapest, describes the wide variety of Hungarian Jewish soldiers he befriends, from liberal Budapest intellectuals to orthodox seminary students from the provinces.
Hameiri writes about the cruelty and rampant antisemitism of the Hungarian officers towards their own men.
The poor privates were crawling in the mud, while the officers strutted around drunken in their fineries and jewels, puffing on their cigars.
They meted out sadistic punishments they concocted for the most insignificant infractions.
".. the staggering worthlessness of man in his stinking cesspool of corruption".
He encounters some redeeming characters-a few decent men.
At one point, a rumor reaches the Jewish soldiers in the trenches about the Balfour declaration, whereby the British promise a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
They can barely believe it.
Most poignant are the passages where he writes about the camaraderie that develops among the soldiers stuck together in that hellhole for nearly three years.
Meanwhile, soldiers are falling like flies, and over time the main character loses his friends one after the other.
In the end, his battalion is completely outnumbered by the Russians and the remaining soldiers surrender as POW.
This novel, published in 1929, is not only an anti-war novel in the vein of "All Quiet on the Western Front", but also an indictment of the rampant antisemitism in the Hungarian army.
Hameiri wrote the novel in Hebrew, after he emigrated to Palestine in 1921.
June 8, 2023
A remarkable book. Like a Jewish “All Quiet on the Western Front.” Highly recommended.
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