האורות כבים

by Erika Mann, אריקה מאן (Author's Hebrew Name), עידית שורר (Translator)

כיצד ייתכן שעם שלם ילך כעדר אחרי מנהיג שלוח רסן ותאב כוח? כיצד ייתכן שאומה שלמה, בעלת עבר עשיר ותרבות מפוארת, תידרדר לעוני מחפיר ולאובדן כבוד האדם וחירותו?

תשובה ספרותית לשאלות אלה, הרלוונטיות היום כפי שהיו בעבר, אפשר למצוא בהאורות כבים - ספר הסיפורים החשוב של אריקה מאן, בתו של הסופר תומס מאן, אשר גדלה בגרמניה בין שתי מלחמות העולם, גלתה ממנה, הפיצה בעולם מידע על המשטר הנאצי וניסתה לעורר אנשים לפעולה בזמן אמת.

הספר מתעד את קורותיה של עיר אלמונית קטנה בדרום גרמניה, מאז עליית הנאצים לשלטון ועד פרוץ המלחמה. את הסיפורים בקובץ מאכלסים גיבורים המתמודדים כל אחד בדרכו עם השינויים הנוחתים על אורחות חייהם: זוג צעיר מחליט להתאבד לאחר שרופא נאצי מעליל על האישה שהרתה והפילה את עוברה; מרצה למשפט פלילי חושף בפני סטודנטים את פרצופו האמיתי של השלטון תוך סיכון חייו; סוחר נאלץ להצהיר על הכנסות גבוהות מהמציאות כדי לעמוד בדרישות המס של הרייך; ועוד ועוד. אריקה מאן אינה שופטת, אלא מציגה את הדברים כפי שהם, מתוך ציפייה שהקוראים ישלימו את הביקורת בעצמם.

"האורות כבים" ראה אור בארצות הברית ב-1940 בשפה האנגלית. כתב היד המקורי בגרמנית אבד, והנוסח האמריקאי היה למקור הרשמי של הספר וממנו הוא אף תורגם לגרמנית בשנת 2005. התרגום לעברית רואה אור בהוצאת הספרים העצמאית החדשה אפרסמון , שהקימו יואב רייס ויוֹרי מירון.

Genres: German Literature, Nonfiction, History, Germany

300 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1940

About the author

Erika Julia Hedwig Mann was a German actress and writer, the eldest daughter of novelist Thomas Mann and his wife Katia.

Reviews

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 5 out of 5]

"свет гаснет" - удивительный роман в художественных очерках (ну, или редакционных статьях о разных аспектах, от юдофобии до лебенсраума) о том, как нация тупеет, скотинится, озверевает и постепенно тонет в нацизме. много узнаваемого вплоть до фразеологии и деталей:

But it’s hard on the folks here. We used to have a hundred and twelve trolley cars, and we need that many, too. Today there’s only sixty-two. The old cars had to be taken out of service and there isn’t material enough for new ones. All raw material must be used for the production of peace angels.

правда, не устаешь поражаться тому, что явные, с точки зрения автора, ужасы существования при нацизме (жизнью этот назвать, конечно, нельзя) практически ничем не отличаются от совецкой повседневности, которая особенно ужасной нами никогда не воспринималась. но здесь ещё вдобавок популярно и хорошо объясняется, как работала бессмысленная экономика третьего райха с ее четырехлетками Геринга (очень глупо, как и плановая экономика совка с их пятилетками. они мало чем отличались) (и, я полагаю, как нынешняя российская бессмысленная военная экономика, только в ней вместо угля нефть)

особых литературных достоинств в романе нет, но они и не нужны, ибо это документ эпохи, а вот рисунки в старом издании прямо отличные - по сути, это пародия на нацистский неоромантизм

[Pascale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading. In this set of 10 stories Erika Mann set herself the task of giving a detailed, factual account of what Germany was like just before the beginning of WWII. The events are located in an unremarkable Bavarian town where people realise, only too late, that they've known all along Nazism was leading them into the wall. Why, then, did they do nothing to prevent its spread? By and large, everybody hoped that they, individually, would survive it, if only they concentrated on their work and paid lip service to the régime. What has happened is that even those who had no moral objection to the principles of Nazism have seen their lives upended. They starve, fear their neighbours and even their loved ones, and are caught between the rock of petty bureaucracy and the hard place of thuggery and blackmail. Marie and Peter commit suicide when they are wrongly accused by a spiteful Party doctor of having aborted their baby. All the stories are terrific but in my view the most informative is the title story, which caps the volume. Hans Gottfried Eberhart is a minor writer whose articles found favour with the new régime and ensured his prosperity. Yet, he takes all the legal steps he can to acquire an art collection and ship in to England, just in case. When he is tricked into losing his sinecure, he tries to use this collection as his ticket out. But before he is able to leave Germany with his family, he has to bribe so many officials that he has no money left at all from all his careful savings. Worse, at the last minute everything is put in jeopardy again until he loses his wick and wrests his stamped passport out of the hands of a bewildered clerk, unused to any sign of rebellion on the part of the cowed population. Eberhardt's conclusion is one of the most important statements in the book: "From the start, we should have screamed our heads off." This volume is one of the single most clear-sighted parsing of how dictatorships happen. Additionally, this edition has the merit of containing material on Erika Mann by her biographer Irmela von der Lühe.

[Chris Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

• Truly moving book about the lives of ten ordinary Germans and their families in the years leading up to world war two. Profoundly shocking yet inspirational, through the medium of these ten stories we learn something of the fear of life in a totalitarian state. Difficult to get hold of in its English translation, this book deserves wider reading and availability in electronic form.
• An Introduction to the city from viewpoint of a non German visitor sets the scene for ten stories of people living in the city in the years leading up to the Second World War.
• The stories are all based on real events and calmly tell the story of how ordinary middle class Germans were affected by the rise to power of the Nazis with the subsequent total focus on war preparations undermining businesses and the creation of a closed society in which no criticism of the party or its leaders was tolerated.
• A sense of fear and disoriented permeates the each story culminating in the tragic moving but inspiring finale.
• The ten stories cover a range of personal and professional situations some ending well, some ending badly but each playing its part in the overall story. The ten are:
1. Peter and Marie - young couple denounced after she is wrongly diagnosed as pregnant - end up shooting themselves rather than face trial and interrogation
2. Hannes Schweiger - a merchant who is forced to fiddle his accounts (inflate his profit) so as not to be classified as an "nonprofitable enterprise" and who is facing ruin as a result of the Nazi desire to "comb out" retail businesses as part of the centralisation of state power and control
3. Alfred Huber - a manufacturer who falls in love with his secretary who, unbeknown to him, is half Jewish and he is forced to give her up. Alfred suffers at the same time with increasingly burdensome state requirements (price and wage fixing) for his business designed to divert profitable investment into war preparations. He dislikes it but can see no alternative but to cooperate with the Nazi policy.
4. Professor Habermann - a law professor who lectures his students in an ironic way about the ideology behind law set out by the Nazis and fools a couple of stormtroopers who arrive to urge his students to volunteer for manual work in the harvest in East Prussia
5. Franz Deiglmeyer - district supervisor of the Gestapo who forewarns Jewish residents of forthcoming arrests and killings before himself having to escape and face the possibility of capture and return to the Germans.
6. Xaver - a young man from a farm who travels to the city to stay with his cousin after being charged with not complying with the demands of the "Reich food department" to turn over the majority of the farm's production. After discussing the problems of the economic system with his cousin and friends and noticing many contradictions Xaver determines to report to the labour bureau the next morning knowing that the only work availalble is effectively slave labour and if the Gestapo hasn't caught up with him first
7. Dr Gebhardt - a protestant pastor initially demoted and sent to the countryside for refusing to say Heil Hitler! and then imprisoned for denouncing the church for colluding with the Nazis. After conversation sin the prison, including with a. storm trooper, he escapes and after much danger makes his way to an Alpine village where he finds refuge
8. Frau Murks - a mother waiting for news of her older son a sailor on his last journey to the USA. The news comes from a stranger, a friend of her son, who saw what happened to him after attending a workers rally in New York and hearing speakers openly criticising the government without fear, which contrasts with how the Murks family has to respond to the impact of Nazi economics on their own positions
9. Geheimrat Professor Dr Scherbach is a senior surgeon who doesn’t think that the political changes affect him. That is until edicts advising unsafe medical practice and changes to medical training are enforced. Ultimately he sees through the Nazis and their undermining of professions for the sake of war preparation. He does his best for a dying patient and has a sense of having become aware of what is going on
10. Hans Gottfried Eberhardt - literary editor of a local paper. Spends years writing what the Nazi regime wants him to write but eventually falls foul of the authorities and plans to leave Germany for the USA right on the eve of war. Gripping and moving story of the family’s dangerous escape attempt

This is a book I will remember

[Clem Dty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une famille de cracks
Les nouvelles sont toutes hyper complémentaires et savoir qu’elles sont toutes vraies ou du moins inspirées de faits réels ou témoignages rend le livre vrm encore plus intéressant pcq on en apprend tellement sur la situation intérieure de l’Allemagne sous le reich, qui est une partie de l’histoire qu’on apprend pas vraiment donc franchement banger

[Moloch · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

Potrebbe essere un buono, anzi ottimo spunto per una serie TV (storie che si intrecciano in un'immaginaria cittadina tedesca sotto il nazismo) che sapesse sviluppare in modo narrativamente più compiuto queste vicende. Così come sono, infatti, spesso sono più mini-saggi travestiti da racconti che racconti "veri": appassionati, certamente (il libro è del 1940 ed uscì dapprima negli Stati Uniti, dove Erika Mann si stava impegnando per l'intervento americano contro la Germania), ma meno appassionanti, se non in alcuni passaggi.
Fra le scelte programmatiche dell'autrice, il fatto che i personaggi provengano da vari ceti sociali (giovani, imprenditori, piccoli commercianti, contadini, cultori del diritto e dell'ordine, medici, uomini di cultura), a indicare l'iniziale presa "trasversale" del nazismo che per ciascuno sapeva apparentemente rispondere a esigenze diverse, e come poi tutti costoro si siano ritrovati amaramente disillusi e ormai invischiati in un sistema oppressivo.
Si tratta, sempre per un preciso intento dell'autrice, né di efferati criminali né di "eroi" della resistenza, ma di persone comuni, indifferenti al regime e anzi spesso anche simpatizzanti, che a un certo punto, per via diverse, finiscono per "aprire gli occhi" dolorosamente sul clima di disagio, morale e materiale, sulle condizioni di vita generalmente peggiorate nonostante i proclami propagandistici, sulle aspettative disattese e, soprattutto, sulla brutalità del regime.

Il mio "quadretto" preferito è la sorprendente lezione di disobbedienza civile impartita dal professore di diritto penale ai suoi studenti, dapprima sconcertati e poi sempre più entusiasti e solidali con l'aperta ribellione del rigido docente (l'applauso fragorosa che sovrasta beffardamente la voce della SA).

Interessante anche il saggio finale sulla vita di Erika Mann e la sua opera.

[Eff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unglaublich eindrücklich, beklemmend und erschütternd berichtet Erika Mann in ihrem Geschichten-Band „Wenn die Lichter ausgehen“ den scheinbar banalen Alltag in einer deutschen Stadt, nachdem die machtergreifenden Nationalsozialisten das ganze Land verändert haben.

Geschichten von Menschen, die den Systemwechsel herbeigesehnt und die Heilsbringerbotschaften geglaubt haben – und jetzt um ihr Geschäft bangen, um ihre Kinder im Krieg, um das Wohl Unschuldiger, die dem Regime ein Dorn im Auge sind. Es sind kleine Beobachtungen, leise Beschreibungen; vom Touristen, der sich verwunderlicherweise weniger wundert, als es aus unserer Rückwärtssicht zu erwarten gewesen wäre; vom Händler, der sich selbst betrügt, um sein Geschäft zu retten; vom Zeitungsmacher, dem es ohne Pressefreiheit erst ganz gut geht, dann aber nicht mehr; vom Gestapo-Mann, der eine Frage ans Gewissen beantworten muss und damit sein eigenes Leben riskiert.

Es sind Perspektiven und Geschichten, die wir einander heute nicht so oft erzählen, authentisch, unaufgeregt, nüchten – und genau deshalb trifft Erika Mann, die Schriftstellerin aus der berühmten wie zerrütteten Schriftstellerdynastie, mit ihren Zeilen mitten in die Magengrube. Unbedingte Leseempfehlung.

[Melaslithos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il est intéressant de voir comment certaines personnes tout à fait ordinaires se laissent embrigader dans la machine politique nazi, sans pour autant le chercher activement, et de voir aussi comment certains, au contraire, y vont de leurs petits actes de résistances.

Cela me fait penser à un petit poème sur le même sujet, du pasteur Martin Niëmoller (en anglais, pardon) :

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

[Ray Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of historical interest. A simple clearly written account of life in a small town in southern Germany in the last years of the 1930's. Based on documented incidents. The daughter of Thomas Mann wrote it in exil. Not a literary work. Written for a wide public. Ten chapters each recounting an aspect of the impending Nazi terror through everyday incidents in various people's lives. The original German version was lost so this English translation formed the basis for the book's eventual re-tranlsation into German.

[Joostr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Docu-fiction van de bovenste plank. Niet alleen interessant vanwege de blik in de ziel van het alledaagse Duitsland en van de Duitsers in 1936, maar zeker ook vanwege het procédé: van het alledaagse naar het algemene. Zeer goed nawoord van de biografe van Erika Mann.

[Simona Moschini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Se c'è un tempo per tutto, questo è il tempo di leggere i Mann.
Questi racconti di Erika Mann, in particolare, non sono fiction: paragonati in seguito al new journalism per lo stile e il realismo, sono storie vere di cittadini comuni tedeschi degli anni Trenta raccontate con uno stile narrativo.

Non c'è ancora la guerra, tutti i giornali dicono che va tutto bene, quindi dovrebbe andare tutto bene e i cittadini ariani dovrebbero stare benissimo, e invece, crepa dopo crepa, il vaso sta per rompersi.
C'è iil giovane contadino che scappa in città perché con l'economia statalizzata non c'è più abbastanza da mangiare per tutta la famiglia (e perché l'hanno denunciato per avere dato troppo orzo alle galline), ma scoprirà che là è anche peggio e finirà dritto in prigione, in compagnia di uno spavaldo SA, di un piccolo truffatore e di un prete luterano che riuscirà a scappare guidato dalla voce divina.
C'è chi ha piccole aziende, chiuse perché non necessarie all'economia di guerra, e per vivere deve adattarsi a lavori sempre più faticosi e malpagati. Studenti che non possono più studiare. Ci sono i cibi che stanno scomparendo (il caffè, il manzo, la panna, un ristoratore arrestato perché serviva ancora una panna "deliziosa" prodotta in realtà con margarina e altri succedanei).
C'è un turista americano che non capisce molto a causa della lingua ma gli sembra che vada tutto bene, che le vecchiette siano contente di fare le esercitazioni militari notturne obbligatorie. C'è l'industriale che si rende conto di quanto la produzione di materiale bellico stia peggiorando ma non può dirlo a nessuno, solo alla segretaria di cui è innamorato, e che quando infine le chiede di sposarlo rivela di essere mezza ebrea, e che seccatura! Gli tocca licenziarla per evitare altri guai oltre a quello che ha già. C'è il docente di diritto che riesce a fare resistenza facendo lezioni apparentemente naziste, in realtà sabotandole.
C'è il primario d'ospedale egoista, senza famiglia, che è sempre campato benissimo facendosi i fatti suoi finché le cose intollerabili diventano troppe: le suore gentili sostituite da ragazze impreparate e ignoranti, la mancanza di letti per i malati, l'aumento vertiginoso di incidenti sul lavoro, che il suo vice nazista e incompetente attribuisce ad autosabotaggi per poca voglia di lavorare...

E infine il giornalista di provincia senza infamia e senza lode, che vive ai margini del bosco e, essendosi sempre occupato solo di lirici articoli sulla caccia e la natura, è esteticamente turbato dal lager che gli costruiscono davanti casa, che lo costringe, poverello, a vedere i prigionieri picchiati. Crede di non fare mai passi falsi, di avere messo al sicuro i guadagni in quadri venduti a Londra, ma aspetta troppo, non se ne vuole andare, si stava così bene in Germania, e quando alla vigilia dell'invasione della Polonia si decide a farlo è troppo tardi: tra espropri, bustarelle e suppliche per riavere il passaporto, perderà tutti i suoi beni, tutti i suoi quadri, e nella traversata da Liverpool a New York, la nave bombardata dai tedeschi, rischierà di perdere anche la sua famiglia.

[Ricardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a simple idea and nicely done. That question "why?" together with the other one "how?" don't, never get a final answer. But for a moment we travel there and have a quick look, and discover that it's barbaric brutality, and fear, and totalitarianism, that made it happen.

The same beasts that we see growing today.

[Manon Ayçob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un précieux document littéraire et historique, une réflexion passionnante sur « le passage insidieux de la banalité du quotidien à la réalité de la vie dans un État totalitaire ». L’histoire en retiendra que la barbarie n’arrivera pas à éteindre la lumière de la raison.

[Asaf Bartov · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book! Very well-written (and translated) series of stories about everyday Germans in Nazi Germany just before the war. Poignantly relevant to our times!

[Meirav Ben Izhak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly written and super important

[Natalie Shtivelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Dalloway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibilmente attuale, da fare male.
Alla luce degli ultimi anni stiamo andando in quella direzione.

[Amélie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 ⭐️

[vladigathe · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent, à mon avis ça se lit très bien juste avant/après avoir lu grand peur et misère du IIIe reich de brecht histoire d'avoir le même sujet mais abordé avec deux tons/styles différents

[Noam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating and disturbing collection of slightly fictionalized non-fiction stories about the daily life of ‘ordinary’ people in Nazi Germany before World War II. It lets you feel how it felt to live at that time and place and it shows you the scale of choices they had: One of these people chose to risk everything he had in order to save others; the life of someone else ended because of the totally hopeless situation she got into: Whatever she did or said was considered as wrong. Everyone tried to survive in his or her own way.

Reading such a book in times of growing right wing populism, powerful social media and conspiracy theorists, is a frightening warning. A crucial history lesson about that time and about ours.

[Anne Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Misère et révoltes personnelles sous le 3è Reich. 10 histoires pour comprendre la réalité de la vie quotidienne à la veille de la guerre en Allemagne nazie. Endurance, petites ou grandes compromissions, incompréhension, tragédies, jusqu'à la révolte et les différentes formes qu'elle prend face à l'injustice, la persécution, la perversion et surtout l'absurdité. Jusqu'à la plainte que beaucoup ont dû hésiter à pousser : pourquoi n'a-t-on rien dit et a-t-on laissé faire ?