Berlin in Lights: The Diaries of Count Harry Kessler

by Harry Graf Kessler, Charles Kessler (translator and editor)

Berlin in Lights, chosen as a New York Times Notable Book, is the collection of German aristocrat Harry Kessler's diaries between the two world wars. Count Harry Kessler (1868-1937), the son of a German banker and an Irish beauty, was a diplomat and publisher who moved easily among the worlds of art, politics, and society. He lived in Berlin but traveled throughout Europe, always with a keen eye to the political climate of the times. His diaries encompass an extraordinary variety of people: Einstein engages him in long discussions on his theories, and Josephine Baker dances naked in Kessler's drawing room. Kessler had lunch with Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill, and Erik Satie, and dinner with Max Reinhardt, George Grosz, Virginia Woolf, Jean Cocteau, and Andre Gide, to name a few. His diaries encapsulate this tumultuous time frame, recording at first hand the agonizing collapse and death of Weimar Germany and the arrival of the Nazis. Beautifully written, the diaries provide rare insight into the frenetic, constantly changing mood and give us a brilliant portrait of Germany and Europe between the wars. "What distinguishes his diary is Kessler's distanziert tone -- its elegance, precision and shrewdness." -- Iain Bamforth, The New York Times Book Review

Genres: History, Germany, Biography, Nonfiction, Diary, German Literature, Politics

560 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Harry Clément Ulrich Kessler (23 May 1868 – 30 November 1937) was an Anglo-German count, diplomat, writer, and patron of modern art. His diaries "Berlin in Lights" published in 1971 revealed anecdotes and details of the artistic and theatrical life in Europe, mostly in Germany, from the collapse of Germany at the end of World War I until his death in Lyon in 1937.

Reviews

[William2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes on a few points of interest to me. This is not a review or summary. The content is too broad and unwieldy for that.

1. Count Harry Kessler was a Prussian aristocrat, army officer, diplomat, littérateur and homosexual. The biggest surprise for me so far is Kessler's prescience. He senses the national grievance astutely and its likely resolution in further war.

His entries begin after Germany's WW1 defeat. He leaves the Spartacist riots in Berlin behind and goes to Warsaw as Germany's the revolution's ambassador. This is a tenuous time. Kessler's legation is attacked and he must appeal to Polish General Pilsudsky for protection.

30 Nov. 1918 — Moreover, there are "...reports of atrocities by our [German] soldiers in the Bug area, the exclusion of Polish officials from the Suwalki region which is indubitable Polish territory, [and the] fear of Russian Bolsheviks following on the heels of our retreating forces in Lithuania and White Russia."

At first, none of Kessler's dispatches to Berlin are answered, such is the disarray of the home government. Just anarchy, pre-Weimar. Poland breaks with the German legation and Kessler returns to a crumbling nation. Virtually no rule of law, returning soldiers, and Reds marching in the streets.

6 Jan. 1919 — "Now Spartacus approaches in serried ranks. . . . A strong detachment of Government troops moves across Potsdamer Platz at the double. There is shouting all the time. Berlin has become a witches' cauldron wherein opposing forces and ideas are being brewed together. Today history is in the making and the issue is not only whether Germany shall continue to exist in the shape of the Reich or the democratic republic, but whether East or West, war or peace, an exhilarating vision of Utopia or the humdrum everyday world shall have the upper hand. Not since the great days of the French Revolution has humanity depended so much on the outcome of street-fighting in a single city."

Kessler's description of the violence of the Spartacus revolution in Berlin in 1919 reminds me of the Goncourt Brothers' view of the 1848 revolution in Paris. See Pages from the Goncourt Journals.

2. Interestingly, Kessler comes up with an idea for a worker-based League of Nations to counter President Wilson's abomination. In Kessler's League power would be ceded to a consortium of international labor groups. It strikes this reader as unfettered cumbaya. As if the Allies are going to give up any leverage over conquered Germany.

16 Feb. 1919 — "A mistake that leaps to the eye is that the plan has originated with states, political entities which are by nature rivals, rather than with those major economic and humanitarian interests and associations which inherently incline to inter-nationalism. Those are the bodies (international labour organizations, international trading and raw materials federations, major religious com-munities, the Zionists, international banking consortiums, and so on) which should be furnished with power and sanctions against these political entities and become invested with ever more legal independence of any individual states. A framework and set of rules for that purpose is what is needed, and not one which will, just the other way round, provide the ridiculous old elite of Great Powers with even more ascendancy than before."

Nevertheless, in post World War I Europe, Kessler's socialist ideas inexplicably get traction. He is, to be sure, preaching to the choir.

3. The hubbub surrounding German Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau's signing of the Treaty of Rapallo with his Soviet counterpart, Georgy Chicherin, is fascinating. This takes place during the Genoa Conference of 1922.

4. One of many ominous entries.
"30 October 1922 — Mussolini has been appointed Prime Minister by the King of Italy. This may turn out to be a black day for Italy and Europe."

5. Kessler's diplomatic back-channeling while in London during France's unilateral occupation of the German Ruhr is fascinating.

6. Now on page 231 where Kessler first mentions Hitler. The Beer Hall Putsch has passed with little notice. It’s 1925 and General Paul von Hindenburg has been named President of the Weimar Republic. The author will die in 1937; he saw only a portion of the Third Reich. (Lucky man.) For me though these will be the most interesting pages.

Stopped p. 286; need to finish.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

It follows the first volume, covering his life until the end of the war. The second volume picks up with the November, 1918, revolution. This diary is as indispensable as Klemperer's account of life in Nazi Germany before and during World War II. Kessler knew everyone worth knowing in the run-up from the First to the Second World War, and his diary revives long-forgotten crises of the early 1920s, as well as providing a spark for those interested in the emerging culture of the post-war period.

Two minor cavils: it would have been nice to have a better biography of Kessler as part of the introduction, and the decision to utilize end as opposed to footnotes means that the reader either spends a lot of time turning pages to identify those mentioned, or waits until the book is finished. I did the latter, which worked fine with some of the names/events (mainly cultural) and not so well with others (politicians of the Weimar Republic).

Highly recommend.

[Ben]

A favourite of Karl Lagerfeld:

https://frannyglass.substack.com/p/ka...

"The only influence that would rival Frederick the Great at Sanssouci would be the elegant German diplomat, Count Harry Kessler. Harry Kessler was a great observer, who through his published diaires (the entries of my copy are dated 1918-1937, but other editions go further) managed to capture with astonishing precision European society, its great minds and ideas, as well as the lethal ones. Lagerfeld expressed, "I have been a huge fan of Harry Kessler since my early youth because of my mother" and "If I identify with anyone, it would be Harry Kessler." William Middleton writes that “Kessler was intellectually rigorous, international, and urbane. Kessler never missed the opening of a major cultural event, whether it was the premiere of Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin or Brecht and Weill's Threepenny Opera. One week, at his apartment in Berlin, he had Albert Einstein over for dinner, followed, the next week, by Josephine Baker, who improvised a dance around his sculpture of a crouching nude woman by Aristide Maillo” (Middleton 21). It is said that Lagerfeld had a copy of Count Harry Kessler’s diaries on the nightstand of each of his homes.

Another favorite of Lagerfeld was La Princesse Palatine, whose collection of letters are drama-filled, self-deprecating (she self-describes as fat and ugly, and knew everything that happened at court), and simply great fun to read.

Lagerfeld once declared that he wanted to write her biography, not even to publish but just for himself. Lagerfeld also cites Goethe as an influence. His mother forced him to read all of Goethe (!!), and while Lagerfeld found some of it tedious (no kidding), Goethe's Elective Affinities was apparently Lagerfeld’s favorite German novel. He was also inspired by Goethe’s vast range of interests, from literature, to theater, philosophy, science, aesthetic criticism, and politics. According to Middleton “there was an expansiveness about Goethe's intellectual life, an ambition that inspired Karl from an early age” (Middleton 21)."

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume covers the end of WWI through Harry's death at the age of 69 in exile in France. I read the previous volume of diaries last fall, and couldn't wait to immerse myself in the life of this urbane, charming art-loving activist (well, I had to wait on the book from the library). He was a loyal friend to many, including Einstein and his wife, and by the years of this diary an avowed pacifist and anti-Hitler, Goering, Goebbels and the rest. He departed his beloved Germany in 1933 under threat from the newly risen Nazi party, and never saw his home again. He lost his house, his art collection, many friends, and his dream of a united and democratic German nation, and didn't live to see the horrors of Germany in WWII, although he predicted many of the outcomes years ahead. I learned a great deal of history from this book; I thought I was pretty familiar with the aftermath of WWI, but it turns out it was mainly from the side of the Western allies, and I had no idea of the degree of the German internal civil unrest and danger in the years following the Armistice. There were many close calls politically long before Hitler came to power.

Count Harry -- not sure we'll ever see his like again. I am going to miss him.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A vivid and fascinating insider's view of Europe hurtling towards WWII. It makes me cringe to read how close the feelings about Hitler were to what everyone felt about Trump before he was elected--that he was a buffoon, but useful to making a buck.
There are wonderful vignettes of Maillol, Grosz, Njinsky, Hofmannstahl, and so on. Kessler ran the Cranach press, which produced some of the most beautiful books ever made. His descriptions of working with Maillol on these volumes are fascinating.

[Timothy Roessler · Rating 4 out of 5]

An aesthete's direct experience of Weimar Germany and Europe, with vivid portraits of Josephine Baker, Einstein, and Maillol, among others. Urbane, sophisticated and ultimately tragic -- we all know the next chapter and how the story ended.

[William Hackman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Count Harry Kessler was one of that last generation of European aristocrats who were at home anywhere in Europe, part of the floating cosmopolitan "village" of nobles in the late Victorian and Edwardian ages. Born in France, schooled in England, he considered himself German, and fought in the German army in the early part of WW I. As well as being a connoisseur of the arts, and a writer and publisher in his own right (his Cranach Press is still renowned for the fine publications it issued), he was heavily involved in the diplomatic maneuverings of Germany during the 1920s. His diaries therefore are a fascinating insight into the "life and times" of Weimar Germany and the European world of that era.

The diaries have been heavily edited [Charles is no relation of Harry, by the way] for this English version "to exclude matter unlikely to be of interest to an international public," but still show Kessler to be an indefatigable traveller, acceptor and giver of dinner invitations, and general bon-vivant. He was on good terms with people as varied as Einstein, Cocteau, Gide, Hofmannsthal, Neitzsche and his sister, Gustav Streseman, and Rathenau (of whom he wrote a definitive biography). Josephine Baker danced naked for him, and Eric Gill and Paul Valery were involved in producing items for his Press.

As with most published diaries - especially if they cover a span of years - the diarist can be seen to change their views over time, as well as make bad calls and prescient judgements. Kessler was a socialist and democrat (although not a member of the SPD), and his diplomatic work was in the main to help Germany and Europe to a democratic and republican future. On several occasions during the diaries he vents his spleen at the Kaiser - in an entry on the tenth anniversary of the armistice he wrote "Every fresh publication [about the Kaiser] renders the portrait of this weakling, coward, ambitious brute and braggart, this nincompoop and swaggerer who plunged Germany into misfortune, yet more repulsive. Not a facet of him is capable of arousing pity or sympathy. He is utterly contemptible."

Scattered throughout are entries that presage the hell that was to come. As early as 1919 he writes "For my part I believe that youth tends simultaneously in both directions and towards two extremes, radicalism and reaction, internationalism and chauvinism, and that in the coming years the battle between these will be unprecedently fierce." A few days later he wrote " Perhaps one day traditional Prussian discipline and the new socialist one will coalesce to form a proletarian ruling caste which will assume the role of a Rome propagating new brands of civilization at the point of the sword."

He talks to many people about the causes of the war, and the War Guilt of Germany, and there are some interesting details in here of people delaying vital telegrams, which may have changed the progress of mobilization if they had have been delivered on time.

As for the Fascist movement and Hitler; he in the end became a victim, but was not necessarily a mortal enemy. When Mussolini came to power, he mused "Perhaps he will usher in a period of fresh European disorders and wars", but later on (1927) wrote "I had somewhat revised my notions about Mussolini and Fascism. There are elements in the Fascist state, like its corporative structure, which cannot be condemned out of hand.", although he does point out the myth that Il Duce made the trains run on time and the post to arrive was just that, a myth. As for Hitler, Kessler knew pretty much what the Nazis were about, and in fact was exiled to Paris after the Reichstag fire, because he was an outspoken defender of democracy, among other things.

While he may have been a socialist, Kessler could never rid himself of his finely honed views on manners and taste, writing "Compare Wirth with Lincoln, for example. 'He's a cad,' the British would say. And he has learned nothing on the way up (no 'breeding'). The result is that his innate crudeness lies naked to the eye. He is, in the deeper sense of the word, 'vulgar'." There are quite a few such asides in his diaries, about people both in politics and the arts.

There is so much more to be discovered in this wonderful book, gossip about Kings and Prime Ministers, wonderful pen-portraits of famous and infamous people, and a fly-on-the-wall view of the struggle to rehabilitate and democratize Germany. This particular edition is wonderfully illustrated, with reproductions of line drawings by or of the people he mentions in the text, such as Grosz, Klee, Cocteau, Edward Gordon Craig and Eric Gill.

This was a book I was going to dip into, I ended up reading it from cover to cover. The earlier diaires (1898-1918), have recently been published, and I will be hunting them out.

Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/

[Nicolai Levin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harry Kessler zählt zu den schillerndsten Figuren der vorigen Jahrhundertwende. Die Mutter aus der britischen Oberschicht, der Vater ein erfolgreicher Bankier, der im Kaiserreich geadelt wurde. Reich, gebildet, talentiert und mit besten Verbindungen versehen - weder mit Talent noch Neigung fürs Geschäft - macht sich Harry einen Namen als Kunstsammler und Mäzen. Einer Karriere im diplomatischen Dienst steht wohl seine Homosexualität entgegen, aber im Ersten Weltkrieg ist er inoffiziell unterwegs, um Friedensmöglichkeiten auszutarieren.

Ohne offizielles Amt verkehrt er mit den Spitzen von Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, berät und warnt, intrigiert und insistiert nach 1918 in der Weimarer Republik; hier setzt dieser Band der Tagebücher ein. Sie sind in erster Linie politisch zu lesen, wenig Privates, nichts Intimes ist darin. Der Mensch Kessler bleibt im Hintergrund, für Befindlichkeiten ist wenig Raum. In einem bemerkenswert gut lesbaren Stil gibt Kessler dafür Einblick in die Stimmung und Denkhaltung seiner Zeit. Kessler ist Mitglied der DDP, Sympathisant der Revolution, als "roter Graf" tituliert, er ist hautnah dabei beim Sturz der Monarchie, der Weimarer Nationalversammlung, den Beratungen von Genua (mit dem Vertrag von Rapallo).

Mancher dieser Einträge klingt als Entwurf einer Autobiografie, zugleich ist die Perspektive doch immer unmittelbar. Was geschichtlich wichtig werden würde, konnte der Schreiber nicht ermessen - für den heutigen Leser heißt das manchmal, Abstriche hinzunehmen. So berichtet Kessler en détail, wer mit wem wann redet, als er im Frühling 1923 in London versucht, Unterstützung der Briten gegen die französische Ruhrbesetzung zu erlangen - es wurde leider nichts daraus, und Kesslers exakte Rechenschaft für ein vermeintlich welthistorisches Ereignis zielt ins Leere. Danach ist leider bis Herbst 1924 eine Lücke in den Notizen (warum auch immer) - schade, denn so bleiben die Tage der Inflation und der Hitlerputsch gänzlich unerwähnt.

Die Zeit vor Hitlers Machtergreifung notiert er dichter; die aufgeheizte Stimmung, Papen, Schleicher und das Ende der Weimarer Republik. Spannend fand ich, dass er den Börsencrash von 1929 mit keinem Wort erwähnt. Wirtschaft scheint in der Tat nicht so sein Thema gewesen zu sein.

Lesenswert sind die beiläufigen Notizen, seine Einschätzungen von Personen (z.B. das wechselnde Urteil über Reichskanzler Wirth), aber auch von Gesellschaft und Sitten (z.B. wenn er notiert, wie wenige Männer im Theater noch Frack tragen). Quasi als Zeitzeuge (und veranlasst durch den Versailler Vertrag) widmet er sich der Frage der Schuld am Ersten Weltkrieg und bemüht sich, die Ereignisse des Juli 1914 nachzuvollziehen - ein Thema, dem sich viele Historiker anlässlich des 100. Jahrestags 2014 erneut gewidmet haben.