I Shall Bear Witness cover art

I Shall Bear Witness

The Diaries of Victor Klemperer 1933-41

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I Shall Bear Witness

By: Victor Klemperer
Narrated by: Roger Davis
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About this listen

A publishing sensation, the publication of Victor Klemperer's diaries brings to light one of the most extraordinary documents of the Nazi period.

The son of a rabbi, Klemperer was by 1933 a professor of languages at Dresden. Over the next decade he, like other German Jews, lost his job, his house and many of his friends.

Klemperer remained loyal to his country, determined not to emigrate and convinced that each successive Nazi act against the Jews must be the last. Saved for much of the war from the Holocaust by his marriage to a gentile, he was able to escape in the aftermath of the Allied bombing of Dresden and survived the remaining months of the war in hiding. Throughout, Klemperer kept a diary. Shocking and moving by turns, it is a remarkable and important account.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2013 Victor Klemperer (P)2021 Weidenfeld & Nicolson 20th Century Diaries & Journals Memoirs, Diaries & Correspondence Military Modern War Holocaust

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Critic reviews

"A classic...Klemperer's diary deserves to rank alongside that of Anne Frank's." (Sunday Times)

"I can't remember when I read a more engrossing book." (Antonia Fraser)

"Not dissimilar in its cumulative power to Primo Levi's, is a devastating account of man's inhumanity to man." (Literary Review)
All stars
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The power of a diary is you witness the gradual transformation of society under Nazism. The everyday trivial concerns - car braking down, feeding the cats, DIY - gives way to the more sinister as every basic human right is eroded. I listened to this for two reasons: One, the late satirist Lord Biro carried a copy of the diaries around with him, and I wanted to know why. Two, with everything going on in the world today, I wanted to switch off the radio and see if history is repeating itself. It feels as if it is in terms of authoritarian regimes, their application of gospel narratives to leaders, and collectivism - which invariably creates them v us. I feel I know so much more about this period of history now as you can only really empathise when put in someone else's shoes; More so as I am English, and this gives a German perspective. I did find the performance a bit robotic, but the witness literature is so powerful it quickly faded.

Cats, cars, and genocide.

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The diaries of Victor Klemperer are absolutely engrossing. Trivial day to day entries overshadowed and then overwhelmed by the tightening grip of the Nazis. The struggle to stay sane as everything is taken away from him and his wife Eva. Slowly their friends and colleagues emigrate leaving them isolated. The dawning realisation that things can and will get worse. However, the dark is interspersed, especially at the beginning, by lighter moments. The treachery of some is lightened by the kindness and generosity of others and their bravery.

Not to be missed.

Excellent

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Klemperer's writing is superb. I was so excited about the possibility of listening to this title on audible, I had the release date marked on my calender. I have such dense reading lists for research, that it is always fabulous to be able to revisit an important work that I can listen to during the course of the day. I have read Klemperer's diaries and his masterful examination of the wholesale distortion of language under the Third Reich, Lingua Tertii Imperii, his observations are so astute, his commentary so insightful. I am loathe to be critical, but I have to say that I was absolutely devastated by the choice of narrator. Such a staccato, nasal performance, where every syllable is over stressed. It sadly must be added to the growing list of books I have bought from audible but cannot listen to. Christian Rodska would have been the perfect narrator for this work. I can only hope that if Audible plans to release the other volumes of Klemperer's, they listen to customer feedback before choosing their narrator.

Klemperer's Genius

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Fascinating detail of a life before and during the Third Reich. You can't help feeling what it was like.

Detailed life of the every day and under terror

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An important book and genuinely frightening, an honest and nuanced account superbly narrated. Deserves to be regarded as a classic.

Classic and always timely

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Wish the rest of his dairies 1918=32 and his autobiography Curriculum Vitae was available in English as the rest of his dairies are so good.

Wish the rest of his dairies 1918-32

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Gave up didn’t finish, author often goes off track and seems to like the sound of his own voice.

Waffles on

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What should have been a worthwhile and educational experience was ruined by the narration - I actually thought during the first hour it was an AI bot narrating. An absolute shame.

awful narration

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