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sense_of_history's review against another edition
Interesting and impressive take on the last days of the Second World War in Europe, but from a methodological point of view very questionable. See my review in my general account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3796134890
marc129's review against another edition
2.0
Obviously, this collection of voices from the last days of the Second World War in Europe is quite impressive. Kempowski really did his best to go very broad and to illuminate the last days of the war from very different angles. Political and military protagonists (Churchill, Nazi chiefs, Mussolini) as well as ordinary soldiers and people have their say, Germans, English, French, Russians, and so on. And they are all personal testimonials, which increases the emotional involvement.
Does this yield new insights? No, of course not, certainly not if you have already read a lot about this time period or have seen documentaries about it. It once again makes you realize that war has an enormous impact on a human life, and also that even in hopeless circumstances people persistently hold on to past convictions. In that sense, this book does not add much.
I also had a hard time with this publication for other reasons. And that is that the different voices are placed next to each other, without much explanation. In many cases this is indeed not necessary: the protagonists are well-known, and additions such as SS officer or French prisoner of war are often sufficient. But in some cases, the lack of additional information is problematic. I'll only give two. The Belgian fascist leader, and also SS officer, Leon Degrelle, speaks about his heroic flight to Spain, while it has been widely proven that Degrelle was a stubborn liar and his story was absolutely wrong. A German writer like Gerhart Hauptmann also passes by, without the reader knowing that his relationship with the Nazis was at least dubious. These are missed opportunities to interpret the testimonials.
But the problem with this collection is more fundamental: no fragment is precisely situated in time (I mean the time it is written and published), so crucial questions cannot be answered. Does the text really date from that period itself, or was it written much later, with all the risk of adaptation and distortion? Even so-called diary excerpts may have been rewritten on their release, according to a truth that was more appropriate at the time. And some of the testimonials very clearly were written 20-30 years later, which makes them totally problematic. In that sense, the value of this book is very relative.
Does this yield new insights? No, of course not, certainly not if you have already read a lot about this time period or have seen documentaries about it. It once again makes you realize that war has an enormous impact on a human life, and also that even in hopeless circumstances people persistently hold on to past convictions. In that sense, this book does not add much.
I also had a hard time with this publication for other reasons. And that is that the different voices are placed next to each other, without much explanation. In many cases this is indeed not necessary: the protagonists are well-known, and additions such as SS officer or French prisoner of war are often sufficient. But in some cases, the lack of additional information is problematic. I'll only give two. The Belgian fascist leader, and also SS officer, Leon Degrelle, speaks about his heroic flight to Spain, while it has been widely proven that Degrelle was a stubborn liar and his story was absolutely wrong. A German writer like Gerhart Hauptmann also passes by, without the reader knowing that his relationship with the Nazis was at least dubious. These are missed opportunities to interpret the testimonials.
But the problem with this collection is more fundamental: no fragment is precisely situated in time (I mean the time it is written and published), so crucial questions cannot be answered. Does the text really date from that period itself, or was it written much later, with all the risk of adaptation and distortion? Even so-called diary excerpts may have been rewritten on their release, according to a truth that was more appropriate at the time. And some of the testimonials very clearly were written 20-30 years later, which makes them totally problematic. In that sense, the value of this book is very relative.
silvermadeleine's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
This is the final volume of Walter Kempowski's ten-part nonfiction series on the Third Reich. It's a collage of voices, mainly German but also including Allied soldiers, Eastern European forced labourers, etc. This volume focuses just on the days between Hitler's birthday and Germany's surrender. I loved being able to read first-hand accounts from so many different people about the same set of events. Depressing, nonetheless.
reinhardt's review against another edition
5.0
A selection of letters, diaries, and other notes. From top-level politicians and generals to lowly privates and civilians. All levels, all sides. A good way to understand the sentiment on both sides at the end of WWII.
Could have used occasional intros to provide context. Even one sentence would help to put things in a bit of context, but I think they didn't want to slant the direct nature of the entries.
I don't suggest for nighttime reading as some of the entries contain some disturbing realities. As you can imagine, some horrible things happened.
Could have used occasional intros to provide context. Even one sentence would help to put things in a bit of context, but I think they didn't want to slant the direct nature of the entries.
I don't suggest for nighttime reading as some of the entries contain some disturbing realities. As you can imagine, some horrible things happened.
amandawoodruff's review against another edition
5.0
The tenth volume in what is considered a modern German classic, Swansong 1945 is the only volume to be published in English. This volume covers four dates during the last two months of the war: Hitler's birthday, the meeting of the Americans and Russians at the Elbe river, Hitler's suicide, and the German surrender. It is a stunning piece of work and an absolutely fascinating read of first-hand accounts of WWII. Kempowski has done the world a favor with his tireless compilation of these documents.
hellohannahw's review
4.0
Obviously this book took me like two months to read so it appears that I must have found it boring in some way. In actual fact I really enjoyed this book. It provided such an in depth look at a tiny window of history. I did, however, find it difficult to have long sessions reading the book because without a narrative through-line or whatever it could get quite heavy and repetitive. The book also contained some disturbing topics (rape, death etc.) which wasn't the happiest to read about. Part of me wants to suggest that there should have been some sort of commentary so the book felt more consistent but I think that would have ruined the fact that this book had no biases, no commentary and no conclusions. Overall I enjoyed the book and it very much extended my knowledge of the period but I am also very glad to be able to read something else now.
apattonbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This is a great book, at first I did not like the narrative style but it grows to come at you in waves of horror and sorrow. It gives a first hand account of the last days of the Nazis, of the weak and the devastation that Hitler brought to his people and the massive body count in World War II.
I wish the others in the series were available in English.
I wish the others in the series were available in English.