To the Bitter End

Flaptekst

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, in 1933, a professor in Dresden. Over the next decade he, in common with other German Jews, lost his job, his house and many of his friends. This second volume of diaries begins in January 1942, a month which sees the first deportation of Jews from Dresden. Shocking and moving by turns, Klemperer’s diary is a remarkable and important document.

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‘It is a fascinating record which deserves to stand beside the diary of Anne Frank as a day-to-day description of the sufferings of the victims of Hitler’s evil regime.’ - Hyam Maccoby, Evening Standard

‘Klemperer was a shrewd judge of human nature and unsparing of his own. As a diarist he is in the Pepys class ... He is, quite simply, the German of record.’ - Norman Lebrecht, Spectator

‘These diaries constitute one of the most vital historical and human documents of their age. Packed with vivid observation, profound reflection and an endearing, almost Pooterish pedantry, they find hope, dignity and even tart humour in the jaws of heil’ - Boyd Tonkin, Independent