Klemperer: testimony on the rise of Nazism (1933-1938)
- Ariane Bilheran
- Dec 17, 2023
- 9 min read
La Lucarne by Ariane Bilheran, in Antipresse 420 - December 17, 2023.
Victor Klemperer's study of the rhetoric of Nazism is a text of universal scope that allows us to understand the inner logic of all totalitarian phenomena. Ariane Bilheran undertakes here a detailed portrait of this great witness of the 20th century.
It was bound to happen to me: I ended up catching dengue fever. And during several days of intense fever, with retro-ocular headaches and other joys that this disease brings, I, during my moments of lucidity, read the entirety of Victor Klemperer's diary between 1933 and 1945, more than 1,800 pages. Despite everything we are told about history, nothing replaces the unique and exceptional testimony of people who lived through a given era. This does not make their testimony a "truth in itself", which in any case is complicated to grasp, especially in troubled times, but it allows us to understand a little better the rise of events and chaos.
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