Cella, Or, the Survivors

by Franz Werfel, Otto Friedrich (Contributor), Joachim Neugroschel (Translator)

Freudreich's face presented a sight both dreadful and lofty. Within half an hour, it had been transformed from the well-kept mask of the bank magnate to the terrifyingly sincere countenance of the wandering Jew. It gazed at us with eyes that were a thousand years old: they knew the entire truth. The bloody lips did not yet seem to know this truth, for they kept murmuring as before, "It is a mistake. They did not mean mean."
They did not mean you, Freudreich! They did not mean me. Whom do they mean? Israel is not a nation, Israel is an order of the blood, which one enters by birth, involuntarily... The people of 1938 are not exempted from the payment day of the people who lived under Nebuchadnezzar, Nero, or Torquemada. Sometimes this destiny lurks for decades, in a leisurely fashion, so that the victim can grow nice and fat from his particular debt and stretch of pleasurably in the delusion of ownership and oblivion, a mirage that is permitted other mortals. But then an hour leaps up, and the ancient oath suddenly falls due.

244 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Czech-born poet, playwright, and novelist, whose central themes were religious faith, heroism, and human brotherhood. Franz Werfel's best-known works include The Forty Days of Musa Dagh (1933), a classic historical novel that portrays Armenian resistance to the Turks, and The Song of Bernadette (1941). The latter book had its start when Werfel, a Jew escaping the Nazis, found solace in the pilgrimage town of Lourdes, where St. Bernadette had had visions of the Virgin. Werfel made a promise to "sing the song" of the saint if he ever reached the United States. He died in California in 1945.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding glimpse into the self deception of the Jewish people in Austria as the German threat became reality. It chronicles the days leading up to the 'dragon' taking control and the subsequent 'deportation'. Many great quotes....many events should have been signs that it was time to get the heck outta there. Yet many stayed despite logic and reason. "This far and no further" was the hope of those that stayed and it was just an illusion. Loved this book, and I wished it continued.

[Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is of utmost importance as a document of its time, being overtaken by the events and thus lacking the second book which Werfel planned. Shame I had to read this in such a rush.

[Laurent Szklarz]

Tres bon livre qui de plus nous donne une perspective intéressante (peu ou pas relatée) du sentiment en Autriche avant et pendant l 'anschluss .

[Leslie Reiber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Austria in 1939 ... grim

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and a deep view into the life and minds of the times. It is a shame he never finished this book. It's a view from a different kind of person than most Nazi survivor stories, an intellectual, a WWI patriot who organizes veterans to fight for Austria, with unexpected friends in high places. More than anything, Werfel captures the essence of the Austrian character - the snobbery, the deep reliance on one's station, the complex social interchanges. Reading this one realizes why he was a world-wide best selling author in his time.