Una juventud en Alemania

by Ernst Toller, Pablo Sorozábal (Translator)

Una juventud en Alemania es un testimonio excepcional del estallido de la Primera Guerra Mundial y su furor, del estancamiento y el hastío de las trincheras y de la voltereta política que llevó en los últimos meses de la Gran Guerra a la caída de un Imperio y al nacimiento de una República. Tiene este libro la virtud de tener un protagonista en el epicentro de unos acontecimientos históricos, como la Revolución de Noviembre o la instauración de la República de Consejos de Baviera, que son de una enorme importancia dentro de la historia de la Alemania pero que, sin embargo, han quedado sepultados por todo lo que después trajo el nazismo consigo.
Pero también es testimonio de la mirada inquieta de un niño frente a los prejuicios que le rodean. En este texto se encuentran preguntas, respuestas e infinidad de incoherencias que el propio autor se esfuerza en remarcar. Toller, revolucionario desde la infancia, salta en este libro de una duda a otra, se deja arrastrar, se pone en cuestión, se opone, y al final, quizá, logra ponerse en pie.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Germany, German Literature, Biography, Autobiography, Memoir

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1933

About the author

Ernst Toller (1 December 1893 – 22 May 1939) was a left-wing German playwright, best known for his Expressionist plays and serving as President of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, for six days.
Ernst Toller was born in Samotschin, Province of Posen, Prussia in 1893 into a Jewish family. At the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered for military duty, spent thirteen months on the Western Front, and suffered a complete physical and psychological collapse. His first drama, Transformation (Die Wandlung), was to be inspired by his wartime experiences.
Toller was involved in the 1919 Bavarian Soviet Republic, along with other leading anarchists – such as B. Traven and Gustav Landauer – and communists. Toller served as President from April 6 to April 12. It has been said that as a playwright, he was not very good at dealing with politics, and his government did little to restore order in Munich. His government members were also not always well-chosen. For instance, the Foreign Affairs Deputy Dr. Franz Lipp (who had been admitted several times to psychiatric hospitals), declared war on Switzerland over the Swiss refusal to lend 60 locomotives to the Soviet Republic. He also informed Vladimir Lenin via cable that the ousted former Minister-President Hoffmann had fled to Bamberg and taken the key to the ministry toilet with him. On Palm Sunday, April 1919, the Communist Party seized power, with Eugen Leviné as their leader. The republic was short-lived and was defeated by right-wing forces. Toller was imprisoned for his part in the revolution.
While imprisoned, he completed work on Transformation, which premiered in Berlin under the direction of Karlheinz Martin in September 1919. At the time of Transformation's hundredth performance, the Bavarian government offered Toller a pardon, which the writer refused out of solidarity with other political prisoners. Toller would go on to write some of his most celebrated works in prison, including the dramas Masses Man (Masse Mensch), The Machine Breakers (Die Maschinenstürmer), Hinkemann, the German (Der deutsche Hinkemann), and many poems.
It would not be until after his release from prison in July 1925 that he would finally see a performance of one of his plays. In 1925, the most famous of his later dramas, Hoppla, We're Alive! (Hoppla, wir Leben!) directed by Erwin Piscator, premiered in Berlin. It tells the story of a revolutionary who is discharged from a mental hospital after eight years to discover that his once-revolutionary comrades have grown complacent and hopelessly compromised within the system they once opposed. In despair, he kills himself.
In 1933, after the Nazi rise to power, he was exiled from Germany. His citizenship was nullified by the Nazi government later that year. He traveled to London and participated as co-director in the Manchester production of his play Rake Out the Fires (Feuer aus den Kesseln) in 1935.
He went on a lecture tour of the United States and Canada in 1936 and 1937, before settling in California, where he worked on screenplays which remained unproduced. Toller moved to New York City in 1936, where he lived with a group of artists and writers in exile, including Klaus Mann, Erika Mann and Therese Giehse.
Suffering from deep depression (his sister and brother had been arrested and sent to concentration camps) and financial woes (he had given all his money to Spanish Civil War refugees), Toller committed suicide by hanging in his hotel room at the Mayflower Hotel on May 22, 1939.
The English author Robert Payne who knew Toller in Spain and in Paris writes at the end of the entry for May 23rd, 1942 in his Chungking diaries, "Forever China," that almost Toller's last words to him were: "If ever you read that I committed suicide, I beg you not to believe it." Payne continues: "He hanged himself with the silk cord of his nightgown in a hotel in New York two years ago. This is what the newspapers said at the time, but I continue to bel

Reviews

[Το Άθχημο γατί του θενιόρ Γκουαναμίρου · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ανάμεσα στο τέλος του πρώτου Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου και στη Δημοκρατία της Βαϊμάρης, συνέβησαν τα γεγονότα που διηγείται ο Toller, στο μεγαλύτερο μέρος αυτού το βιβλίου. Σύγχυση, εμφύλιες συγκρούσεις, επαναστάσεις και εξεγέρσεις και κόντρα επαναστάσεις και κόντρα εξεγέρσεις, η τυπική αποδιοργάνωση που ακολουθεί την μοίρα των ηττημένων, σε έναν τόπο όπου δεν μοιάζει να έχει ενιαία εθνική ταυτότητα αλλά επιθυμεί διακαώς να αποκτήσει μία, έστω και σε τιμή ευκαιρίας.

Το βιβλίο αυτό είναι καλύτερα να διαβαστεί μετά το επίμετρο στην σελ. 429, αλλιώς ο αναγνώστης κινδυνεύει να χαθεί μέσα στην χαοτική γραφή του συγγραφέα, που εξιστορεί τα πάντα χωρίς να δίνει επεξηγήσεις και σαφή χρονικά - ιστορικά πλαίσια, αν και ακόμα και έτσι δεν χάνει το παραμικρό από τη δύναμη και την ένταση της γραφής του. Καλό θα ήταν κάποιος να έχει μια ιδέα για τη Γερμανική Επανάσταση του 1918 -19 (βλέπε και Νοεμβριανή Επανάσταση) πριν διαβάσει αυτό το συγκεκριμένο. Βασικά θα ήταν απαραίτητο να έχει κάτι περισσότερο από μια απλή ιδέα, για να μπει στο φορτισμένο κλίμα που αναδεικνύεται μέσα από την αποσπασματικότητα του κειμένου.

Δεν έχω βρει ακόμα κάποιο άλλο λογοτεχνικό έργο που να μιλάει για τα γεγονότα εκείνης της εποχής. Μου άφησε μια βαριά αίσθηση πίκρας κι ένα αίσθημα κενού. Άφησε πίσω του ο Toller ένα τεκμήριο μιας εποχής. Μιας εποχής της οποίας ο αντίκτυπος φωτίζει ξεκάθαρα τις αιτίες που οδήγησαν λίγα χρόνια αργότερα στην άνοδο του Χίτλερ. Και για πολλά άλλα πράγματα τις συνέπειες των οποίων φοβάμαι πως δεν έχουμε δει ακόμα.

“Όμως κανένας λαός δεν είναι αληθινά ελεύθερος χωρίς την ελευθερία των γειτόνων του. Οι πολιτικοί ψεύδονται στους εαυτούς τους και στους πολίτες, ονομάζουν τα συμφέροντά τους ιδανικά, για αυτά τα ιδανικά, για χρυσό, για εδάφη, για μετάλλευμα, για πετρέλαιο, για εξολοκλήρου νεκρά πράγματα, οι άνθρωποι πεθαίνουν, πεινούν, απελπίζονται. Παντού.”

Όπως και να έχει, αφού οι πεθαμένοι δεν μπορούν να σηκωθούν από τους τάφους τους, καλό είναι που σώζονται οι αλήθειες τους μέσα από τα βιβλία κι όλα εκείνα τα έργα που είναι τα μόνα που μπορούν να λειτουργήσουν ως αναχώματα κόντρα στον ορμητικό χείμαρρο της ανθρώπινης ασυνεννοησίας.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be honest, one has to know. To be brave, one has to understand. To be just, one must not forget. When the yoke of barbarism is pressing, one must fight and not be silent. Whoever is silent in times like these betrays their human mission.

Ernst Toller (1893-1939) was a German, a Jew, a student, a soldier in the first World War, a socialist, a revolutionary pacifist, a political prisoner, and a playwright — roughly in that order. About all of the roles he played you will learn something from his autobiography (published in 1933, and dated “the day of the burning of my books in Germany”). He commited suicide in 1939 at the age of 45.

I feel immensely glad I discovered this book and this man. I guess there are mainly two reasons why it works so well: Toller was obviously a gifted writer and, as a playwright, managed to deliver very engaging dialogs, sparse, stripped down to bare necessities, partly written in Bavarian dialect, which put the reader right into the center of things while leaving enough subtext for you to ponder. The second reason is that the text is written in the present tense, which seems quite unusual for an autobiography but helps in reading this book almost like a novel. The only criticism on my part would be that it is too short (when can one say that about a book). I would have liked more chapters and sometimes more detail. Here is material for a novel that is at least twice as long. There is a play about him (not by him) simply called Toller and that’s what I’m going to read fairly soon.

Coincidentally, both his last name and his first name are standard words in German. One can translate Toller Ernst to “terrific earnestness” and by doing so you would be spot on in describing his work.

Here are some random quotes (of many) to wet your appetite. I translated them from the German original (the German e-book is free, or you can read it online ).

(from the childhood chapter)

When I lie in bed in the morning and look at the many pictures of the emporer, I ask myself: Does an emperor go to the bathroom? The question keeps me busy and I run to mother. “You’ll go to jail,” Mother says. So he does not go to the bathroom.

(being a somewhat wealthy foreign student in France right before WWI)

Yes, I love the money, with a bad conscience. The day is disgusting for me, the world is disgusting for me, the values that I considered yesterday eternal and immovable have become questionable, I myself am questionable.

(before he volunteered for military duty)

We live in an emotional frenzy. The words Germany, Fatherland, War have magical power and when we pronounce them they don’t evaporate, they float in the air, revolve around themselves, ignite themselves and us.

(from the intense “Front” chapter)

One night we hear screams, as if a person suffers terrible pain, then it is quiet. “There’s someone shot to death,” we think. After an hour, the scream comes back. Now it doesn’t stop anymore. Not this night. Not the next night. Naked and wordless, the scream whimpers, we don’t know, if it comes from the throat of a German or a Frenchman. The scream lives by itself, it accuses the earth and the sky.

(after being diagnosed unsuitable for war)

But I cannot forget [the war]. Four weeks, six weeks, I succeed, but suddenly it has attacked me again, I meet it everywhere, in front of the altar of Matthias Grünewald, through its pictures I see the witches cauldron in the Bois-le-Prêtre, the comrades shot to pieces and tattered, cripples meet me on my way, black veiled grief-stricken women.

(from the “Strike” chapter)

No people is truly free without the freedom of their neighbors. The politicians lie to themselves and they lie to the citizens, they call their interests ideals, for these ideals, for gold, for land, for ore, for oil, for all the dead things, peoply die, starve, and despair. All over. The question of guilt of war fades before the guilt of capitalism.

(from the “Nuthouse” chapter)

A young man, on whose short, thin neck, instead of a head, a swollen pumpkin swings back and forth, gets up from his bed, shuffles to me with dangling steps, stops, bows solemnly three times, turns and goes back to his bed and repeats the ceremony every fifteen minutes. After two days I move to the hall of the melancholic.

(during the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic)

Nothing puts more guilt on the political actor than concealment, he must tell the truth, no matter how onerous, only the truth increases strength, will, and reason.

(from the wanted poster)

Toller is of slight stature, he is about 1.65-1.68 m tall, has a thin, pale face, no beard, has big brown eyes, shrewd eyes, is closing his eyes when thinking, has dark, almost black wavy hair, speaks written German. His capture or information leading to his capture are subject to a reward of ten thousand marks.

(after arrest)

We walk through the empty, dark morning streets, three soldiers marching ahead, two commissars hold me by the irons on my wrists, three soldiers follow with rifles ready to fire. In the Luitpoldstreet the clock strikes five, an old woman scurrying to the morning Mass, she turns around at the church door and sees me. “Do you have him?” she yells, lowering her eyes to the floor, slipping the rosary through her fingers in prayer, then, at the open door of the church, her crumpled mouth screeches, “Strike him dead!”

(while in prison)

If perpetrators and non-sinners sensibly understand what they are doing and what they are refraining from doing, man would not be man’s worst enemy. The most important task of future schools is to develop the human imagination in the child, their empathy, to fight and overcome the inertia of the heart.

(résumés)

Pride and love are not the same, and if someone would ask me where I belong, I would answer: ‘A Jewish mother gave me birth, Germany nourished me, Europe educated me, my home is the earth, the world is my fatherland.’

They put the people off from day to day, from month to month, from year to year, until, weary of the consolations, it sought solace in desolation. The barbarism triumphs, nationalism and racial hatred and state deification blind the eyes, the senses, and the hearts. Many have warned, warned for years. That our voices are dying is our fault, our greatest guilt.

Anyone who wants to understand the collapse of 1933 must know the events of 1918 and 1919 in Germany, of which I tell here.

Ernst Toller while imprisoned in the Niederschönenfeld fortress (early 1920s)
Credit: National Library of Israel, Schwadron collection



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es ist ein resignierter erfahrungsgeschwängerter Blick zurück auf sein revolutionäres Leben. Stakkatoartig und ganz aus seinem Blickwinkel schildert er die prägenden Erlebnisse im Ersten Weltkrieg, der Räterepublik und seiner Haft. Pfiffig kommentiert er auch das Zeitgeschehen: Als Hitler 1923 im Münchner Bürgerbräukeller die Bayerische Regierung für abgesetzt erklärt, resümiert Toller lapidar: „Im Bierkeller war die Begeisterung groß.“ (S. 233)

[Halber Kapitel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eindrucksvolles, sprachlich und gedanklich starkes Zeitdokument. Ein gescheiterter Revolutionär, der nicht resignieren will - ideologisch bisweilen naiv, doch ein entschiedener Anwalt der Menschlichkeit.

[Vittorio Ducoli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tutti dovremmo leggerlo (se ci fosse permesso)

Ci sono libri che a mio avviso dovrebbero essere letti da tutti, perché ci aiutano a capire il passato e – attraverso di esso – a interpretare il presente in cui viviamo. Uno di questi libri è sicuramente Una giovinezza in Germania di Ernst Toller, che ha rappresentato per me una vera scoperta.
Ci sono libri che dovrebbero essere letti da tutti, ma che di fatto ci viene quasi impedito leggere. Una giovinezza in Germania, una delle poche opere di Toller tradotte in italiano, è stato edito da Einaudi l’ultima volta nel 1982, e da allora non è più stato ristampato. Oggi è “momentaneamente non disponibile”in libreria e per reperirlo, come per poter leggere i pochi altri testi dell’autore editi in tempi storici, è necessario scavare nelle profondità dei siti web dedicati al mercato dell’usato, mettendo in conto di spendere cifre alle volte non indifferenti.
Se spesso mi sono lamentato della deriva commerciale e della funzione obnubilatrice delle menti che ormai caratterizza la grande (?) editoria italiana, ritengo di poter dire che la mancata edizione di un autore come Toller sia da considerarsi un vero e proprio scandalo culturale. Toller infatti non è un autore minore, ma è stato uno dei massimi rappresentanti dell’espressionismo tedesco degli anni ‘20, oltre che un protagonista politico della convulsa fase della storia tedesca, ed in particolare bavarese, che andò dalla fine della prima guerra mondiale alla sconfitta dell’effimera Repubblica dei Consigli nella primavera del 1919. Fu amico tra gli altri di Thomas Mann e di Rainer Maria Rilke, e sue opere teatrali - tra le quali le più celebri sono Uomo massa, Hinkemann il mutilato e I distruttori di macchine - in gran parte scritte in carcere durante i cinque anni di prigionia che la Repubblica di Weimar gli comminò in quanto capo militare della Repubblica dei Consigli, sono unanimemente considerate dei capolavori del teatro politico novecentesco. Uscito dal carcere nel 1924, si trovò ben presto nella necessità di emigrare a fronte dell’ascesa del nazismo: visse dapprima in Gran Bretagna e quindi negli Stati Uniti, dove si suicidò, quarantaseienne, nel 1939.
Una vita drammatica, quindi, vissuta da protagonista in un periodo storico le cui tragedie sono state il preludio di altre tragedie, in un periodo che ha determinato la Storia del ‘900 in Europa e le cui vicende hanno plasmato in larghissima parte l’assetto sociale e politico in cui oggi viviamo. Una vita ed un’opera delle quali oggi in Italia è difficile conoscere qualcosa.
Una giovinezza in Germania, scritta nel 1933, nel giorno del rogo dei miei libri in Germania, come ci dice l’autore nel meraviglioso, struggente capitolo iniziale, è l’autobiografia dell’autore, dall’infanzia in un piccolo villaggio della Prussia Occidentale (oggi Polonia) sino a quando, trentenne, ha termine la sua carcerazione. E’ un testo splendido, sia per la lucidità e la mancanza di ogni indulgenza con la quale Toller analizza gli avvenimenti della sua vita nel contesto storico in cui si svolgono, sia dal punto di vista letterario, per lo stile asciutto, incalzante, fatto di frasi brevi e di un ritmo che diviene quasi sincopato nei capitoli dedicati alla guerra e alla rivoluzione, per essere invece più pacato e disteso in altri passi, soprattutto quelli riguardanti la sua infanzia e giovinezza prebellica.
Toller è figlio della buona borghesia ebraica tedesca, e nel capitolo dedicato alla sua infanzia ed adolescenza in poche pagine, narrandoci alcuni episodi riguardanti soprattutto il suo rapporto con Stanislao, un suo amico polacco e cattolico figlio di un guardiano notturno, ci introduce nel cuore delle divisioni che caratterizzavano la Prussia guglielmina. Divisioni di classe, con i tedeschi che costituiscono il vertice e i polacchi - a cui le terre sono state confiscate – la base operaia e contadina della scala sociale, che vengono sancite come divisioni culturali, etniche e religiose. Il piccolo Toller, orgoglioso di essere tedesco e passivo – anche se a volte dubbioso – recettore della retorica militarista, conosce in quell’ambiente anche i primi germi di uno strisciante antisemitismo.
Segue un altro capitolo che ci narra della vita di Toller studente universitario a Grenoble, dei suoi amori, dei suoi vizi, delle sue prime opere poetiche e del suo contraddittorio rapporto con la società francese, culla di cultura ma nello stesso tempo nemico ereditario della Germania. Il giovane Toller è ancora impregnato di spirito nazionalista, e quando nel 1914 scoppia la guerra non esita a tornare in tutta fretta e a partire volontario per difendere la patria in pericolo.
E’ qui che il libro entra nel vivo e si trasforma da un quasi leggero racconto autobiografico della vita di un bravo ragazzo della buona borghesia nella vivida descrizione di una tragedia collettiva. Toller è mandato al fronte in Alsazia, e presto si accorge di quanto lontana sia la realtà della guerra dalla retorica che la alimenta: matura sentimenti pacifisti, non sorretti però da una coscienza politica circa la vera essenza della guerra come strumento del dominio capitalista: questa coscienza la maturerà solo verso la fine del conflitto, durante un breve periodo di carcerazione. Toller in queste pagine dedicate al suo conflitto mondiale è in grado di descriverci l’orrore delle trincee con ruvide e brutali pennellate: il cranio spaccato di un soldato in una chiesa, il colore del viso dei morti, non dissimile da quello dei vivi, il sollievo provato quando cessano le grida di un moribondo impigliato nel filo spinato.
Dichiarato inabile alla guerra a causa di una malattia, completa gli studi a Monaco e partecipa all’inizio del 1918 alle prime avvisaglie della ribellione popolare contro la guerra, contribuendo alla fondazione della Lega culturale-politica della gioventù di Germania, che incita (con scarso successo) gli intellettuali tedeschi a schierarsi per la pace. Viene imprigionato e – come detto – in carcere maturerà la sua adesione al socialismo rivoluzionario. Il suo sarà però un socialismo intriso di umanitarismo, nel quale la necessità di agire, di utilizzare la violenza come strumento per la rivoluzione sociale, sarà sempre vissuta come una contraddizione, sia pur a volte necessaria, rispetto agli ideali di fratellanza e solidarietà che il socialismo predica. Questa contraddizione sarà il tema portante di alcune delle sue più importanti opere teatrali, ed emerge anche in questa sua biografia, sia nelle pagine dedicate alla vicenda rivoluzionaria bavarese sia nelle riflessioni che svolge durante gli anni di carcerazione.
Gli avvenimenti si susseguono sempre più incalzanti, e ai primi scioperi spontanei determinati dalla fame crescente seguono il crollo della monarchia guglielmina, la formazione di un governo borghese a Berlino, la rivolta spartachista, gli assassinii politici di Karl Liebknecht, di Rosa Luxemburg e di Kurt Eisner e la rivoluzione a Monaco. Quest’ultima – e il suo rapido fallimento – è analizzata da Toller (che come detto ne fu uno dei protagonisti) senza alcuna indulgenza, soprattutto nel senso che l’autore individua da subito nelle divisioni dei partiti e dei gruppi di cui il movimento rivoluzionario era composto ed anche nell’impreparazione politica delle masse operaie e contadine i germi che avrebbero in breve portato alla disfatta. Il tradimento dei socialisti di destra, che si fanno da subito quinta colonna della reazione del Reich berlinese, gli opportunismi, almeno nella prima fase, del Partito Comunista, il pressapochismo della dirigenza rivoluzionaria vanno di pari passo con il fatto che le masse – cui il potere è stato di fatto consegnato da un sistema che si è autodissolto - sapevano ciò che non volevano ma non sapevano ciò che volevano. Non è difficile quindi, nonostante gli atti di eroismo delle guardie rosse, al Reich di Berlino soffocare nel sangue la Repubblica dei Consigli e avviare una durissima repressione, con l’eliminazione fisica dei capi rivoluzionari e di chiunque fosse solo sospettato di avere appoggiato la rivoluzione. In breve tempo l’ordine borghese torna a regnare su Monaco, e i quartieri operai della città rientrano in una muta disperazione.
A Toller, arrestato dopo rocamboleschi travestimenti e nascondigli, viene riservata una condanna tutto sommato mite, in ragione della sua notorietà come intellettuale e della solidarietà anche internazionale che il suo caso suscita.
Durante la repressione appaiono per la prima volta milizie paramilitari, organizzate da formazioni di estrema destra con i finanziamenti di agrari ed industriali e tollerate dal governo di Berlino: Toller non manca di far notare come in breve queste formazioni si sarebbero assunte il compito di eliminare chi ora le considerava necessarie. In una pagina vengono anche descritte le prime azioni di Adolf Hitler e del nascente nazionalsocialismo.
Il libro si chiude con il capitolo che descrive i cinque anni di prigionia di Toller, e qui, oltre all'efferatezza della repressione portata avanti dai bianchi colpisce la descrizione del ripetersi delle divisioni e del pressapochismo intellettuale dei prigionieri politici, che ancora una volta Toller descrive senza infingimenti, persino nelle loro manifestazioni più grottesche. Struggente, nel suo minimalismo evocatore, è l’episodio dei nidi delle rondini, ispirandosi al quale Toller ricaverà alcune delle sue liriche più belle.
Questo capitolo finale riporta idealmente all’inizio del libro, al primo capitolo, che è un magnifico, disperato grido di dolore di Toller per ciò che è stato, per l’incapacità dei dirigenti di comprendere ed assecondare i bisogni del popolo, per i tradimenti perpetrati, per aver consegnato la Germania tra le braccia del nazionalismo più bieco. La sua lettura, quasi fosse una sorta di preghiera laica, dovrebbe essere ripetuta nel tempo, soprattutto ai nostri giorni, nei quali sembrano ripresentarsi con inquietanti analogie molti degli scenari politici e sociali che hanno caratterizzato quella fase della storia tedesca ed europea.
Una giovinezza in Germania è un libro molto importante, magnificamente scritto, che ci permette di comprendere meglio, in quanto narrati in prima persona, avvenimenti cruciali per la Storia europea, addentrandoci in momenti della stessa che, forse non a caso, sono ormai banditi dalla sua narrazione ufficiale. Certo è un libro di parte, ma ha il pregio di rendercene coscienti, a differenza di tante false oggettività che oggi ci vengono propinate a vari livelli. Forse in questo sta uno dei motivi per cui è stato reso momentaneamente non disponibile.

[Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[J M Notter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ersterscheinung 1933, meine Ausgabe von 1990 als aktuell angepriesen, heute bestimmt so aktuell wie ganz am Anfang wieder, leider.. Eine Autobiographie Ernst Tollers von Kindheit, Jugend, über seine Erfahrungen im WK I, seinen darauf gefundenen Pazifismus, sein politisches Engagement, seine Verfolgung bis zum Ende seiner Inhaftierung. Poetisch, brutal, empathisch und intelligent erzählt. Hätte man doch nur auf ihn gehört!

[Otto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die Andere Bibliothek hat diesen autobiografischen Bericht des deutschen Schriftstellers und Münchner Rätepolitikers neu aufgelegt und um einige wesentliche Texte Tollers erweitert. Ein spannendes Zeitzeugnis v.a. aus der Zeit des aufkommenden Faschismus. Absolut empfehlenswerte Lektüre, die ich empfehle in der Ausgabe der anderen Bibliothek zu lesen.

[Christiane Alsop]

Excellent memoir.
Provides insight into pre-fascist Germany.

[Zapato · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pues lo tenía aparcado y ya lo he terminado. Y la verdad, me ha dejado un poco frío. No está mal para conocer un poco aquella época, pero el rollo romántico y moralista de sus reflexiones me echa bastante para atrás. Y peor aun los editores. Parecen empeñados en romantizar la falta de estrategia, de organización y la derrota. Que la República duró meses y la represión dejó miles de muertos y encarcelados colega. Ya vale de plantear el ser puro e ingenuo como una virtud de los revolucionarios. Además tienen la necesidad de diferenciar esa experiencia de la revolución rusa (alergia a la victoria supongo, al margen de la deriva posterior incluir eso aquí es proyectar retrospectivamente). Y eso que el texto muestra que era su referente y hubiese sido impensable sin ella.

[Yiannis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Εξαιρετικό.

[Ivana · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

so gut

[cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

wirklich so gut

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beschwerend und anregend. Absolut lesenswert.

[Steven Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots to digest. A powerful book.

One thing that was remarkable, in reading this book, was to understand the environment of misinformation and chaos that was swirling among the German populace even before the Nazis became a prominent force. Nobody knew who to trust, the violence was scattered and unpredictable, and people were traumatized.

What Hitler offered was clarity and fantasy. The clarity was in the form of a black/white distinction about what was German and what wasn't, what was order and what wasn't.

The fantasy, strangely, supported the clarity: He seemed to suggest that Germany didn't really lose in WWI, that Germans shouldn't feel guilty for their aggressive expansionist goals, and that those who shamed them were liars ("Fake News!").

[Edgar Ramírez Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuando con lecturas de guerra. Esta narrativa Ernst que cuenta o platica su vida desde niño es entretenida. Sus pasos por los conflictos sindicales. La experiencia en guerra. Su paso por un hospital siquiátrico. Como lo buscan los ejércitos blancos y platica que dos veces lo fusilan. La narración de como conoce a Adolfo Hitler en sus inicios y el odio a los judíos. Las historias que comparte de sus compañeros de prisión son conmovedoras y escalofriantes.
Aunque las ultimas páginas siento que baja la narrativa y pierdo el interés

[Lidia Pelayo Alonso · Rating 5 out of 5]

No había leído nada de Ernst Toller hasta ahora y, después de acabar «Una juventud en Alemania», no me lo puedo perdonar.

Magníficas las palabras de Toller y magnífica la traducción de Núria Molines Galarza. Un relato fiel de la Alemania antes del nazismo, donde se ven sus comienzos, un retrato de la época previa al capítulo más oscuro de la historia alemana. Imprescindible.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so sorry we're doing this again, Mr Toller. I'm so sorry.

[Antonio Papadourakis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Πολύ ενδιαφέρον αυτοβιογραφικό βιβλίο που αφορά κυρίως την περίοδο 1914-1925 για να 'εξηγήσει΄ την άνοδο του Χίτλερ. Το ασθενές κομμάτι του βιβλίου είναι οι 6 μέρες της Βαυαρικής σοβιετικής δημοκρατίας, στην οποία ο συγγραφέας συμμετείχε σαν αρχηγός στρατού. Εκεί λόγω της προσωπικής εμπλοκής του δεν δίνει ένα γενικό πλάνο της κατάστασης και του πως κατατροπώθηκαν οι ερυθροφρουροί από τους λευκούς, αλλά δίνει αποσπασματικές προσωπικές και συναισθηματικά φορτισμένες περιγραφές επεισοδίων. Εν τέλει όλοι οι πρωτεργάτες εκτός του Τόλλερ δολοφονήθηκαν και ο ίδιος ο Τόλλερ, μετά από 5 χρόνια κάθειρξης, αυτοκτόνησε το 1939 στη Ν.Υόρκη μετά την επικράτηση του Φράνκο στην Ισπανία.
"Αν θες να είσαι ειλικρινής, πρέπει να γνωρίζεις. Αν θες να είσαι γενναίος, πρέπει να κατανοείς. Αν θες να είσαι δίκαιος, δεν επιτρέπεται να ξεχνάς. Όταν ο ζυγός της βαρβαρότητας πιέζει, οφείλει κανείς να αγωνίζεται και να μην σιωπά. Όποιος σωπαίνει σε τέτοιους καιρούς, προδίδει την ανθρώπινη αποστολή του.
Για εμάς πολιτική σημαίνει να αισθανόμαστε συνυπεύθυνοι και να ενεργούμε για το πεπρωμένο της χώρας... Υπάρχει μόνο μία έγκυρη ηθική για την ανθρωπότητα."
"Υπάρχουν 2 είδη ασθενών, οι άκακοι βρίσκονται σε καγκελόφραχτα δωμάτια χωρίς πόμολα και λέγονται τρελοί, οι επικίνδυνοι αποδεικνύουν πως η πείνα διαπαιδαγωγεί έναν λαό, ιδρύουν ενώσεις για την κατανίκηση της Αγγλίας και έχουν το δικαίωμα να κλείνουν μέσα τους άκακους."
"Στις 4 Αυγούστου του 1914, η ιδέα του διεθνισμού δεν μπόρεσε να αντισταθεί στη μέθη του εθνικισμού, ο σωβινισμός θριάμβευσε, οι προλετάριοι όλων των χωρών λησμόνησαν τους όρκους συναδέλφωσης και πυροβολούν ο ένας τον άλλον, η πατρίδα δεν ήταν πια η ανθρωπότητα αλλά το καπιταλιστικό κράτος, εχθρός δεν ήταν πια ο αστός αλλά ο σύντροφος στην άλλη πλευρά των συνόρων... "
"Αχ, ο Γερμανός εργάτης έχει συνηθίσει για πολύ καιρό στην υπακοή, θέλει να υπακούσει, την κτηνωδία την περνάει για δύναμη, την εξάλειψη της προσωπικής υπευθυνότητας για πειθαρχία, εάν λείψουν τα συνήθη ιδανικά, πιστεύει πως ξεσπά το χάος... η νέα κοινωνία μπορεί να δομηθεί μόνο από ελεύθερους ανθρώπους, το υποτελειακό φρόνημα την υποσκάπτει."
"Βάσανα, αθλιότητα και καταπίεση δρουν ως επαναστατικά κίνητρα μόνο για όσο ξυπνούν στον άνθρωπο την πεποίθηση ότι η κατάσταση του δεν είναι αναπόδραστη, και ότι μπορεί να αλλάξει."
"Δεν είναι ο άνθρωπος άτομο και μάζα την ίδια στιγμή; Ο αγώνας ανάμεσα στο άτομο και τη μάζα διεξάγεται μόνο στην κοινωνία, όχι και στο εσωτερικό του ανθρώπου; Ως άτομο ενεργεί σύμφωνα με την ηθική ιδέα που έχει αναγνωριστεί ως ορθή. Ως μάζα παρακινείται από κοινωνικές παρορμήσεις, θέλει να πετύχει τον στόχο, ακόμα και αν πρέπει να εγκαταλείψει την ηθική ιδέα."

[Nico Beukema · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dit boek gaat over Ernst Toller. Over zijn jeugd die samenviel met een hoogst onrustige periode in Duitsland. De autobiografische herinneringen gaan over zijn studententijd, over WO1 en vooral over de revolutionaire nasleep van die oorlog. Toller was daarin één van de leiders tijdens de kortstondige radenrepubliek in München. Met name over dat deel lees je weinig, vooral niet uit eerste hand. Erg interessant.
Toller is behalve politiek ook filosofisch ingesteld. Hij is een intellectueel. Dat maakt hem tot een beschouwer en dat heeft hem ook eerst het leven gered. Waar andere leiders tegen de muur gingen, kreeg Toller 5 jaar. Wel zeer ongemakkelijke jaren.
Toller schrijft zijn herinneringen in een boeiende, maar ook fragmentarische stijl. Passend bij de heersende norm in die tijd.
Toller is een denker en neemt je als lezer daarin mee. Meerdere passages zijn herleidbaar naar het nu. Zeer indrukwekkend en herkenbaar vind ik een passage op pagina 186:
...." ik geloof niet in de 'slechte' natuur van de mens, ik geloof dat hij die gruwelijke dingen doet uit gebrek aan fantasie, door de traagheid van zijn hart.
Heb ik niet zelf, als ik las over hongersnoden in China, over massamoorden in Armenië, over gefolterde gevangenen uit de Balkan, de krant weggelegd en ben, zonder er even bij stil te staan, met mijn dagelijks werk verdergegaan? Tienduizenden verhongerden, duizenden doodgeschotenen, wat deden die getallen me, ik las ze en was ze een uur later weer vergeten. Uit gebrek aan fantasie. ..."

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading a memoir by someone who later committed suicide adds a dimension of perplexity to the reading because I want so much to answer the question that his suicide presents but I am never sure that it is a question that will be answered. I knew in advance that I was not going to agree with some of the political viewpoints that the author was activated by and yet, for all that, I found some reward in reading the book. It is really clear that the author was not a coward and he showed substantial bravery and initiative in situations where he might have tried harder to save himself. The effect that the horrors of war had upon him were significant and moving. However, his political activism is not something that can be easily explained. He grew up in a family that was far from impoverished but was not religiously Jewish. He seems to know who is Jewish and who isn't but it seems to be a characteristic like hair or eye color, worthy of note, but of little importance. He suffers as a child from antisemitism but his identification as a Jew is tenuous at best. When he learns in 1939, five years after this book is published, that his siblings have been taken to the concentration camps in Europe while he is in the United States it seems that He is no longer able to adjust.

[Chortexiphan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Von historischer Lehre, sozialistischer Inspiration kaum zu übretreffen. Toller beschreibt das Aufwachsen im polnischen Teil des Deutschen Reiches als Jude, die stärkerwerdene antisemitische Ausgrenzung, die anfangs begeisterte Kriegsstimmung, die schnell in Verdruss übergeht unfassbar gut. Er bringt zu Papier, wie ab 1916 sein Pazifismus, klassenloses Denken und Freiheits- und Friedensbegriff immer mehr zum Tragen kommt. Geniale, frühsozialistische Sätze, die zeigen, wofür dieser steht. Die Beschreibungen des Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges und der damit verbundenen Verwirrungen und dem Entstehen der Räterepublik vs. die Parlamentsrepublik sind einfach nur hochinteressant. Ebenso die Schilderung des sich anbahnenden Nationalismus/-sozialismus und dem subtilen Aufstieg Hitlers sind mega spannend. Die Schlusswörter berufen sich wieder auf seine sozialistische, pazifistische, internationalistische und menschliche Denkweise.

Klare Empfehlung für jeden!

[Armin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erschien als Reaktion auf die Machtübernahme der Nationalsozialisten in Deutschland. Las das Buch damals als linken Vergleich zu Ernst von Salomons Geächteten. Ein, in jeder Hinsicht, spektakuläreres Buch.
Vieles bei Toller ist guter Durchschnitt der Epoche, aber als Ganzes ist diese Lebensgeschichte eines expressionistischen Dichters/Dramatikers, der in die Mühlen der politischen Justiz geriet, alles andere als heraus ragend. Wirklich im Gedächtnis geblieben sind mir die katastrophalen Haftbedingungen für das Mitglied der Münchner Räte-Republik, während Revoluzzer Hitler für einen viel größeren Staatsstreich eine ziemlich gemütliche Zelle bekam, in der das Gefolge frei ein- und ausgehen konnte.

[Danny Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wat leest een mens tijdens een Corona-vakantiedag in de Paasweek: ‘Een jeugd in Duitsland’, de autobiografie van Ernst Toller (1893-1939). Het is een perfect voorbeeld van een boek dat om verschillende redenen voor de nazi’s niet door de beugel kon. Toller was van Joodse komaf, liet zich kritisch uit over de Eerste Wereldoorlog, was betrokken bij een linkse revolutie in Beieren en had al vroeg gewaarschuwd voor de opkomst van het nazisme. Joseph Goebbels veroordeelde de auteur persoonlijk in een radiotoespraak in 1933. Wat mij betreft een vijfsterrenboek, dat ik enkel maar heel erg kan aanbevelen.

[Gijs Zandbergen · Rating 3 out of 5]

De eerste hoofdstukken over zijn jonge jeugd vond ik goed, dat over de Eerste Wereldoorlog ook. Maar toen het over de Duitste politiek na WO1 ging, raakte ik en beetje hetspoor kwijt. Daarvoor weet ik te weinig van de Duitse geschiedenis. Toller heeft vijf jaar in de gevangenis gezeten en is gevlucht toen de nazi's aan de macht kwamen. In 1939 pleegde hij zelfmoord. Ter Braak had gelijk, toen hij hem in 1938 gedesillusioneerd noemde.

[Carlos AndyCo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una bibliografía que de forma magistral expone la subjetividad en el devenir histórico de la Alemania en la Gran Guerra, las consecuencias de esta: revolución, contrarrevolución y posterior ascenso de los Nazis al poder. Junto a Tempestades de acero y Sin novedad en el frente, Toller nos deja ver la complejidad de eventos que se desarrollan en la Alemania imperial durante la Gran Guerra y después de esta.

[Magnus Stanke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read, tightly and movingly written. The events depict the author's childhood, participation in World War I and, following his role in the subsequent, short-lived Bavarian socialist revolution, Toller's imprisonment.
A still under-reported part of German history.

[A. Dlugos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gute Einblicke in eine bewegte Zeit. Teilweise mit Längen im Mittelteil.

“… der Mann [A.H.] sei ihm aufgefallen, weil er ‘so gebildet und geschwollen’ dahergeredet hätte, wie einer, der viel Bücher liest und sie nicht verdaut.”

[Kristian Lindberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Revolutionsdagbog fra den socialistiske magtovertagelse i Bayern i 1919. Det svulstige overspændte sprog gør ikke beretningen nogen tjeneste