Man möchte immer weinen und lachen in einem: Revolutionstagebuch 1919

by Victor Klemperer

Eine sensationelle ErstveröEiner der scharfsichtigsten Chronisten deutscher Geschichte über die »wilden Münchner Tage« 1919„Eine unentbehrliche Lektüre.“ Christopher ClarkZum ersten Mal Victor Klemperers Schilderung des Chaos nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg und des Scheiterns der Münchner Räterepublik. Solch genaue, anschauliche Momentaufnahmen aus der belagerten Stadt findet man nirgendwo sonst. Ein bewegendes, mit Spannung zu lesendes Gesamtbild von diesem entscheidenden Wendepunkt der deutschen Geschichte – aus der Revolution von 1918/19 ging nicht nur die erste deutsche Demokratie hervor, zugleich kündigte sich in ihr das kommende Unheil an.Mit einem Vorwort von Christopher Clark und einem historischen Essay von Wolfram Wette„Klemperer ist vergleichbar mit Heine, der in seinen Artikeln über die Revolution gleich nah und gleich genau und gleich erzählmächtig ist wie Klemperer.“ Martin Walser

Genres: Germany, History, Nonfiction, German Literature, Politics

Audio CD

First published July 3, 2015

About the author

Victor Klemperer (9 October 1881 – 11 February 1960) worked as a commercial apprentice, a journalist and eventually a Professor of Literature, specialising in the French Enlightenment at the Technische Universität Dresden. His diaries detailing his life under successive German states -the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic- were published in 1995. His recollections on the Third Reich have since become standard sources; extensively quoted by Saul Friedlander, Michael Burleigh and Richard J. Evans.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victor Klemperer was a diarist, journalist and major chronicler of Germany history. I have read some of his diaries from the period of the Second World War, but nothing earlier and so it was, with interest, that I read this slim volume which is a portrayal of the chaos in Germany after World War One and the collapse of the Munich Council Republic. On the 7th November, 1918, the Kind of Bavaria was toppled and went into exile, leaving behind him political polarisation and the unfolding of revolution.

The accounts included in this book consist of newspaper articles, diary entries and a memoir (later abandoned) concerning events in Munich. As these pieces were written at the time they have a fascinating immediacy, showing Klemperer’s clear impressions of events. This is not a disinterested, historical view of revolution – although the author is always clear and fairly unemotional in his writing, obviously thinking of publication as any writer does. This is a time when, as he says, there were no cars on the streets, the shops closed and students took to the streets.

I have always enjoyed Klemperer’s writing and I liked his dry humour. He obviously is unsettled by events, but also finds much ridiculous. Writing of the students at Munich University, he says, almost gleefully, of the students; ‘they formed a revolutionary works committee(!) This is a time of assassination, coups and upheaval and it is a period which resulted in the political climate which led to the rise of the Nazi party. As such, this is an extremely important work and one which gives a fascinating insight to a country (and a city) in turmoil at the end of the war.

[Meike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Klemperers LTI ( Lingua Tertii Imperii). Notizbuch eines Philologen war wohl die Schullektüre, die mich am nachhaltigsten beeindruckt hat – dieser Mann hat so viel Herz, Witz und politischen Scharfsinn, dass er aus linguistischen Erörterungen mitreißende, hochspannende Texte macht, die einen lachen, weinen, schaudern und verzweifeln lassen (obwohl sich Klemperer selbst stets erfolgreich der Verzweiflung widersetzt hat). In „Man möchte immer weinen und lachen in einem“ geht es jedoch nicht um das Dritte Reich, sondern um das Chaos nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg. Im Mittelpunkt von Klemperers Ausführungen steht die Münchner Räterepublik sowie deren Niederschlagung durch national-konservative Kräfte – Klemperer schildert Stimmungen und Ereignisse, die zum späteren Aufstieg Bayerns zur Ordnungszelle des Rechtsextremismus beitrugen (Hitler erklärte München bekanntermaßen zur „Hauptstadt der Bewegung“).

Formal besteht das Buch aus Tagebucheinträgen (die Klemperer teilweise 1942 in der Rückschau überarbeitet hat) und aus vom Autor verfassten Zeitungsartikeln – in seinem typischen Stil trägt er abgeklärt Fakten vor und beschreibt gleichzeitig hochsensibel die emotionale Verfasstheit der Stadt im Spiegel der Ereignisse. Während seine Umgebung in großen Teilen damit beschäftigt ist, auf allen Kanälen zu senden und zu agitieren, scheint er auf allen Kanälen zu empfangen – Klemperer ist hellwach und seine Schlussfolgerungen sind oft prophetisch.

Tolles Buch, beeindruckender Mann.

[Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contemporary Account of the German Revolution

Victor Klemperer’s masterworks are his diaries, I Will Bear Witness (Vols. 1 & 2). This new book however chronicles his observations and writings about the German Revolution and its impact in Munich where he lived at that tumultuous time. It is written as a combination of his newspaper articles about the Revolution’s events, his later commentaries, and his contemporary diary entries from 1919. The book isn’t nearly as engaging as his masterpiece, yet it does serve as an insightful prequel giving us a glimpse of the anti-semitism and destruction that was later to characterize the rise of Nazi German just 14 years later. As I didn’t know much about this German Revolution, I was somewhat lost in reading this account, especially as it just began suddenly in the midst of revolution without giving the reader context for understanding. At the book’s conclusion, there was an afterward that gave an overview of the Revolution, which I think would have been ideally suited as a preface instead. Better editorship should have recognized that significant flaw. Yet as a fan of Klemperer, I was thrilled to find this account, which further sheds light upon this important phase of his life.

[Edo De Vries · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot understand why the editor of this book decided to end with a (well written) chapter of context: it should’ve been at the start! If you aren’t femiliar with the revolution and German politics of that era it’s impossible to read the book without googleing about every other page.

Besides that, the book gives a vivid account of the post war turmoil in Bavaria, while touching problems from the past as well as looking towards the future with the growing of anti-semitism.

I do like the idea of the book, however, it would be benificial if the book had a lot more context throughout.

[Marco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bizarre geschiedenis beschreven door een bijzondere man. Gaaf boek. Aanrader.

Ik kende deze geschiedenis niet echt en dan is het jammer dat het historische essay pas aan het iende staat. Ook jammer dat er dubbelingen zitten in zijn dagboeken (uit 1942) en zijn krantenartikelen (uit 1919)

[Mark Lisac · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging and informative vignette from a crucial time in German history. Somewhat thinner than it looks because there is a fair amount of duplication between Klemperer's original newspaper columns from the period and the reminiscences he wrote 23 years later, largely based on his columns. That and the plethora of now-obscure names that required scores of footnotes nudged me to 3 stars rather than 4. But the account of the roughly three-week Communist republic in Munich in April 1919 — the Communists actually called themselves Spartacists, members of the Spartacus League, and fielded a small "Red Army" — encapsulates the tensions that had been building in Germany for a decade or two and a lot of the tragedy that would follow. The Munich revolution featured an intense conflict between extreme right-wing and left-wing elements, along with a passive/powerless group watching from the middle; there were also early outbreaks of anti-Semitism, with the book making clear how closely antipathy toward Jews was tied to fear of Bolshevism.
I read it partly to see whether there might be any similarities to the current state of politics in Canada and Alberta in late 2022. There were. The Socialists and Spartacists condemned the "lying press" — lying because they thought it was the voice of the reactionary bourgeoisie. They used the same language as the Nazis would use against journalists from the other end of the spectrum in the 1930s and the same animosity that some politicians in the U.S. and Canada exploit now. The revolutionaries mostly had a misplaced belief in their own abilities and in the assumed accuracy and truthfulness of their analyses, another familiar phenomenon. The intense political polarization of the period sounded familiar. And there was this explanation that one of the Spartacists from slightly further north gave when Klemperer asked why he was so active in Munich, which northerners thought was full of blockheads: "He burst out laughing. 'That's precisely why: the dumber the better — you can get them to do anything.' He was not interested in persuading, only in seducing."

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is nowhere near as interesting as Klemperer's diaries of the Nazi years. Nevertheless, it does give a picture of the chaos of Bavaria (Germany) at the end of WWI. What was striking to me was the evident anti-Semitism (even then), the general political conservatism of the middle classes, the provincialism and separatism in the German regions, especially Bavaria, and the authoritarian (but inept and unpopular) alternative politics of the radical left. Thus, there are many similarities to be drawn with our own times...which of course is the great lesson of all good history books. I would only recommend this book to someone somewhat familiar with Weimar German history.

[lärm · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...het is tragisch voor de betrokkenen en komisch voor de belangeloze toeschouwer. Wat jammer dat je niet alleen maar toeschouwer kunt zijn als je Duitser bent."

Was het nu 1919 of 1942?

1919, want in 1942 was het komische er zelfs voor de toeschouwer van af.

[bxa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessante Edition dieses wichtigen Textes, die die Zeitzeugentexte aus 1919-1920 denjenigen direkt gegenüberstellt, die Klemperer dann Jahre später, vor der Folie des Nationalsozialismus, nochmal im Rückblick ausformuliert hat.

[M.J. Dees · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many lessons to be learned

An enlightening insight into the circumstances surrounding the 1919 revolution in Munich. I learned a lot from this book. A good read.

[Christoph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarkastisch und desillusionierend. Klemperers Notizen über die Münchner Räterepublik.

[Jonas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zeer interessant boek, het leest zoals het geschreven is: als een dagboek. Het enige punt is dat het lezen in twee kolommen rond de teksten van 1918-1920, wel wat moeite vergde.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Klemperer's prose is elegant without being baroque and a joy to consume...

[Gijs Zandbergen · Rating 3 out of 5]

De niet-kenners van de revolutie in Duitsland zouden eerst de in- en uitleiding van dit boek moeten lezen. En eigenlijk ook vooral de dagboeken van Klemperer uit de jaren 1933-1945. Als je dat hebt gedaan, laat je alle bezwaren vallen.

[Volker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessanter Einblick in diese bewegte Zeit. Quasi von innen.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good to be able to read a book of Victor Klemperer again. I hope I can find more of his books.

[Zeke]

Fun footnotes!

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een voor mij niet zo bekend gedeelte van de geschiedenis wordt 'live' verteld door de schrijver ; voor een goed begrip is het beter dat je eerst het historisch essay (van Wolfram Wette) leest (p. 193) , alvorens het boek aan te vatten ;