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Laddar... Die Berliner Tagebücher der Marie (Missie) Wassiltschikow 1940 - 1945 (utgåvan 1995)av Marie Wassiltschikow
VerksinformationThe Berlin Diaries av Marie Vassiltchikov
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Gå med i LibraryThing för att få reda på om du skulle tycka om den här boken. Det finns inga diskussioner på LibraryThing om den här boken. This is difficult. I love this topic and was quite prepared to love this book. The author was a White Russian whose aristocratic family escaped Stalin's terror and fled to Germany just before World War II. She was part of a crowd that was linked to the ill-fated July 20th attempt to assassinate Hitler. So, everything was is place for the perfect book. Not so. Until the actual attempt on Hitler's life, the diary entries are slogs through a catalog of the aristocracy of Eastern Europe and Germany, Austrian and Italy. There is lots of champagne and plenty of oysters between horrific bouts of Allied carpet bombing. There are sad storied of having to leave behind one's furs or crystal or.... What is missing is a real connection to all these people or any real feelings at all. It is a list- of aristocratic play pals, of castles for weekend visits, of dining and dancing, of bombed out houses and streets. That said, the book does get more interesting, perhaps because the author herself seems more invested emotionally in the horrors of the Nazi response to the attempted murder of Hitler. There are some few side notes that were quite resonant- the lack of foresight in the demands for "unconditional surrender" which may have prolonged the war, the refusal of the Allies to deal in any significant way with the rather large group inside Germany determined to stop Hitler, the apparent Allied attitude that all Germans were the same and all were complicit in the Nazi terror, and the devastation the Allied bombing had on the civilian population of Germany- ironically missing all the munitions factories for which they were supposedly aiming. Having read about the V bombs and the Blitz directed at London, I am not sure the author (or rather her brother who writes the comments between the diary entries) can really claim much moral high ground. I am not sure there is any such thing in war. Thus, the second half of the book is more interesting and would make an intriguing discussion for a history class. In fact, the last third is very interesting, but still plagued a bit by all the names of people we don't know or care about. The diary of a girl from a white Russian family (the white Russians were anti-communists) that fled Russia after the Reds took over. They initially went to Lithuania but then fled to Germany to get further away from the Russian sphere of power. But they could not out-run the war. The author ended up working for the diplomatic corps as a translator since she was fluent in several languages. She knew and worked with several people involved (and executed because of) the plot to kill Hitler. She provides glimpses not only of some of the mid level power people in Germany but also of what it was like for ordinary people who tried to make do with the bombing and the somber mistrust of a society where free speech is prosecuted if it does not agree with the party line. She survived many bombing raids and talks about how it impacted the ordinary folks and the people around her that died and the cites that were devastated around her. Towards the end of the war she ended up working as a nurse. If you are like me, all her talk of food and starving will make you hungry while reading this one. inga recensioner | lägg till en recension
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The secret diaries of a twenty-three-year-old White Russian princess who worked in the German Foreign Office from 1940 to 1944 and then as a nurse, these pages give us a unique picture of wartime life in that sector of German society from which the 20th of July Plot -- the conspiracy to kill Hitler -- was born. Inga biblioteksbeskrivningar kunde hittas. |
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Google Books — Laddar... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)940.548147History and Geography Europe Europe 1918- Military History Of World War II Other Topics Memories and autobiographiesKlassifikation enligt LCBetygMedelbetyg:
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This offers a unique perspective on the events that she witnessed with little semblance to what war was like for ordinary people. So, we learn that travelling around Europe was still rather easy with people with the right papers, oysters were not rationed and were available as far as 1944, so were the rivers of confiscated French champagne. Bars and nightclubs were open as long as they weren't destroyed in the bouts of Allied carpet bombing and spending weekends in the countryside residences of her aristocrat friends was still a thing.
The most interesting part of the diaries is the author's connection to the officers involved in Operation Valkyrie. Even though she was well informed about the assassination plot she got out of the whole thing without even being questioned by the Gestapo, which seems very unlikely.
But, when you have friends in high places, everything's possible.
The tone of youthful naivete and aristocratic arrogance prominent in the first part of the book can be annoying. Missie drops a lot of names as her social calendar always seems to be fully booked and seems to be the only thing of interest to her.
Interestingly, for a diary of a young woman full of flippant details she occasionally jots down some astute observations about politics. However, we always remain on the surface since there is very little of her inner world exposed. So, don't expect much literary value here because this is above all a war log.
Personally, I found the last part of the diary the most interesting, because it contains some specific details about post-war life, refugee migrations etc. It is also the part where Missie experienced the most hardship, so it was easier to feel for her. By the end of this diary, I realized I actually enjoyed her voice and persevered through all the petty details she lists cause I was genuinely interested in what is going to happen to her.
What one must give to her is her unconquered spirit, for even in the worst of times when she could've stayed away from the capital she would "want to remain where the action is and that, of course, is Berlin". ( )