Not Me: Memoirs of a German Childhood
Fierce and intransigent, German born Joachim Fest was a relentless interrogator of his nation's modern history. His analysis, The Face of the Third Reich, his biographies of Adolf Hitler and Albert Speer and his descriptions of the last days in the Fuhrer's bunker have all reached a worldwide audience of millions - but how did Fest, the contemporary historian born in 1926 - personally experience National Socialism, the Second World War and a defeated Germany? In this memoir of his childhood and youth, Joachim Fest chronicles his own extraordinary life, providing an intimate picture of his immediate experiences of those dark years of conflict.
3.9 out of 5 based on 9 reviews
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Omniscore:
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| Classification |
Non-fiction |
| Genre |
Biography, History |
| Format |
Hardback |
| Pages |
304 |
| RRP |
|
| Date of Publication |
August 2012 |
| ISBN |
978-1843549314 |
| Publisher |
Atlantic |
| |
Fierce and intransigent, German born Joachim Fest was a relentless interrogator of his nation's modern history. His analysis, The Face of the Third Reich, his biographies of Adolf Hitler and Albert Speer and his descriptions of the last days in the Fuhrer's bunker have all reached a worldwide audience of millions - but how did Fest, the contemporary historian born in 1926 - personally experience National Socialism, the Second World War and a defeated Germany? In this memoir of his childhood and youth, Joachim Fest chronicles his own extraordinary life, providing an intimate picture of his immediate experiences of those dark years of conflict.
Reviews
The Literary Review
Norman Stone
“[A] first rate production … . The final days of the Third Reich had a Theatre of the Absurd quality, as intelligent young people were admonished, right to the end, that victory was in sight. Fest is very good on that subject, describing how idiotic NCOs did not take the first opportunity to give up. He is also good, though merciful, about the behaviour of some Americans, who were quite lost as to how to exercise their authority in an occupied Germany.”
01/08/2012
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The Guardian
Rachel Seiffert
“... a quiet, proud, often painful, always clear-eyed memoir. That it was a bestseller in Germany is perhaps not surprising, but it surely deserves wide attention in the English-speaking world. It is illuminating of the man, of the times he lived through, and also of a rare kind of moral resolve, both sobering and inspiring.”
11/08/2012
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The Times
Chris Bowlby
“Amid much anguish ... Fest conveys too the resilience of an adolescent enjoying sport and humour. His first encounters with Germanic high culture also become a sustaining leitmotif. He reads voraciously and devours music. Fest champions the “better Germany” of Goethe and Beethoven surviving subterranean but defiant in the Third Reich. As he resumes contact with his family in post-war Berlin, he hints at what led him to become such a combative figure, confronting Germans with the immediate past. He sensed that his younger generation “wanted to know how those years came about”. This memoir formed a final chapter in that task, a family portrait revealing how some Germans kept their moral bearings, even if they could do little or nothing to stem the Nazi tide.”
23/07/2012
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The Sunday Times
Nick Rennison
“… a remarkable document of a childhood and young manhood spent, in his own words, “outside the sphere of normal life” … As Fest acknowledged, their suffering was little compared to that of the Jewish friends they struggled (largely unsuccessfully) to assist, but it shaped him into the man he became. “I have never forgotten my father’s ego non,” he wrote, and the lesson it taught clearly remained with him for the rest of his life. This memoir is a memorable tribute to the independence of spirit it instilled.”
12/08/2012
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The Daily Telegraph
Nicholas Shakespeare
“… a sober but moving project of restoration, and a tribute to those qualities of civic responsibility, courageously represented by Fest and his family, which the Nazis came near to eradicating without leaving behind anything of significance … Not Me has the precise, cautious tone of the phase when Fest first started to write, the tension of a prose that is constantly being monitored.”
24/07/2012
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The Financial Times
Keith Lowe
“Thoughtful and subtle … expertly translated … It is obvious that Fest is far more comfortable wrapping his feelings in literary allusions than expressing them directly. Herein, perhaps, lies a clue to the book’s title. Ostensibly it refers to one of his father’s many anti-Nazi mottos — “Etiam si omnes, ego non” (“Even if all others do, not I”). But it also describes Fest’s apparent disconnection from his younger self. This is not “me”, but rather a detached version of Fest, viewed from a distance born of unbearable discomfort.”
27/07/2012
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The Sunday Telegraph
Ian Thomson
“At the war’s end, having been interned in France as a POW, Fest enrolled in the universities of Freiburg and Berlin. In the course of his literature and history studies he tried to come to terms with his country’s terrible past. Rather than turn guilt into a national virtue and perform Trauerarbeit (the labour of mourning), he struggled to understand what had happened. His memoir, for all its elisions and concealments, continues that heroic interrogation.”
01/08/2012
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The Independent
David Cesarani
“Fest claimed that after 1945 he was out of tune with most Germans because his family had nothing to feel guilty about. "We had the dubious advantage of remaining exactly who we had always been". Unfortunately, though, there are signs that Fest was not as innocent of denial as he liked to boast ... What this memoir ultimately reveals is not only the exceptionality of an honourable family, but also the universal desire among Germans for an alibi that will get them off the hook of the Third Reich.”
28/07/2012
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The Independent on Sunday
Leyla Sanai
“Much of this memoir is about Fest's intellectual development, his reading of great literature and appreciation of classical art and music. While this is interesting, it seems an emotionless diversion from the harrowing political events occurring contemporaneously. But his accounts of being called up, of trying to avoid military service, fighting, seeing comrades die, and being caught and kept as a prisoner of war are engrossing.”
12/08/2012
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