A German Officer in Occupied Paris: The War Journals, 1941-1945 (European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism)

Ernst Jünger was one of twentieth-century Germany’s most important—and most controversial—writers. Decorated for bravery in World War I and the author of the acclaimed memoir from the western front, Storm of Steel, he frankly depicted the war’s horrors even as he extolled its glories. As a Wehrmacht captain during the Second World War, Jünger faithfully kept a journal in occupied Paris and continued to write on the eastern front and in Germany until its defeat—writings that are of major historical and literary significance. Jünger’s Paris journals document his Francophile excitement, romantic affairs, and fascination with botany and entomology, alongside mystical and religious ruminations and trenchant observations on the occupation and the politics of collaboration. Working as a mail censor, he led the privileged life of an officer, encountering artists such as Céline, Cocteau, Braque, and Picasso. His notes from the Caucasus depict chaos and misery after the defeat at Stalingrad, as well as candid comments about the atrocities on the eastern front. Returning to Paris, Jünger observed resistance and was peripherally involved in the 1944 conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. After fleeing France, he reunited with his family as Germany’s capitulation approached. Both participant and commentator, close to the horrors of history but often hovering above them, Jünger turned his life and experiences into a work of art. These wartime journals appear here in English for the first time, giving us fresh insight into the quandaries of the twentieth century from the keen pen of a paradoxical observer. Ernst Jünger (1895–1998) was a major figure in twentieth-century German literature and intellectual life. He was a young leader of right-wing nationalism in the Weimar Republic, but although the Nazis tried to court him, Jünger steadfastly kept his distance from their politics. Among his works is On the Marble Cliffs, a rare anti-Nazi novel written under the Third Reich. "Over an amazing 80-year career as a writer, Ernst Jünger (1895-1998) fought in WWI, became a leading writer of "soldierly nationalism" in the 1920s, and produced possibly the only anti-Nazi novel during the Third Reich, On the Marble Cliffs. Jünger's seeming moral ambiguities have made him the subject of much controversy in his home country. He has long been the subject of a series of highly charged debates about his work, and his presentation with the Goethe Prize (Germany's highest literary honor) in 1982 revived an old charge that Jünger had helped pave the way for fascism. The French, however, regard him as Germany's greatest twentieth-century author. Jünger's war diaries are important historical documents. He rejoined the army in 1941 and was sent to Paris, where he was in a unique position to observe the German occupation of France from the point of view of an occupier, but one who was not blinded by Nazi ideology. The First Paris Diary begins in 1941, when Jünger began his war duties as a mail censor of the occupying regime, and ends in October of 1942, as he leaves Paris to travel to the Eastern Front. Through his high-level contacts, Jünger was aware of the situation on the Eastern front and the atrocities being committed there. He was also a member of a secret circle of aristocratic officers, led by Rommel, who opposed Hitler's conduct of the war and were conspiring to arrest him in France in 1944 and turn him over to allies in exchange for lenient armistice conditions. In addition to descriptions of his official duties, the diaries describe Jünger's wanderings through Parisian bookshops and cafes, his conversations at salons with French intellectuals, and his reflections on books and nature (he was a trained biologist)"-- Provided by publisher Ernst Jünger was one of twentieth-century Germany's most important—and most controversial—writers. Decorated for bravery in World War I and the author of the acclaimed western front memoir Storm of Steel , he frankly depicted war's horrors even as he extolled its glories. As a Wehrmacht captain during World War II, Jünger faithfully kept a journal in occupied Paris and continued to write on the eastern front and in Germany until its defeat—writings that are of major historical and literary significance. Jünger's Paris journals document his Francophile excitement, romantic affairs, and fascination with botany and entomology, alongside mystical and religious ruminations and trenchant observations on the occupation and the politics of collaboration. While working as a mail censor, he led the privileged life of an officer, encountering artists such as Céline, Cocteau, Braque, and Picasso. His notes from the Caucasus depict the chaos after Stalingrad and atrocities on the eastern front. Upon returning to Paris, Jünger observed the French resistance and was close to the German military conspirators who plotted to assassinate Hitler in 1944. After fleeing France, he reunited with his family as Germany's capitulation approached. Both participant and commentator, close to the horrors of history but often distancing himself from them, Jünger turned his life and experiences into a work of art. These wartime journals appear here in English for the first time, giving fresh insights into the quandaries of the twentieth century from the keen pen of a paradoxical observer. Ernst Jünger (1895–1998) was a major figure in twentieth-century German literature and intellectual life. He was a young leader of right-wing nationalism in the Weimar Republic. Among his many works is the novel On the Marble Cliffs, a symbolic criticism of totalitarianism written under the Third Reich. Elliot Neaman is professor of history at the University of San Francisco and the author of A Dubious Past: Ernst Jünger and the Politics of Literature after Nazism (1999). Thomas Hansen, a longtime member of the Wellesley College German Department, is a translator from the German. Abby Hansen is a translator of German literary and nonfiction texts. LCO008030,Literary Collections/European/German,HIS027100,History/Military/World War II Ernst Jünger, one of twentieth-century Germany's most important and controversial writers, faithfully kept a journal during the Second World War in occupied Paris, on the eastern front, and in Germany until its defeat-writings that are of major historical and literary significance. These wartime journals appear here in English for the first time