Requiem for a German Past: A Boyhood Among the Nazis

252 Pages·1999·23.77 MB·English

by  Jurgen Herbst

Requiem for a German Past

Requiem
for a
German Past
A Boyhood among the Nazis
Jurgen Herbst
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS
The University of Wisconsin Press
1930 Monroe Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53711
www. wise. edu/wisconsinpress/
3 Henrietta Street
London WC2E 8LU, England
Copyright © 1999
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
All rights reserved
2 4 5 3
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Herbst, Jurgen.
Requiem for a German past: a boyhood among the nazis / Jurgen Herbst.
250 pp. cm.
ISBN 0-299-16410-1 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 0-299-12184-4 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Herbst, Jurgen—Childhood and youth. 2. Youth—Germany—
Biography. 3. World War, 1939-1945—Personal narratives, German.
4. Germany—Social conditions—1933-1945. 5. National socialism.
I. Title.
DD247.H365A3 1999
940.54'8243-dc21 9948490
The German poem, by Christian Morgenstern, and the English translation,
by Max Knight, which appear on page 119, are taken from Christian Morgenstern's
Galgenlieder (Gallows Songs). Translated by Max Knight (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1963). Copyright © 1963 by Max Knight. The German poem and the
English translation are used by permission of Insel Verlag, Frankfurt, Germany,
and the University of California Press, respectively.
To the memory of
Felix Pollak
poet extraordinaire
dearest of friends

requiem: a solemn chant (as a dirge) for the repose of the dead
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1973

Contents
Illustrations xi
Preface xiii
1. In My Father's House 3
2. Discovering Social Class 27
3. Wolfenbuttel's Grofie Schule 48
4. Kristallnacht 67
5. Boy Soldier 81
6. Assignment East 101
7. St. Mary's Tower 118
8. The War at Home 128
9. Etzel'sTale 141
10. Death Enters 153
11. The Choice 162
12. Baptism by Fire 173
13. In Battle 185
14. Farewell to Arms 194
15. Home 205
16. The Search 215
17. Requiem 222
Appendix: Commencement Address, June 15,1996 231
IX