Victor Klemperer (Landsberg (Prussia), now Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland, October 9, 1881–February 11, 1960, Dresden, GDR), decorated veteran of World War I, businessman, journalist and eventually a Professor of Literature, specialising in the French Enlightenment at the Technical College of Dresden (now "Technische Universität Dresden"). He was the son of a rabbi, cousin to the famous conductor Otto Klemperer and brother to the surgeon Georg Klemperer, who was a personal physician to Lenin. A converted Protestant of Jewish descent, Klemperer's life started to worsen considerably after the Nazi rise to power in 1933. Landsberg may refer to: Landsberg (district), Bavaria, Germany Landsberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany Landsberg am Lech, Bavaria, Germany Landsberg an der Warthe, German name of Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland The Kent H. Landsberg Company, a packaging and janitorial supply company Landsberg Prison, a prison in Landsberg am Lech Ernst Landsberg Grigory... Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 Prussia (German: ; Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Lithuanian: ; Polish: ; Old Prussian: PrÅ«sa) was, most recently, a historic state originating in East Prussia, an area which for centuries had substantial influence on German and European history. ... Gorzów Wielkopolski (abbrev. ... Year 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... For other uses, see Dresden (disambiguation). ... Disambiguation Page Global Depositary Receipt East Germany ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Franz... Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ... With 34,993 students (2006), Dresden University of Technology (DUT; German:Technische Universität Dresden, TU Dresden or simply TUD) is the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, the largest university in Saxony and one of the 10 largest universities in Germany. ... Rabbi, in Judaism, means teacher, or more literally great one. The word Rabbi is derived from the Hebrew root word רַב, rav, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished (in knowledge). Sephardic and Yemenite Jews pronounce this word רִבִּי ribbÄ«; the modern Israeli pronunciation רַבִּי rabbÄ« is derived from a recent (18th... Photographic portrait taken ca. ... Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ( Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин  listen?), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) ( April 22 (April 10 ( O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... National Socialism redirects here. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ...

Klemperer kept a diary, which from 1933 through the end of the war, provides a unique day-to-day account of life under tyranny and the struggle for survival among Jews in the Third Reich. This diary also brilliantly details the Nazis' perversion of the German language for propaganda purposes, which Klemperer would use as the basis for his later book LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii. Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii: Notizbuch eines Philologen (1947) is a book by Victor Klemperer, Professor of French at the University of Dresden. ...

From 1935, under the Nuremberg Laws of Citizenship and Race, Klemperer was stripped of his academic title, job, citizenship and freedom and eventually forced to work in a factory and as a day laborer. Since his wife, Eva, was "Aryan", Klemperer dodged deportation for most of the war, but was rehoused under miserable conditions in a ghetto (Judenhaus), where he was routinely questioned, mistreated and humiliated by the Gestapo. 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Racial Policy of Nazi Germany refers to the policies and laws implemented by Nazi Germany, asserting the superiority of the Aryan race, and including measures aimed primarily against Jews. ... Aryan () is an English language word derived from the Sanskrit and Iranian terms ārya-, the extended form aryāna-, ari- and/or arya- (Sanskrit: आर्य, Persian: آریا). Beyond its use as the ethnic self-designation of the Proto-Indo-Iranians, the meaning noble/spiritual has been attached to it in Sanskrit and... A ghetto is an area where people from a specific racial or ethnic background or united in a given culture or religion live as a group, voluntarily or involuntarily, in milder or stricter seclusion. ... The   (contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei; Secret State Police) was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. ...

On February 13th 1945 he assisted in delivering notices of deportation to some of the last remaining members of the Jewish community in Dresden. Fearful that he too would soon be sent to his death he used the confusion created by Allied bombings that night to remove his yellow star, join a refugee column, and escape into American-controlled territory. He and his wife survived and Klemperer's diary narrates their return (largely on foot through Bavaria and Eastern Germany) to their house in Dölzschen, on the outskirts of Dresden. They managed to reclaim the house, which had been "aryanised" under the Nazis. The bombing of Dresden led by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and involving the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) between February 13 and February 15, 1945 remains one of the more controversial Allied actions of World War II. Historian Frederick Taylor says: The destruction of Dresden has an... The yellow badge which Jews were forced to wear during the Nazi occupation of Europe: a black Star of David on a yellow field, with the word Jew written inside. ... The Free State of Bavaria  (German: Freistaat Bayern), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... For other uses, see Dresden (disambiguation). ...

Klemperer went on to become a significant post-war cultural figure in East Germany, lecturing at the universities of Greifswald, Berlin and Halle. He became a delegate of the Cultural Union in the GDR Parliament ("Volkskammer") in 1950. GDR redirects here. ... Greifswald (from German Greif, griffin, and Wald, forest) is a town in northeastern Germany. ... Berlin is the capital city and one of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... Halle (also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish from Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia) is the largest town in the German Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. ... Disambiguation Page Global Depositary Receipt East Germany ... The Volkskammer (Peoples Chamber) was the de jure Legislature of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). ...

Klemperer's diary was published from 1995 as Tagebücher (Berlin, Aufbau). It was an immediate literary sensation and rapidly became a bestseller in Germany. An English translation has appeared in three volumes: I Will Bear Witness (1933 to 1941), To The Bitter End (1942 to 1945) and The Lesser Evil (1945 to 1959). 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• The everyday life of tyranny
• Ms Susie Ehrmann. The Diaries of Victor Klemperer
• "Surviving the Firestorm" (Excerpt from Klemperer's diary describing the bombing of Dresden)
• Large sequence of excerpts from Klemperer's diaries