Victor Klemperer (Klemperer Victor)

(1881-1960)
He was born in Landsberg, a town in r.Varta (after 1945 went to Poland, now Gorzow Wielkopolski), 9 October 1881 in the family rabbi. His brother George Victor (1865-1946) - physician, are invited to the 1923-1924 in the USSR for the treatment of Lenin, cousin - the conductor Otto Klemperer (1885-1973). In 1890 the family moved to Berlin. In 1902-1905 Klemperer studied philosophy, Romance and Germanic philology at universities in Munich, Geneva, Paris and Berlin. In 1912 converted to Christianity (Protestant). In 1912-1913 he defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Munich in 1914 - gabilitatsionnuyu thesis (which gives the right to occupy professorial positions), running it under the guidance of a linguist and literary critic Karl Vossler (1872-1949). From Vossler (author of the study of France Culture in the mirror of the development of language, 1913) inherited the attention to language as a subject of culture. In 1914-1915 he taught at University of Naples, wrote a large study of Montesquieu. During the First World War, joined the army as a volunteer. After serving in frontline military censor was appointed to the Office of the censorship of books (in Kovno, then in Leipzig). After the war, he became extraordinary professor at the University of Munich (1919), and since 1920 - Professor of Romance in Dresden Higher Technical School (now Technical University). Having worked there until 1935, was dismissed in connection with the Jewish heritage. Klemperer does not emigrate like his relatives. Married to the 'Aryan' (pianist Eva Klemperer, nee Schlemmer, 1882-1951), he was able to save lives. In 1940, subjected to forced relocation from her home in one of Dresden TN. Jewish homes. Klemperer and his wife managed to escape from the flames of Dresden, destroyed by 13 February 1945 the Allied air strikes.

In postwar Germany Klemperer attracted to work in the commission of denazification. In November 1945 he returned to Dresden Higher Technical School. Joined the Communist Party of Germany. In 1946 he headed Kulturbund in 1947-1960 led teaching in the University of Greifswald, Halle and Berlin. In 1950 he was elected deputy from Kulturbund in the Lok Sabha GDR. He was awarded the National Prize of the GDR Class III (1952), the following year became a full member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences (1953). In 1954 was published the first volume of the fundamental research Klemperer history of French literature 18 th century (Geschichte der franzsischen Literatur des 18. Jahrhunderts, 1954). The second volume was published in 1966, after the death of the author. It should be mentioned and its history of French literature, 19 and 20 centuries. (Geschichte der franzsischen Literatur im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, 1956).

Life Klemperer to 1945 is described in detail in his diaries and memoirs, is now available to readers: Curriculum vitae. Memoirs 1881-1918 (Curriculum vitae. Erinnerungen 1881-1918, 1989); Collect life, not asking for what and why. Diaries 1918-1932 (Leben sammeln, nicht fragen wozu und warum. Tagebcher 1918-1932, 1996), Witness to the end (Ich will Zeugnis ablegen bis zum letzten. Tagebcher 1933-1945, 1995); And around all that is unstable (Und so ist alles schwankend. Tagebcher Juni bis Dezember 1945, 1996). Among his works - the study of Romance Philology, germanistike, the world literature on methodology, pedagogy and culture, problems of higher education. Post-war articles and speeches were devoted to the revival of culture in Germany, . modern linguistic situation in Germany, . purity of the German language, . overcome the enmity between Germany and France and strengthen the spiritual connection of these countries (by the way, . he participated in peace negotiations between France and Germany in Saarbrц?cken and Paris),
.

In mid-1990's in Germany broke the boom associated with the publication of his diaries. They printed and read on radio and in the theater, they took off on their basis of documentary

. 27 November 1995 at Munich University held a ceremony awarding Klemperer (posthumously) the anti-fascist Prize brother and sister Scholl for diaries, . which constitute an important document, . showing the suffering of the Jewish people under the Nazi regime,
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Language of the Third Reich. June 25, 1946 in Dresden newspaper 'Tgliche Rundschau' article appeared Klemperer Nazi version of German (Das Nazi-Deutsch). Notebook philologist. It has promoted the concept of the book, published a year later, a material the diaries, the scientist who led throughout the entire period gospodstvanatsistov. In the book LTI. Language of the Third Reich (1947) Klemperer gave his explanation of the phenomenon difficult to understand, . when large masses of the population of Germany (not only 'simple' people, . and intellectuals, . aristocrats) were over 12 years covered by a kind of madness, . effects of which are known to all,


. LTI The book shows that, going over the words we use in everyday life, we can not only describe life (thanks to the realities, caught in the lexicon), but also to penetrate the secrets are not visible on the surface of the mechanisms that control this life
. Klemperer was convinced that language is not simply an instrument of human communication, not just a storage medium, the curator of accumulated human experience and knowledge (culture), but the imperious manager of life. The leitmotif of the book are on line Schiller distiha of language, which 'writes and thinks' for us. In the epigraph the words of Franz Rosenzweig made that the language - 'more than blood'.

When the Nazi regime collapsed, Klemperer bitterly discovered that the language of the Third Reich did not disappear, but remained in the minds of generations and passed new.

Victor Klemperer died in Dresden on Feb. 11, 1960.