Эрнст Юнгер - A German Officer in Occupied Paris - The War Journals, 1941-1945

He summoned me to talk about the hostage question, as he is concerned about how posterity will judge the exact description in the historical record. This is the reason for his present departure. In his position, one can see only the grand trappings of proconsular power from the outside, not the clandestine plots and other palace intrigues. This problem is fraught with tensions between the embassy and the Party in France, which is gradually gaining ground without the support of the High Command. On Speidel’s orders, the development and continuation of this struggle—wrangling over the lives of the hostages—will be part of my report in the confidential files.

The general first touched upon the human, all too human, aspects of the matter. People could see that things had affected his nerves and shaken him to the core. Then he went into the tactical reasons for his resistance. He was of the opinion that it was necessary to tread a middle way, especially considering the damaging potential of the situation. The industries would produce more, the better this matter were managed here. In view of the unexpected course of the eastern campaign, he deemed this to be of the highest importance. He argued that our influence in Europe must transcend the current age in which we are a presence brandishing bayonets. He claimed that he had always remained on the side of reason, with never a shred of weakness, which the political leadership had accused him of. Like many old professional soldiers, he was particularly hurt by the allegations of weakness and unreliability.

In view of the tremendous superiority of the enemy, he considered retreat to be the only possible tactical option. For this reason, he tried to give special emphasis to the fact that acts of collective retribution were only doing the résistance the greatest favor. This explains the sentence that frequently appeared in his brief communiqués to the High Command: “The reprisals are getting out of hand.” With a single revolver shot, a terrorist could incite a powerful ripple effect of hatred. The result was a paradoxical subterfuge of concealing the majority of the assassinations in the report to the High Command.

The pervasive weakness of the middle class and the aristocracy shows in these generals. They have enough vision to recognize the way things are going, but they lack the authority and ability to oppose minds motivated only by violence. The new masters exploit them like wardens. But what if these last props were to fall? Then horrible leaden terror like the Cheka [42] Cheka: Russian secret police. will spread over the land.

There is always something timeless in these situations. In this case, it’s the figure of the proconsul, one of whom was Pilate. The demos [43] For E. J., the Greek demos (common people) connotes mob, rabble. vehemently demanded the blood of the innocents from him as they cheered the murderers on. And from afar the emperor, who enjoyed divine status, threatened with his thunderbolt. That makes it difficult to maintain the dignity of a senator—he passes judgment as he washes his hands or, as in this case, he disappears like an air-raid warden into a Berlin apartment block.

Death. A few, too refined for this life, dare to disobey. They seek the void, isolation. Some beings who cleanse the filth of their natures with light often show their noble character in their death masks.

What I love about man is his essence beyond the grave and the fellowship with it. Here, love is nothing more than a pallid reflection. “ Was hier wir sind, kann dort ein Gott ergänzen .” [What we are here, a god can augment there.] [44] Line from Friedrich Hölderlin’s poem “An Zimmern” (1812).

How did Pontius Pilate enter the Creed? [45] Creed: refers to the phrase in the Nicene Creed, “and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.”

We would have to ask the Copts; they honor him as a martyr.

In my dreams at night, I am climbing cliff fortifications. Their foundations are so weak that my weight dislodges them, and my every movement brings the threat of a terrible plunge.

As soon as I sensed that I could no longer keep my balance, I tried to open my eyes and switch off the dream. My action was like that of someone showing a film in which he is also acting: when catastrophes approached, I cut off the electricity.

In this respect, I have learned a lot that should stand me in good stead for my daytime life. We generate the world from dreams and, if necessary, must dream more intensely. For these years there was a dream in which my behavior was significant: I was sailing to Rhodes when Kniébolo appeared and engaged me in a test of will.

Report on how things unfolded chronologically during the night at Gerstberger’s in Ermatingen. Vesuvius opened up for a moment; the insight followed that historical forces could not reverse things. The dogs howled outside the house. That must have been preceded by Trott’s nighttime visit to the vineyard. “They want to confront the dragon and are awaiting the order from you.” By daylight, clouds form above the fearsome crag.

Visited Fabre-Luce in the evening on Avenue Foch. There I met two professors of philosophy who are brothers and a Monsieur Rouvier.

The host told a story about an acquaintance who hated priests. Often when the man came home he would fold his hands and say, “My God, I thank you for not making me a believer. I thank you.”

He was once sitting on a bench in the forest in Upper Bavaria looking at the mountains when a tree crashed to the earth beside him. He left because he no longer found the view as pleasant. “ Il y a des choses, qui rompent le charme .” [There are things that break the spell.]

We ate in the study, which was paneled halfway up in dark wood. A large map of the world was mounted in one of the walls. It was completely white, like terra incognita, and only the places that its owner had seen were painted in.

Letters. Mother writes to me from Obersdorf that she is disturbed by the little word nichts [nothing], which is beginning to appear with ever-greater connotations. For example on posters: “ Das Volk ist alles—du bist nichts .” [The nation is everything—you are nothing.] That would then be a totality composed of zeroes. You certainly get that impression at times. The game that the nihilists play is becoming more and more transparent. The high stakes force them to show their cards and often for no reason.

Otte reports that in Hamburg there is talk of pulping the remaining copies of Kubin’s Andere Seite [ The Other Side ]. That would merely achieve a destruction of paper, whereas with people, it would be a destruction of the flesh.

Finally a letter from Henri Thomas, who is all worked up about the translation of some proper names and place names that have allusive meaning in the Marble Cliffs . An example is “Fillerhorn,” which derives from the obsolete verb fillen , meaning to maltreat, abuse, or skin. He choses corne aux tanneurs and says that this guild is one of the oldest and that mentioning it would convey a dark, medieval tone as well as one of suspicion. Köppelsbleek—or better, Köppelesbleek—is a place of bleached skulls. [46] Köppelsbleek: The old Germanic name E. J. gives to the equivalent of a concentration camp in On the Marble Cliffs . That place has all the attributes of a gothic horror tale, including a torture chamber where a dwarf flays and dismembers corpses. For that he uses the expression rouissage [retting]. Here I was using a place name of a landscape feature in the region of Goslar. In Germany, the name has already changed to Göbbelesbleek. For Pulverkopf, he wanted to use hauteflamme of brusqueflamme , but that choice did not seem to connote enough irony to answer the old artillery soldier whose name is not even known. He had boasted of having a cannon in reserve to use against Christendom. I suggested calling him le vieux pétardier [the old artilleryman], which seemed too coarse for Thomas. He suggested boute feu , which as well as fuse, can also mean arsonist—a word that over time has gained an ironic note. Soit . [So be it.]