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Diary of a Man in Despair [Paperback]

Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen (Author), Norman Stone (Introduction), Paul Rubens (Translator)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Duck Editions (19 April 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0715631004
  • ISBN-13: 978-0715631003
  • Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.4 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 988,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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› Visit Amazon's Fritz Percy Reck-Malleczewen Page
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Synopsis

Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen, a Prussian aristocrat, began a secret diary in May 1936, which describes how a psychosis enveloped an entire society, enabling Hitler's rise to power, and the Nazi regime. His insider observations are set down with passion, outrage and almost unbearable sadness. This diary begins with the death of the corrupted Spengler ("Decline of the West"), describes personal encounters with Hitler (he considers shooting the Fuhrer) and abruptly stops when the diarist, at the depth of his despair, is arrested by the Gestapo. Reck-Malleczewen was executed by genickshuss (neck-shot) in Dachau on 16 February, 1945.

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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A Reactionary's Finest Hour 17 July 2001
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen's "Diary of a Man in Despair" evidences many traits that would probably justify his description as an unreconstructed reactionary of the old school. He was an admirer (and friend) of Oswald Spengler. He was an aristocrat and a monarchist (although of a Wittelsbach rather than Hohenzollern bent). He thought highly of the inner decency of the Bavarian peasant (although he himself came from Junker origins). What makes this book fascinating is that such a man was also a fervent anti-nazi, whose chief regret was not having shot Hitler when, early in the Third Reich, he had had a chance to do so in a restaurant in Munich. This is surprising to a modern sensibility, which associates mental attitudes such as Reck-Malleczewen's with an innate proto-nazism. Nothing could be further from the truth. As Michael Burleigh has shown in his emblematic "The Third Reich", Hitlerism was a truly revolutionary creed. Its main contenders were on the right, not on the left. We must remember that the conspiracy to kill the Fuehrer in August 1944 was led by aristocrats in the army. A refined, sensitive, individualistic, cultured man like Reck-Malleczewen, having seen the regime's true face from very early on (he owned a palace in Schleissheim, just a few kilometers off Dachau), could never reconcile himself with its vulgarity, violence and inner nihilism. While many "progressives" easily transacted with the nazis, sympathising with many of their worthier goals (such as social security and work for the masses, or a strong Germany for a strong German people) it was left to reactionaries such as Reck-Malleczewen to realize the cosmic evil that had been unleashed, and to wallow in the pits of existential despair at their powerlessness to stop it. In its death throes, the Third Reich managed to take our author with it. He was executed in February 1945 by a single shot to the neck.

I very deeply regret that the diary has but 232 pages, of which 11 (5% of the book) are taken up by a rather tedious preface by Norman Stone. I would very much have enjoyed learning from this wizened sage whose voice booms down from mountains that very few dare to climb. It was the common people, with their simple pleasures, their resentments and prides, their thoughtless ambitions, that provided the backbone for the Third Reich...

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Amazon.com: 4.0 out of 5 stars  1 review
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Less despairing than the title suggests.... 20 Jun 2000
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
There have been many personal memoirs describing aspects of the second World War, however this book, although not especially well-written, is unusual in that the author did not have the benefit of hindsight. This is a personal and highly idiosyncratic description of the events leading up to the war and of conditions and attitudes in Germany during the war. Despite the title, the author managed to avoid a tone of despair, and instead conveys a passionate loathing of the regime and a fervent belief that the Hitler era would be ended, although at great cost to Germany. Reck-Malleczewen was a nationalist whose great love of his country did not blind him to the sinister use by Hitler of German pride. He remains coherent despite the realisation that he is impotent to act against the regime, and documents in great detail (sometimes, with hindsight, lacking in historical accuracy) some of the more ridiculous and darkly amusing occurrences in Germany. The book is typified by intellectual arrogance, and the assumption that the author's background and education enables him to see beyond the trappings of the Nazi structures, and to attempt to comprehend the madness engulfing his country. Nevertheless, one is left with the impression that Reck-Malleczewen was essentially a very humane and thoughtful person whose attempts to understand the flaws in his own country make for a fascinating, if somewhat macabre, read.
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