After Jan Karski escaped from the hospital in Poland in mid-1941, he spent the next seven months recuperating and in “quarantine” in a remote country estate. In the cat and mouse moves of the Gestapo and the Underground, the Underground had no way of knowing if Karski’s escape was indeed legitimate, or had been “staged” …
There are some people whose experiences during World War II are so fantastical, so filled with drama and danger, that one wonders how they managed to simply keep going. Jan Karski is one such man. Karski, described by British historian Michael Burleigh as “one of the bravest men of the war,” and whose life was …
Forty-eight years ago today Odd Nansen died, age 71. Each year on the anniversary of his death, I try to find a fitting quote or example that typifies his life (see, for example, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016). I have now spent years studying Odd Nansen, years writing blogs about various aspects of his life …
[* If you haven’t yet seen Atlantic Crossing, please stop reading this, and watch it. Do not pass Go, and do not collect $200.] June 7 is an important date in Norway’s World War II history. On June 7, 1940, King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olav, and many Norwegian government officials, fled to Great Britain …
On May 22, 1939, Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel, or more formally, the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy, thereby converting the Rome-Berlin Axis into a military alliance. The Pact was executed by Foreign Ministers Galeazzo Ciano and Joachim von Ribbentrop at the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. Both parties …
Happy Constitution Day, Norway! I’ve written about this day, known as Syttende Mai, before, focusing on Norway’s experiences in World War II (here and here). I’ve also written in the past about some of the heroes of World War II (here) and some of its tragic victims (here). Today I would like to focus on …
Fridtjof Nansen, polar explorer, statesman, and humanitarian, died 91 years ago today, age 68. Those of you who are watching the PBS series Atlantic Crossing (and, if not, you should be, even if it is only “inspired by true events”) are well acquainted with King Haakon VII (played by Oscar nominated Danish actor Søren Pilmark). …
Some dates in history just seem to be more fraught with meaning than others. Take, for instance, May 10. So many things happened on May 10 relating to World War II that it’s difficult to describe them all. Here’s a brief rundown: May 10, 1933: On the 101st day of Hitler’s new Nazi regime, Nazi-dominated …
This week marks the fifth anniversary of the republication of From Day to Day: One Man’s Diary of Survival in Nazi Concentration Camps. What a fantastic five years it has been—and that’s even including the last 12 months! Little could I have imagined the many wonderful people I would meet along the way, each with …
Today marks the 76th anniversary of the liberation of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. I can’t think of a better way to observe it than to republish the post I wrote one year ago: April 22, 1945: Thomas Buergenthal Liberated Seventy-five years ago today, Polish and Russian armed forces liberated Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, and with it, Thomas …
“I want to thank Tim Boyce for this . . . . It would be lost to history if people like Tim Boyce did not devote the effort and time and expense–a good part of his life–to preserve the Odd Nansen story. It is a moving and gripping story. . . .”
–U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal
Hailed by The New Yorker as “among the most compelling documents to come out of the war,” From Day to Day is a World War II concentration camp diary—one of only a handful ever translated into English—secretly written by Odd Nansen, a Norwegian political prisoner. Arrested in January 1942, Nansen, son of polar explorer and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen (Nobel Peace Prize 1922) was held captive for the duration of the war in various Nazi camps in Norway and Germany.
Nansen’s diary entries detail his palpable longing for his wife and family, his constantly frustrated hopes for release, the quiet strength and sometimes ugly prejudices of his fellow prisoners, and his horror at the especially barbaric treatment reserved for the Jews. The diary brilliantly illuminates Nansen’s daily struggle, not only to survive, but to preserve his sanity and maintain his humanity in a world engulfed by fear and hate.
First published in English in 1949, From Day to Day had been out of print for almost seventy years. The new edition contains entries and sketches never previously available in English. It also features a new introduction and extensive annotations by Timothy Boyce and a preface by Thomas Buergenthal, whose life (as a ten year-old) Nansen saved while in Sachsenhausen, later recounted in his own memoir A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy.
