Well, the 2026 Winter Olympics are now history. We’ve all had our share of experiencing the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, as well as gravity-defying tricks, including 180s, 360s, and 540s, all performed forward, backward, and upside down. The U.S. performed well, earning a record-breaking 12 gold medals, including thrilling victories over …
I’m a big believer in serendipity (which I have previously written about here, here and here). After all, it was serendipity that brought Odd Nansen and Thomas Buergenthal together in Revier #3 in Sachsenhausen, where Tom was recovering from surgery and one of Nansen’s friends was also receiving treatment. Tom could just as easily have …
Today marks the end of the 30-day period of mourning for Jimmy Carter, 39th U.S. President of the United States, who died on December 29, 2024, age 100. Carter was known for so many humanitarian undertakings that to list or describe them all would be impossible. One of his many endeavors was the establishment of …
On this date, 129 years ago (also a Sunday), Fridtjof Nansen (Odd Nansen’s father), along with Nansen’s companion, Hjalmar Johansen, reached a point, in Johansen’s words, “most northerly that any human foot had ever trod.” They had arrived at 86°14’ north latitude, besting the previous record, set 13 years earlier, by almost 200 miles. Nansen …
“None the less we bid it welcome, and once more fix our hopes, our burning wishes, and our ache of longing on the new year. The news is excellent, and all things considered there seems every reason to take a rather more cheerful view of things after all.” (From Day to Day, January 2, 1944) …
One year ago today I lost a dear friend when Marit Greve, Odd Nansen’s eldest child, passed away in her sleep, age 92. Marit was a such a delightful person. Quite apart from the immense help she provided me while I was editing Odd Nansen’s WWII concentration camp diary, the Marit I came to know …
Last week’s blog produced so many responses I’ve decided to do it again! Q: Did Germany participate in the 1952 Winter Olympics? A: Yes The question of Germany’s participation in the 1952 Games, so soon after the end of the worst conflagration in history, generated strong feelings, both pro and con. According to Tom Buergenthal, …
The following is an updated version of a blog I first posted in 2018. Today is Fridtjof Nansen’s 160th birthday. I recently revisited the incredible account of his quest for the North Pole, Farthest North, in anticipation of a lecture I gave on the same subject. The first time I had read it was back in 2010, …
Those of you who have read From Day to Day know full well Odd Nansen’s artistry. In 41 illustrations Nansen depicts in great detail the squalid, dangerous life of a concentration camp prisoner. Where did Nansen develop his artistic ideas and technique? Recently I was approached by the Scandinavian Review to write an article about …
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). …
“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.
