It is with great sadness that I inform you of the death of my dear friend Marit Greve, eldest child of Odd and Kari Nansen, and granddaughter of Fridtjof Nansen, on Friday, March 26. Marit was 92 years old. Marit was born November 8, 1928, in Brooklyn, NY. (I would often kid her that, beneath …
“It is a moving record of a man who, though he seems to be unconscious of it, is one of the noble and heroic spirits of our . . . times.” So ends William L. Shirer’s review of From Day to Day, first published on this day 72 years ago. Shirer was already a best-selling …
“The most important thing is not to reach your goal, but always to be on your way—always on your way.” Fridtjof Nansen On this day in 1893, on the heels of the summer solstice and the all-important midsummer celebration, Fridtjof Nansen, Odd Nansen’s father, departed Oslo (or Christiania, as it was then called) on board …
I’ve written about some important topics lately: Sachsenhausen, V-E Day, war diaries, etc. And there are plenty of other matters I could be writing about: the announcement of the capture of Adolf Eichmann on May 23, 1960, or the arrival of Josef Mengele at Auschwitz on May 24, 1943, or the tragic voyage of the …
Today marks the 118th anniversary of Odd Nansen’s birth, on December 6, 1901. Recently I gave a lecture on Odd Nansen’s father, Fridtjof Nansen (whom I’ve written about here). Afterward, a gentleman in the audience recommended reading a book called In the Land of White Death by Valerian Albanov. Albanov, a Russian, joined the Saint …
I am always overjoyed when I receive feedback from my blog subscribers regarding a recent post—especially if they have some personal connection to the story as well (this was a good example). Last month I published a blog discussing both Churchill and Fridtjof Nansen, and the importance of May 13 in their lives. As …
I don’t know if Winston Churchill and Fridtjof Nansen (about whom I’ve written before here and here) ever knew each other or knew of each other. I’ve never yet come across a reference to the other in either of their writings. But then again, I’ve only scratched the surface of their respective output—both left prodigious …
I am pleased to announce that the Winter 2019 issue of MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, has just hit the newsstands, and contains an article I authored regarding the Nansen Passport. One of the many reasons Fridtjof Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 was his work as the first High …
I’ve just returned from a magical trip to Oslo, Norway to help celebrate the 90th birthday of Marit Greve, Odd Nansen’s eldest child. The outbound voyage went without a hitch. My airplane seat had a nifty video screen which showed my position in flight at all times. I checked the flight stats while passing over …
Today is Fridtjof Nansen’s 157th 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 last time I had read it was back in 2010, soon after I first discovered Odd Nansen’s diary and decided to get …
“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.
