Odd Nansen died 46 years ago today, on June 27, 1973, age 71. Each year on his death I like to draw from literature a description that I feel aptly describes some aspect of Nansen’s character (which I’ve done here, here and here). Last year’s blog made a passing reference to Ernest Hemingway in my tribute …
Syttende Mai, or May 17, is Norway’s Constitution Day, and its most important national holiday. Norwegians everywhere celebrate the signing of the Norwegian Constitution on May 17, 1814, by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly in Eidsvoll, Norway. The Norwegian Constitution is now the second oldest in continuous force (after the United States). I can’t think of …
Last week, while on a book tour through CT and NY, I was privileged to spend May 2—Yom HaShoah—at my high school alma mater, Notre Dame of West Haven, CT. In the morning I taught 23 Seniors in the school’s Holocaust class. Notre Dame, a boys school run by the Brothers of the Holy Cross, …
From Odd Nansen’s dairy, Thursday, July 9, 1942: “At dinnertime I was called down for questioning in the Vermittlung [registration office]. It was Herold who did the questioning. My entire life was unrolled, from the cradle to the present day. . . . Clearly the point was just to get a résumé of my whole …
Seventy-five years ago today the Great Escape got underway. For those of us of a certain age (I had just finished the third grade), the exploits of Steve McQueen in the film version of The Great Escape, gunning his motorcycle over those daunting fences standing between him and freedom, defined in large part our understanding …
Recently my wife Tara and I were working on a crossword puzzle. The clue for the four-letter word was: “January 13, e.g.” I immediately thought of “Ides” but quickly dismissed it—that’s the 15th day of the month, right? After all, if there is one thing I remember from high school English, it was that the …
I thought it both appropriate and welcome to end 2018 with a feel-good story. I’ve done so before—here, here and here. At least it made me feel good. Writing can oftentimes be a lonely calling. The research: you and your book/article/computer screen. Writing: you’re alone with your thoughts and ideas, and that’s it. My blogs …
I am pleased to announce that the third distribution of royalty checks has just been made. As I explained in earlier posts (here and here), I determined at the outset of my journey with From Day to Day that any royalties derived from the sale of Nansen’s diary would go to a charity or charities …
Today is the 117th anniversary of Odd Nansen’s birth on December 6, 1901. Each year I try to commemorate his anniversary with a pithy statement or quote that encapsulates the kind of person Nansen was. In previous years I have quoted noted Holocaust survivor and writer Primo Levi (here), and Holocaust survivor and historian H.G. …
“Apart from the already described reactions, the newly arrived prisoner experienced the tortures of other most painful emotions, all of which he tried to deaden. First of all, there was his boundless longing for his home and his family.” —Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning Odd Nansen would certainly agree with Frankl’s observation. In the …
“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.
