RE: [Cz-L] The Genesis of Paul Celan's "Todesfuge"

From: Boris Briker <boris.briker_at_villanova.edu>
Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2014 02:37:59 +0000
To: Edgar Hauster <bconcept_at_hotmail.com>
Reply-To: Boris Briker <boris.briker_at_villanova.edu>

Hello Edgar,

I tried to look for the Krasnaya Zvezda article, but I am glad that Galina found it and sent it to you. It is interesting that in 1944 the Soviets published this Simonov article as a little book (you call it pamphlet) in several languages even in Yiddish, but not in original Russian. It was published in Russian only in the Red Army Newspaper, Red Star. Later in the 1970s and in 1980s Simonov published a book, Writers Diaries, in which he recalls his experiences as a war correspondent. Here he talks about the concentration camps in Poland. This book is available on the Internet. There is also page or two in this book about how the author, Simonov, meets a rabbi in Czernowitz who tells him about the horrors of the ghetto in Czernowitz. It is here.
http://militera.lib.ru/db/simonov_km/2_18.html

The idea of a connection between Simonov's account of the concentration camps and Paul Cellan’s famous poem is quite fascinating. It would be however hard or impossible to prove that Paul Cellan actually met Simonov in Chernowitz. (Simonov recalls in this book that a young Jewish student guided him to the Rabbi’s house. I guess it will be too farfetched to suggest that this student was actually Paul Celan.)

Best,
Boris
boris.briker_at_villanova.edu

________________________________________
From: bounce-111725888-62125556_at_list.cornell.edu [bounce-111725888-62125556_at_list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Edgar Hauster [bconcept_at_hotmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 05, 2014 11:48 AM
To: Czernowitz Discussion Group
Subject: [Cz-L] The Genesis of Paul Celan's "Todesfuge"

Czernowitzers...

I'm asking for your assistance by drawing once again your attention to an update of my post

http://hauster.blogspot.de/2013/05/the-genesis-of-paul-celans-todesfuge.html

adding the extremely rare Yiddish version of Constantin Simonov's pamphlet "The Lublin Extermination Camp", so that in total four different translations of the - Russian - original are available for download now:

English: http://hauster.de/data/simonoven.pdf
English (UK): http://hauster.de/data/simonovuk.pdf
Yiddish: http://hauster.de/data/simonovyd.pdf
German: http://hauster.de/data/simonowdt.pdf

Let's have a closer look at the text passages, which are so evocative of Paul Celan's "Todesfuge"

English (p. 16): "Two hours after the head of the column had entered the camp bands began to play. Scores of loudspeakers began to emit the deafening strains of the fox-trot and the tango. And they blared all the morning, all day, all the evening, and all the night."

English/UK (p. 28): "Two hours after the head of the column had entered the gates, music began to blare over the entire camp and the countryside around. From several dozen loud-speakers came the deafening strains of fox-trots and tangos. The radio blared all morning, all afternoon, all evening, and all through the night."

German (p. 19): "Zwei Stunden, nachdem die Spitze des Zuges im Lager verschwunden war, ertönte im ganzen Lager und in seiner Umgebung Musik. Aus Dutzenden von Lautsprechern schallten ohrenbetäubende Foxtrotts und Tangos. Das Radio spielte den ganzen Morgen, den ganzen Tag und die ganze Nacht."

Yiddish (p. ?): ???

Were there "bands" or was it the "radio", which "played" or "blared" via loudspeakers "all the morning, all day, all the evening, and all the night" or "all morning, all afternoon, all evening, and all through the night"?

What exactly says the Yiddish version? It sould be mentioned in the Yiddish text (see above), on approx p. 48-50. I do know, it's just a minor detail, but nevertheless is there anybody out there, who could translate literally these three sentances to me and to all of us, who are intersted in "The Genesis of Paul Celan's 'Todesfuge'"?

Warmest wishes and have a Happy New Year!

Edgar Hauster
Lent - The Netherlands
=
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject of
 Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and Genealogy. The opinions expressed
 in these posts are the opinions of the original poster only and not necessarily
 the opinions of the List Owner, the Webmaster or any other members
 or entities connected with this mailing list. The Czernowitz-L list has
 an associated web site at http://czernowitz.ehpes.com that includes a
 searchable archive of all messages posted to this list. As a result,
 Messages sent to the list are available to the general public within days
 of posting.

Please post in "Plain Text" (help available at:
<http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/PlainText.html>).

To remove your address from this e-list follow the directions at:

<http://www.it.cornell.edu/services/elist/howto/user/leave.cfm>

To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to:
<owner-Czernowitz-L_at_list.cornell.edu>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on 2014-01-05 19:01:50

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : 2014-04-26 21:21:03 PDT