The Diary of Karl Süssheim (1878 - 1947)

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The orientalist Karl Süssheim kept his Diary in Turkish - and later in Arabic - from his early years in the Ottoman Empire through the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 and after his return to Germany, through war, revolution, and the horrors of Nazi rule. This book presents selected episodes in translation from the surviving parts of Süssheim's Diary, covering the years 1908 to 1940. In its detached style it allows the reader a remarkable insight into Süssheim's family surroundings, his academic career at Munich University, and the eventful times he lived through. Flemming and Schmidt aim at providing at once an intimate impression of, and a monument to, one of the great diarists of the last century. To illuminate the issues for a broad range of readers, the selected texts from the Diary are situated against the background of contemporary events and fully annotated. "Erst die kommentierte Übersetzung der Tagebücher gibt Süssheim sein Leben zurück, macht aus dem Vergessenen und Unbekannten einen an allem interessierten Menschen im Wirbel des dramatischen Geschehens der ersten Hälfte des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts [...] in diesem Buch entsteht ein Leben, das den Leser in den Bann zieht. Es ist die Lebensgeschichte eines genialen Autodidakten, der durch seine bedingungslose Liebe zum Orient zu einem Außenseiter wurde." FAZ "Flemming and Schmidt have done a remarkable job and the resulting work presents a valuable historical source." Jahrbuch für Europäische Überseegeschichte "There is more, much more, in this impeccably researched and translated work than can be mentioned in the space of a short review." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society