FROM DAY TO DAY

by Odd Nansen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 21, 1948

A warm humanity and an unassuming belief gives this a quality to be remembered from all other bitter and/or violent books of similar experiences, for this prisoner of war diary is of moral rather than sheerly physical courage. The author, an architect, son of the famous Arctic explorer, was a court hostage of Norway, and through his diary, kept from 1942 to 1945, details the long grim years of hopes and despairs, the changing routines following the phases of the war, the quality of the German guards and commandants, the tests of the patriotism and integrity of the prisoners. From concentration camps in Norway, to those in Germany, he writes for his wife of the happenings, how he is getting on, the means by which he hides, and saves, his diary, and how his writing gives him strength. From inside the barbed wire this reports on the lax early days to those of the vicious frenzy of the New Order and the increasing hardness of the life as outrages, tortures, shootings and hangings mount; on the work done, in the author's case designing and working on buildings, making toys, entertaining his fellows, and championing those persecuted; on the realization of the atrocities against the Jews; on the tense following of the Allied offensive and the final return home, via Denmark. Some unforgettable incidents and characters, a personal honesty and unshrinking observation, make this a plea for humanitarianism and understanding sympathy for all fellow men and should keep it from being classed with other war prisoner books.

Pub Date: Jan. 21, 1948

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1948

Categories: NONFICTION