#GDR #OTD 1960 – Death of academic, veteran and diarist Viktor Klemperer, in Dresden, East Germany (1)

Born to a Jewish family in 1881, Klemperer studied and taught philosophy; volunteered for WWI (2)

A convert to Protestantism, Klemperer still oppressed by Nazi regime. Delayed deportation due to “Aryan” wife. Final deportation orders sent to Jews of Dresden, but Klemperers able to use chaos of the fire-bombing in 1945 to escape (3)

Klemperer reclaimed his “Aryanized” property in Dresden after the war. While Klemperer was skeptical of both East and West Germany, he decided to join the SED and became a member of the Volkskammer (4)

Viktor Klemperer in 1959: “Germany is sort of like a scatter-brained earthworm cut into two pieces. Both parts squirm around, both are contaminated by Fascism, both in their own way”(7)

Klemperer known today for his voluminous diary covering both the Third Reich and the early years of the GDR (9)

Klemperer’s "LTI – Lingua Tertii Imperii" on misuse of language by dictatorships; noted euphemism “enhanced interrogation” for torture (10)