Mauthausen

by Iakovos Kambanellis | Biographies & Memoirs | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 960040979x Global Overview for this book
Registered by okyrhoe of Athens - Αθήνα, Attica Greece on 12/21/2007
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Journal Entry 1 by okyrhoe from Athens - Αθήνα, Attica Greece on Friday, December 21, 2007
Mauthausen, by Iakovos Kambanellis.
Translated by Gail Holst-Warhaft. ISBN 960040979Χ.
Published in 1995 by Kedros Editions, for the Modern Greek Writers Series.

From the publishers:
"Beginning with the liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp by the Americans and continuing through the months that followed before the prisoners were repatriated, Iakovos Kambanellis’ Mauthausen tells the story of a remarkable love affair between two former prisoners. The events of the story are all true, but they read like a strange fairy-tale.
The euphoria of the first days of the Liberation, the slow awakening of the inmates to the possibilities of love and normalcy, the beauty of the spring landscape in which the lovers walk hand-in-hand make the atrocities that preceded them seem inconceivable. And like the lovers who walk through the camp exorcizing its demons, we are spared no detail of the savagery perpetrated in the years of its operation.
Kambanellis’ account is based on the notes he made just after he was liberated. In the twenty years that passed between his experiences and the publishing of this memoir in Greek, he became a mature writer and Greece’s best known playwright.
Like Primo Levi’s writing about his experience in Auschwitz, Kambanellis' Mauthausen is both a literary masterpiece and a testament to the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit."

Excerpt from the book:
"On the fifth of May, a little before noon, a huge American tank, black with smoke and battle-scarred, broke down the gate of Mauthausen and entered the grounds. The soldiers looked at us confused, proud, sorrowful. They were wise to stay up there, on top of their tanks. They had saved themselves from so many battles. They'd never have saved themselves from our joy."

Listen to an online radio program about Kambanellis's Mauthausen.

Journal Entry 2 by okyrhoe from Athens - Αθήνα, Attica Greece on Friday, December 21, 2007
Kambanellis wrote a theatrical play based on these memoirs, and also contributed lyrics to the Mauthausen project composed by Mikis Theodorakis.

Scroll down this page to see the lyrics in English and Dutch translation.


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