Ernst Junger War Diaries

[SiegeGunner]

Re the red band, what Hofmann renders as 'so as not to draw any gunfire to the spot' actually reads 'um die bösen Kopfschüsse nicht herauszufordern' in the German text he worked from.  Which I would translate as something like 'so as not to attract a nasty shot in the head'.  Hofmann has completely failed to convey Jünger's contempt for the risk.  He's also omitted 'Reserve' from '10th Bavarian Reserve Regiment'.  The more you look at Hofmann's translation, the more you realise its appalling defects and deficiencies.

Edited 14 February , 2019 by SiegeGunner

[trajan]

3 minutes ago, GreyC said:

Thanks for spotting the mistake - corrected.

In answer to your question: Don ´t know if abridged but here´s one:

https://freeditorial.com/en/books/in-stahlgewittern-aus-dem-tagebuch-eines-stosstruppfuhrers

GreyC

 

MANY Thanks! Gosh, wie typisch Hannoversche deutsch - easy to read and to follow! I just glanced through a few pages and it seems excellently wrtitten, clear and simple!

 

Julian

[trajan]

5 minutes ago, SiegeGunner said:

Re the red band, what Hofmann renders as 'so as not to draw any gunfire to the spot' actually reads 'um die bösen Kopfschüsse nicht herauszufordern' in the German text he worked from.  Which I would translate as something like 'so as not to attract a nasty shot in the head'.  Hofmann has completely failed to convey Jünger's contempt for the risk.  He's also omitted 'Reserve' from '10th Bavarian Reserve Regiment'.  The more you look at Hofmann's translation, the more you realise its appalling defects and deficiencies.

 

Mick, knowing your excellence and expertise in such matters, I fully concurr - not the least because even I, with my limited ability, can see howlers in the Hofmann version that are not so obvious in the Creighton one (the red band/red ribbon being one) - but only, I guess, if you know something about the German army... The Hofmann version is to my mind more literary - "Homeric epic style", the Creighton one more literal - "that's how it is mate"...

 

Julian

[David Filsell]

Chreighton's translation is by far the best in my view , he was an Australian who, not least, had served in the Great War. I spoke with Hoffman about his translation - he freely admitted his ignorance of the Great War and German Military matters which certainly shows and for which I criticised him. Not too sure though which of the German editions he translated.

 

 

 

[Martin Feledziak]

2 minutes ago, David Filsell said:

Chreighton's

 

Happily the link posted by Maureen includes a version of the 1929 book so we can all get to read it now.

Upto now I only have Hofmann but that was a still a most valuable source.

 

I am looking forward to see how Creighton describes the incident where Junger stole the glass carriage. Loaded onto a transport and later smashed it up on a joy ride?

[MaureenE]

1 hour ago, trajan said:

know of a German version on-line? 

 

I didn't look at the link provided by GreyC   but this is a transcription of the 1922 version.

In Stahlgewittern: Aus dem Tagebuch eines Stoßtruppführers by Ernst Jünger 1922. Gutenberg.org. 

 

Cheers

Maureen

[trajan]

9 hours ago, GreyC said:

The red band on his cap stands for infantry. It should have been covered for safety and camouflage reasons with a Mützenverdeckband. "cap-concealing-band"

 

I can´t find an officer with Mützenverdeckband off hand in my collection, here is a plain soldier of IR 162 with one, though. There were those with a whole for the 2nd cockade and those which covered it as well like this one.

GreyC

 

Forgot to add - never knew this version existed... I thought that they all had openings for the lower cockade... So thanks for enlightening me!

Edited 15 February , 2019 by trajan

[trajan]

7 hours ago, David Filsell said:

Chreighton's translation is by far the best in my view , he was an Australian who, not least, had served in the Great War. I spoke with Hoffman about his translation - he freely admitted his ignorance of the Great War and German Military matters which certainly shows and for which I criticised him. Not too sure though which of the German editions he translated.

 

The copyright page of the Hofmann book indicates he used the one in the Saemliche Werke vol 2, 1978, this being based on, it seems, the 1961 edition of the original. But after commenting that there may have been as many as eight editions, 1920-1961, with the 'most substantially different texts' being 1924 and 1934, Hofmann states that he used an undated copy that he was sure was "the newest version" (Hofmann, xii)... 

 

Obviously, I must have read the Creghton version all those years ago when studying for my 'O' level English Lit, and I am highly tempted to print this off to get away from Hofmann's jargon-filled example. But having the German version from GreyC is a boon: it does seem be - in essence - fairly straightforward to read, although I will doubtless labour over parts! But short to-the-point sentences make such an enjoyable change from long-winded affairs (one German archaeological text I had to read recently had a single sentence of 64 words...!!!) 

 

6 hours ago, Maureene said:

I didn't look at the link provided by GreyC   but this is a transcription of the 1922 version.

In Stahlgewittern: Aus dem Tagebuch eines Stoßtruppführers by Ernst Jünger 1922. Gutenberg.org. 

 

 

Thanks Maureen - I am a little too long in the teeth for embarking on a new career as a literary critic (especially auf deutsch!) - but useful to have as a fall-back to search when trying to double-check things.

 

Hmmm - perhaps we should pool resources and provide our own version!

 

Julian

 

PS: no sign yet of a sawback bayonet - Sägerückenklinge

Edited 15 February , 2019 by trajan
Spelling

[GreyC]

Hi,

for those of you who really want to get deep into it, and if your German is sufficent to get along, this is the ultimate critical edition.

Jünger revised his book eleven times and published seven German versions over the years. The critical edition compares the editions and comments on the relevant changes in the context of the times. The book is not cheap, though I am afraid.

https://www.klett-cotta.de/buch/Juenger/In_Stahlgewittern/36357

GreyC

 

Edited 15 February , 2019 by GreyC

[trajan]

11 minutes ago, GreyC said:

Hi,

for those of you who really want to get deep into it, and if your German is sufficent to get along, this is the ultimate critical edition.

Jünger revised his book eleven times and published seven German versions over the years. The critical edition compares the editions and comments on the relevant changes in the context of the times. The book is not cheap, though I am afraid.

https://www.klett-cotta.de/buch/Juenger/In_Stahlgewittern/36357

GreyC

 

 

Thanks for that link! I guess I would have major problems with the critical apparatus, but it would be nice to see the text in this - a university library order though! Interesting to see from the blurb (if I have understood it correctly) that there eleven textual revisions and seven published editions - I guess the 1961 one does not count? And was it really eines der meistdiskutierten deutschsprachigen Bücher des 20. Jahrhunderts.? If so, because of his (?perceived?) ambiguity re: NSocialism? Incidentally do we know if AH ever read it?

 

Julian

[Martin Feledziak]

On 14/02/2019 at 19:46, Martin Feledziak said:

Junger stole the glass carriage

 

I did have a look to find how the conveyance was so described. It had been taken and loaded onto a transport for Mars-le-Tour. It was later taken for a joy ride to Metz but it did not get that far as there were no brakes and the vehicle destroyed.

 

on page 190 Creighton described it as " a princely Lord-mayor's coach from an abandoned Flemish mansion".

 

on page 127 Hofmann described it as "a glass coach from an abandoned Flemish mansion"

 

I checked page 69 of the German language PDF (from post 25)  sadly the coach incident did not get a mention.

BUT there are just 116 pages so obviously much is left out.

Edited 16 February , 2019 by Martin Feledziak

[Hedley Malloch]

On 14/02/2019 at 12:18, Martin Feledziak said:

 

I feel confident that they are the boys refereed to by JUNGER.

 

They are indeed. A few years ago I was doing some research on EJ and I wrote to the Mayor of Monchy to ask if anything was known about the two boys. I did not receive a reply.

[2ndCMR]

As for orphans adopted by the troops, I happened to read this a few minutes ago.

 

Edited 22 June , 2019 by 2ndCMR

[Felix C]

Is the complete German language version available online?

[Martin Feledziak]

Here is the Hoffman translation

Ernst Junger-Storm of Steel (Penguin Modern Classics) (2007) (1).pdf

[healdav]

You can still find exactly where Junger was in the Regnieville area if you know where to look! Dugouts, Company HQ, etc.

 

[Martin Feledziak]

This week I managed a quick trip out to Consenvoye and surrounds - I would love to have gone the extra 50 or so miles to the German cemetery at Thiacourt BUT as my wife was with me I know I was on to a loser.

I wanted to see if I could photograph the "Distant to the eye" stone as below. BUT it will have to wait another time.

 

The next day, Colonel von Oppen summoned the members of the patrol once more,
and gave out Iron Crosses and two weeks' furlough apiece. In the afternoon, those of
the fallen who were brought in were buried in the military cemetery at Thiaucourt. In
among the fallen of this war, there were also fighters from 1870. One of those old
graves was marked by a mossy stone with the inscription: 'Distant to the eye, but to the
heart forever nigh!' A large stone slab was etched with the lines:

Heroes' deeds and heroes' graves, Old and new you here may see. How the Empire was
created, How the Empire was preserved.
That evening I read in a French communique: 'A German attack at Regnieville was
foiled; prisoners were taken.' Wolves had broken into the sheep-pen, but lost their
bearings - nothing more. At any rate, the short item told me that among our lost
comrades there were some who had survived.

Edited 28 June , 2019 by Martin Feledziak

[David Filsell]

I will stick with Creighton. While Hoffman is a highly regarded translator,  his knowledge of war and the German army Is revealed in the text as inadequate. 

[Felix C]

I found the/a German version on Gutenburg books. And thanks to Martin for the PDF. something to read on a plane on my next trip. Well now have all three.

Edited 28 June , 2019 by Felix C