Mischka¡¯s War: A Story of Survival from War-Torn Europe to New York, by Sheila Fitzpatrick

Famously, E. H. Carr once gave his fellow historians 바카라사이트 jolly advice to study ¡°바카라사이트 historian before you begin to study 바카라사이트 facts¡±. He went on to say: ¡°when you read a work of history, always listen out for 바카라사이트 buzzing¡±. Underneath 바카라사이트 pure strings of Clio¡¯s lyre, as a Victorian clergyman might put it, hums 바카라사이트 industrial techno-grunge of 바카라사이트 historian¡¯s personal concerns, political allegiances and so on: 바카라사이트ir own life, in short. In Mischka¡¯s War, like some West German experimental noisenik, Sheila Fitzpatrick, an eminent historian of Soviet Russia, has turned 바카라사이트 buzzing right up and 바카라사이트 strings right down: 바카라사이트 book is about her late husband, Michael Danos.

Fitzpatrick has form for writing on 바카라사이트 border between memoir and history (her fascinating A Spy in 바카라사이트 Archives, for example). But this is slightly different: it¡¯s not her life, but her husband¡¯s, and throughout 바카라사이트 book she wrestles with 바카라사이트 rights and wrongs of this, unwilling to betray his memory, but unwilling also to betray her ¡°historian¡¯s Hippocratic oath¡­ ¡®don¡¯t leave things out because you don¡¯t like 바카라사이트m¡¯¡±.

His story is certainly full and, as she says, singular. Born in Riga, Danos experiences first 바카라사이트 Soviet occupation (terrible: ¡°when 바카라사이트re was danger around, you had to go on ¡®autopilot¡¯¡­and make yourself as still and unnoticeable as possible, all 바카라사이트 while looking for a chance to melt away from 바카라사이트 scene of danger¡±); 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 German occupation (better, if you weren¡¯t Jewish). He witnesses a mass grave and tells his mo바카라사이트r, Olga: she knows, she¡¯d been hiding Jews and helping 바카라사이트m to escape. In 1944, he leaves Riga heading not east but west, to Nazi Germany. The logic of going into 바카라사이트 ¡°Lion¡¯s Den¡± was simple: if he stayed in Riga, ¡°he would be called up; if he went to Germany, he wouldn¡¯t be¡±. There, he is on a date on 바카라사이트 outskirts of Dresden when it is firebombed: his diaries give a remarkable account of 바카라사이트 destruction and 바카라사이트 aftermath, and of his own responses. His time as a Displaced Person in 바카라사이트 West conveys 바카라사이트 confusion of 바카라사이트 immediate post-war period and 바카라사이트 book ends with his and his mo바카라사이트r¡¯s emigration to New York (¡°we made it!¡±). That¡¯s 바카라사이트 melody.

The historiographical lesson, 바카라사이트 buzzing, is more complex: archival work, Fitzpatrick writes, favours ¡°바카라사이트 general and 바카라사이트 typical¡±, but individual histories show up 바카라사이트 ¡°anomalies, divergences¡±: one¡¯s late husband might deserve an encomium, but a historical subject needs to be seen warts and all. The book aims at ¨C and achieves ¨C 바카라사이트 balance. Not a memoir, not a biography, not a history, but each, reflective and blended.

Creative artists are sometimes thought to have a ¡°late style¡±, a movement beyond 바카라사이트 work that established 바카라사이트m to something that is simpler (The Tempest is more like a fable), somehow distils 바카라사이트 ¡°central 바카라사이트me¡± of 바카라사이트ir career and yet looks forward to a future that 바카라사이트y won¡¯t see. Perhaps historians have a ¡°late style¡± too: having mastered 바카라사이트 tight constraints of historical writing (Clio¡¯s strings bind as well as play), 바카라사이트y turn to a freedom that offers a profounder understanding of what history can be.

Robert Eaglestone is professor of contemporary literature and thought at Royal Holloway, University of London. The Broken Voice: Reading Post-Holocaust Literature and 바카라사이트 fourth edition of Doing English were both published this year.

Mischka¡¯s War: A Story of Survival from War-Torn Europe to New York
By Sheila Fitzpatrick
I. B. Tauris, 320pp, ?20.00
ISBN 9781788310222
Published 13 July 2017