Previous Entries  |  Next Entries

Memoirs of Traudl Junge – Addendum

October 27, 2008

I believe my write-up on Traudl Junge would be incomplete without mentioning one more fact. I wrote in my note that non-Jewish population in Germany during the early days of the War were oblivious to Holocaust.  They were in fact living an increasingly comfortable life and for them Hitler had brought hope for the future and the belief that they could win the War. Of course, people like Hans Junge knew that something was wrong and one has to go beyond the shadows of Hitler in order to know the truth.  But aside these individual cases, there were largely two separate groups of people who felt the real truth. One group was that of those who witnessed the bloodshed themselves, with their own eyes. For example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_assisted_Jews_during_the_Holocaust lists most of these well known persons and the reason for them being recognized as the “Righteous among the nations”. We have seen one such case in the movie Schindler’s List. There are plenty more. There was one another group that also came to realize the truth and what was really going on. This group, lead by a young University of Munich professor, called themselves as the White Rose ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose). They distributed leaflets in the University … they could only distribute six of them during the period from June 1942 to February 1943. In one of these leaflets for example, the group writes:

“Since the conquest of Poland three hundred thousand Jews have been murdered in this country in the most bestial way … The German people slumber on in their dull, stupid sleep and encourage these fascist criminals … Each man wants to be exonerated of a guilt of this kind, each one continues on his way with the most placid, the calmest conscience. But he cannot be exonerated; he is guilty, guilty, guilty!“
 — From the second leaflet of the White Rose.
Of course the Gestapo eventually caught up with all the members of the group and six core members were executed. Today, of course, we honor these brave young men and women who spoke against hitler in those days, knowing very well what awaited in their fate. One of the member of this group was a 21 year old girl named Sophie Scholl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl)* As she was being questioned by the judge she is known to have said 
“You know as well as we do that the war is lost. Why are you so cowardly that you won’t admit it?”
Scholl was born an year after Traudl Junge and died in the same year Junge started working for Hitler. Later, when Junge came to know about her from the memorials, she realized that it was not enough an excuse to be young …
Quoting Junge:
“Of course, the terrible things I heard from the Nuremberg Trials, about the six million Jews and the people from other races who were killed, were facts that shocked me deeply. But I wasn’t able to see the connection with my own past. I was satisfied that I wasn’t personally to blame and that I hadn’t known about those things. I wasn’t aware of the extent. But one day I went past the memorial plaque which had been put up for Sophie Scholl in Franz Josef Strasse, and I saw that she was born the same year as me, and she was executed the same year I started working for Hitler. And at that moment I actually sensed that it was no excuse to be young, and that it would have been possible to find things out.“
The movie Downfall ends with Junge speaking the above words …
=====

Posted in Vancouver Diaries  |  Leave a Comment »

Memoirs of Traudl Junge

October 22, 2008

“Now that I have let go my story, I can let go my life”  
- Traudl (born Gertraud) Junge (née Humps), Feb 10 2002
These were the last words before death from the woman who otherwise lead an ordinary and secluded life, except for one thing  - she was the youngest and the last secretary to the man whom the world knows as Adolf Hitler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler) . She was not only his last secretary but also was among the few people who were with the Führer until the very end and left Hitler’s bunker below the Reich Chancellery on the night of April 30th, 1945, the day Hitler killed himself. She also took down Hitler’s Last Will (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/My_Private_Will_and_Testament) and the political testament (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/My_Political_Testament). Therefore, as a person, she was immensely valuable to history. 
I came to know about her accidentally, just while browsing the pages of wikipedia  - something that I do as a means to unwind myself. I love and value history and her life interested me. After all, she managed to survive a complete and total collapse of a nation and begin anew. The last time I had read a personal account written during the time of the War was that of the Anne Frank’s diary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank) . That was eons back, during my high school days. At that time, the holocaust (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust) became a hot topic of discussion and reading following the release of Spielberg’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg) Academy Award Winning movie, Schindler’s List (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108052/). Unfortunately, the real truth of the holocaust, including the movie itself was censored from being read/viewed by young adults like us in India. So, honestly, much as I had loved to read Frank’s account and her juvenile thoughts and experiences, I failed to understand the bigger truth about the War itself. In years to come, I did began to realize the true events but I was too busy with my career and events of my personal life that I could not explore it in any depth. Now I have some time of my own to devote to reading and learning.  So, out of interest, I started reading her memoirs which was published a few years back, in German (and later translated to English) just before her death. 
Immediately after the War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II), through her then lover Heinz Bald, Junge met a prosperous entrepreneur who was Bald’s patron. This person was fascinated about her past and insisted that she should write down her memories of her time with the Führer. Over the next few months, she wrote about 170 pages of manuscript in her leisure time, at evenings and weekends. She loved to write and this would also serve as a document in case and official asked about Hitler and the circumstances of his death as a part of the War investigation. However, in the climax just after the War when everybody as trying desperately to move forward and forget the past, her story never got published. For a long long time to come thereafter, her account remained unnoticed and unpublished. Over the years she started feeling an extreme guilt of having served the person who she termed as the ‘greatest criminal ever lived’ and doesn’t feel any urge to publish her writing. 
In around the year 2000, she met an Austrian journalist, historian and author, Melissa Muller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_Muller). Her first meeting lead to many many more and Melissa encouraged her to publish her work.  Over the course of next two years, Junge discussed her life, thoughts and her account of her days with Hitler. Finally, with her help, the world comes to read her account for the first time, in 2001 in her book “Until the final hour”, in German. Two years later, her book was made into an Academy Award nominated movie, “Downfall” in German (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Untergang) . The movie currently ranks #73 in the IMDB’s list of all time top #250 movies. 
In the following paragraphs, I will give my own thoughts about the book, some quotes that I found interesting and some of my thoughts about the movie Downfall. 
One of the things I felt as I read through the book is that the book is very complete. It’s not just Junge’s memories of her days with Hitler but it is also about her complete life. The first section of the book deals with her family, her upbringing and her youth. Its a very interesting read. It’s as if the girl Getraud Humps, her life and her character is slowly unfolding before our eyes. This tale is written not by Junge, but by Melissa and describes how, through a series of coincidences and events, Junge got an offer to work as Adolf’s secretary.  It’s a fascinating read. The chapter concludes at a time when Junge has already started working for Hitler, at the Wolf’s Liar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfsschanze). It is from here that Traudl Junge’s own account begins, the account that was written way back in 1947.
The book is complete from other respects too. For example, the notes at the end of her account gives a brief but important facts of the lives of all the different persons Junge mentions in her book. For instance, the note about Heinrich Hoffmann says: 
b Fürth 12 September 1885, d Munich 16 December 1957; works in his father’s photography business; 1908 sets up independently in Munich; 1920 joins NSDAP, membership number 425; 1933 becomes member of the German Reichstag; 1938 given the title of Professor by Hitler; 1945 interned by the US army, released May 1950.
From these accounts, you  can track down the fate of any person who finds a special mention in Junge’s account and with whom she has worked and interacted with. This also includes numerous persons, including her husband, Hans Junge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Hermann_Junge) who was an orderly working for Hitler when Traudl came aboard. 
In the last section of the book, Melissa chips in again to fill in the gaps. She describes Junge’s life after the war. In the writing, she describes what had happened to her after she escaped from Hitler’s bunker. This is also extremely interesting reading. Through a series of good and bad lucks, she finally finds her life back together again, together with her mom and her sister. Melissa also quotes some of the letters Junge writes to her mom after the war when she begins to find her life back again. They are so emotionally rich and very satisfying to read. Melissa’s writing continues to describe Junge’s later life and events; some of which are good and some bad; her relationship with Heinz, the breakup, the new relationships etc etc etc. 
As you can see, the book in itself is a complete record of a person’s life and experiences. This is one of the most important criteria for which the book is a satisfying read. The reader gradually realizes how a young naïve girl, who started out aspiring to be a ballerina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballerina), ended up working for Hitler, accompanied him until the very end, as a entire nation came to a  complete collapse and then again through a series of interesting experiences, managed to survive the destruction and gather her life back again.* 
In the second half of this writing, I will put some interesting quotes from the book, put my views about the movie Downfall and then finally conclude.
                   … To be concluded
———-
* Although it is my personal opinion that Junge made some critical mistakes in judgment throughout her life that ended up in her leading a more or less melancholy existence, her involvement with Hitler and her constant sense of guilt.

Posted in Vancouver Diaries  |  Leave a Comment »

Memoirs of Traudl Junge – concluding part

October 20, 2008

This is the continuation of my write-up on the memoirs of Traudl Junge …

From the very beginning of the writing, it becomes apparent that Hitler had become a fatherly like figure for Junge. This feeling of her’s was intensified by the fact that Junge had seen very little of her own father during her childhood (her mom and her dad were divorced when she was still very young). From early on and even later throughout the entire writing, you can see that this young little girl was so absorbed, thrilled and caught up by the fact that she was working for the head of the state that when Hitler asked her whether she would like to work with him, she could not say “no”. This was in spite of Hitler’s warning that “she was still very young, there were so many men … and soldiers feel particularly strongly attracted to the Eternally Female .. in short I (Junge) must be a little careful and not too forth-coming“. Junge started officially working for Hitler on January 30th 1943.

Traudl Junge does an excellent job of describing her initial experiences at the Wolf’s Lair. She describes meticulously the total environment, persons she started interacting with, the orderlies, the SS men, her co-workers – the rest of the other secretaries and even Blondi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondi). Soon, in March 1943, she moves, along with Hitler and rest of pretty much everybody else to Berghof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berghof_(Hitler)). I can’t remember reading another crisp and crystal clear description of a big mansion before. Unfortunately, the Berghof was completely ruined by the Allied bombings during the War and whatever left was destroyed and set to fire by the SS fleeing from the place. Finally the nail was struck in the coffin when the Bavarian govt destroyed the shell fearing neo-Nazi movement in 1953. All that now remains is the description from these pages :(

Junge describes cleanly Hitler’s daily schedule, his military meeting in the morning, his grand lunch with his guests and the ladies in the afternoon, the little walk to the tea house in the evening and the final dinner late at night. It was here, during the tea house or after the dinner that Eva Braun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Braun) shot some of her mute videos and photos that later survived the War. More recently, a lip-reading software was able to decipher some of the conversations in those videos. Fascinating! However, Traudl Junge describes snippets of those conversations in her writing. I can’t help wondering, reading those conversations that the Nazis were able, to surprising abilities, with all their propaganda and amazing oratory skills, hide the true nature of the War from the non Jewish German population as well as those in the Führer bunker. Its no wonder that person like Junge believed what they were made to believe, like rest of the other German population. To the members of the Führer bunker, Hitler seemed to be that charismatic almost heavenly figure who would protect everybody at all times and eventually give Germany the victory that would finally end all the suffering and pains. Its amazing to think that even when it became apparent to the German military forces that on victory were now possible, people still held on to Hitler and assumed that he still had some magic trick, some reserved strength left under his sleeves that would prevent a total collapse. It is only towards the final days, when Germany faced total and complete destruction all around that reality could no longer be hidden and eventually people started understanding what had really happened.  But I will come back to this point a little later.

Among those that Junge discusses repeatedly is Eva Braun. About Eva Braun Junge writes 
“ … She was very well dressed and groomed, and I noticed her natural unaffected manner. She wasn’t kind of ideal German girl you saw on recruiting posters for the BDM or in women’s magazines. Her carefully done hair was bleached, and her pretty face was made up – quite heavily but in very good taste. Eva Braun wasn’t tall but she had a very pretty figure and a distinguished appearance. She knew just how to dress in a style that suited her and never looked as if she had overdone it- she always seemed appropriately and tastefully dressed, although she wore valuable jewelry. …” And again “… Eva wasn’t allowed to change her hair style. Once she appeared with her hair tinned slightly darker and on one occasion she piled it up on the top of her head. Hitler was horrified “you look totally strange,quite changed. You are an entirely different woman!” … and Eva Braun made haste to revert to the way she looked before. …” * 

About the relationship between Eva Braun and Hitler, she writes 
“ … Apparently he (Hitler) could not understand that a woman’s beauty alone is not enough of a foundation for a good marriage. Yet on the other hand, it wasn’t just Eva Braun’s beauty that attracted him. He often took his chance to talk to us about Eva.  He phones her every day and if there were reports of an air raid on Munich, he would pace up and down restlessly like a caged lion, waiting to get in touch …  So it was mainly her human qualities that bound Hitler to Eva Braun….“. When asked why he had not married Braun, Hitler said “I would not make a good father and I think it would be irresponsible to start a family when I can’t devote enough time to my wife. And in anyway, I don’t want children of my own. I think the offspring of men of genius usually have very hard time of it“. Traudl goes on to say ” ... it did disturb me a lot to find someone describing himself as a genius…“.

Among the very few people who could question Hitler’s decision and oppose him openly other than Eva Braun was Albert Speer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Speer). Known also as ‘the good Nazi’ or ‘the Nazi who said sorry’, he died only a few years back, in the 80′s. Speer was an architect and in those days when Allied and Russian bombings were destroying much of Berlin, Hitler would discuss how we planned to rebuild the city and give it a new shape, using the architectural plans designed by Speer. Unfortunately, today, none of his architectural works remain. About Speer, Junge writes: 
“ He (Hitler) had special fondness for Albert Speer. ‘He’s an artist, and a kindred spirit,’. he said. ‘I have the warmest human feelings for him because I understand him so well. He is an architect like me, intelligent, modest, not stubborn military hothead. I never thought he would master his great task so well. ….Speer was certainly very pleasant, likable character: not by any means a party functionary, not an upstart but someone of real ability who did not lower himself to be a mere yes-man. Remarkably, he seemed to be one of the few people from whom Hitler would take contradiction. He (Hitler) himself once said, ‘When I work a plan out with Speer and ask him to do something, he thinks it over and after a while says, “Yes my Führer, I think that can be done”, Or perhaps he may say, “No, it can’t be done, not like that” and then he gives me convincing arguments why not’ … Speer did wear uniform for he held an official position and what is an official position without a uniform? However, his uniform was always slightly incorrect, and he never looked military in it … I never saw him intoxicated and he did not join in any of the parties thrown by people who knew Hitler …“

The movie Downfall correctly portrays some of this. In the final War days, Speer visits Hitler one last time before permanently  leaving Berlin as the Red Army and the Allies close in. Speer tells Hitler “My Führer, I must tell you one thing … there are documents that can prove that at times I have not only ignored your orders but also acted contrary to those”**.  Hitler looks at him with disappointment but with great helplessness, does not utter a word. 

Like I was saying before, most people remained mesmerized by Hitler’s charismatic presence and totally oblivious to what was happening to the outside world and even to themselves. Junge was no different as is clear from her writing 
“ … No rumors reached us, we heard no broadcasts from the enemy transmitters, we knew of no other attitudes, no opposition. We heard only one opinion and one belief ruled here … It was not until I had gone through with it to the bitter end and returned to ordinary life that I could see it clearly as that. At the time, I suffered a vague feeling of dissatisfaction, an uneasiness for which I could not find a name …If only I had been as mature and experienced as I am now I wouldn’t let myself just be carried away, or have absorbed Hitler’s ideas so easily and uncritically. Then I would have been bound to wonder about the dangers present in the power of a man whose gift for oratory and power of suggestion could hold people spellbound, simply suppressing their own will and convictions … it took and entire and total collapse, a really bitter and many deep disappointments, before I could see clearly and with any certainty … ”. 

But then there were few, who understood what were happening to them. For example, about her then fiancé and later er husband, Hans Junge, Traudl writes: 
“ … He was one of the few people to realize that in the long run, Hitler’s ideas would have such an effect on you that in the end you would not know what you had thought of yourself, and what was due to outside influence. Junge wanted his sense of objectivity back. He had applied several times to go to the front, which was the only way he could give up his job with Hitler. …” *
  
When Hitler insists her to get married with Hans, Traudl writes: 
“… Now I was at a fix! For a moment I looked at him dumb-funded because I’d had absolutely no intention of committing myself so firmly to the relationship when Hans and I had known each other for such a short time. I tried desperately to find some good argument against the idea … I was wondering why the Führer should take any interest in my marriage. Love isn’t an affair of state, this was my own private business and I was quite annoyed to have such a VIP meddling with it. All the same I was surprised to hear Hitler say, ‘But you two are in love, so its best to get married at once! …’ How I could explain to him that love in its own isn’t always reason enough to get married straight away? …”. Nevertheless, the two get married pretty soon and their “married bliss lasted four weeks, while we went on honeymoon to Lake Constance, and then my husband joined the army and I moved back to headquarters.“
 
Traudl Junge’s work took her from Berghof to Wolf’s Liar, to Hitler private apartment in Berlin to the Reich Chancellery. There are numerous small and significant incidents that are exciting, thrilling and even sad and painful to read. I won’t bore the readers with these details. Besides you really ought to read the book in order to have fun from these experiences. I will also not describe the detailed facts about how things came to a complete collapse eventually. You can read them in any history book.  If you want to take a short cut and decide to watch the movie Downfall, bear in mind though that the movie only faithfully reproduces Junge’s experiences in the last 10 days of Hitler’s life (from April 20th 1945, Hitler’s birthday to April 30th, 1945, the day he committed suicide). When I say faithfully, I mean ‘to the extent possible while dramatizing Junge’s written memoirs and filling the gaps where necessary’. There are several historical incidents that happened in those days of chaos and war that can never be proven or known for certainty. Historians have debated these facts for ages and they have often taken two or more different positions. Of course, while dramatizing, one has to choose between these different beliefs and perhaps use the one that is the most popular. Downfall does the same. But aside these facts, I think the movie is as authentic and true to history as it can possibly be. Here’s an excellent link in Russian that shows the real life pictures of the real characters against the actors in Downfall playing the same characters: 


In the movie, young and charming Romanian actress Alexandra Maria Lara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Maria_Lara) plays young Traudl Junge and she plays her part to absolute perfection. Bruno Ganz plays Adolf Hitler and you can see the amazing similarity between his makeup and the real Hitler in the picture below. All these little little things makes Downfall rank #73 in the IBDB’s to #250 list. 

I will end this write up by quoting Junge’s reaction to the 20th July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_20_Plot)  and her experiences in the final days of her life in the Hitler bunker.

About the 20th July plot: 
“... The assassination attempt of July 20th was the greatest possible misfortune for Germany and Europe. Not because it was made but because it failed. Hitler saw all the unfortunate coincidences that foiled the plot as his personal success. His confidence, his certainty of victory and his sense of security, his consciousness of power and his megalomania now really passed beyond all the bounds of reason. … They (SS men) were acting as if they had won a hard battle and a great danger had now passed. They congratulated the Führer on his miraculous survival and we stood there and let their mood infect us, we went on believing in him (Hitler), never realizing that the die had already been cast to decide our fate that day. … He (Hitler) made a short speech intended to show the German nation that he was uninjured. He thanked providence for averting a great misfortune from the German people … We listened, isolated and dazed by the frenzied aura of superior confidence radiating from these heroes of 20th July, and it never occurred to us that thousands of listeners out there were groaning in disappointment, burying their hopes and cursing the fate to which Hitler was so grateful. I still thought we had to win the war because otherwise all the terrible things Hitler had mentioned would happen, and they meant the end. …“

The writing continues and the War continues as well, getting grimmer and grimmer every day. Finally another 20th April arrives. 20th April, 1945: Allied and Red Army stood just outside Berlin. In the bunker people have gathered to celebrate Hitler’s 56th birthday. 
“In the evening, we cramped together in the little study. Hitler was silent … We asked him if he wouldn’t leave Berlin. ‘No, I can’t,’ he replied. … We said nothing and the champagne we were drinking on his health tasted insipid. For Hitler had now said out loud what we had long seen, with terror, with certainty.: he himself no longer believed in victory. He retired early and the party broke up. but Eva Braun came back once she had lead Hitler to his room. A restless fire burned in her eyes. She had on a new dress made of silvery blue brocade; it was meant to be worn to a party at the side of man she loved. Hitler hadn’t noticed it. And he hadn’t noticed that there were four young women at his table who wanted to live, who had believed in him, who had hoped for victory from him. …“ 

Junge told us later that her hatred for Hitler began from this point onwards. This is for the first time she started to realize the emptiness in Hitler’s words and how volatile and precarious their situation was. There was no one to depend on, no one to trust. No escape for the terrible destiny that awaits them.

“... Eva Braun wanted to numb the fear that had awoken in her heart. She wanted to celebrate once again, even when there was nothing left to celebrate, she wanted to dance, drink, to forget … I was only too willing to be infected by the last strings of lust of life and get out of the bunker where the heavy ceiling suddenly weighed down so palpably on our spirits … Eva Braun wanted to dance! Never mind who with .. we drank champagne, there was shrill laughter and I laughed too because I didn’t want to cry. … This was a party given by ghosts …“

You really ought to see the movie Downfall in order to feel the above lines. It was recreated to perfection. 

“22 April 1945: Feverish restless in the bunker. All hell is let loose outside. Hitler stands motionless in the little anteroom outside his study. … ‘A plane is leaving in an hour and will take you south. All is lost, hopelessly lost.’. … I don’t want to say it  but it comes out of its own accord; I don’t want to stay here and I don’t want to die; but I can’t help it. ‘I’m staying too’, I say.“

From here on and in the rest of the pages, the writing continues to get more and more morose and grimmer until the final day 30th April arrives. When everything comes to a final ending, life almost stops in the bunker. On the night of that day, Junge along with a few other people decide to break through the Red Army barricade and escape. From then on, a new life, a life of uncertainty,  struggle, unspeakable pain and hardship and fear begins …

If Junge were alive, I would have told her two things. First, she does not owe any apology to anyone. There is no reason to feel guilty and sorry for her past. And secondly, I respect her and all those who chose life to death that day. We need to remember and respect and draw example from those who showed tremendous courage and determination to survive and see through those days of misery; having lost everything; having to face fear, death and extreme misery every day.  My deep respect goes to all of them. She was a very courageous woman indeed.


To conclude, I will touch upon one final quote from Traudl Junge:

“We should listen to the voice of conscience. It does not take nearly as much courage as one might think to admit to our mistakes and learn from them. Human beings are in this world to learn and to change themselves in learning.”

- Traudl Junge (16 March 1920 – 10 February 2002) 

===========
* These quotations were added to Wikipedia as a part of enriching it’s historical content. More quotations will be added in due course. 
** These words were actually taken from Albert Speer’s memoirs which he wrote in jail while he was serving his sentence. To quote wikipedia: “In the published edition of Inside the Third Reich, Speer relates that he confessed to Hitler that he had defied the Nero Decree, but then assured Hitler of his personal loyalty, bringing tears to the dictator’s eyes”

Posted in Vancouver Diaries  |  Leave a Comment »

Anil’s Ghost – Michael Ondaatje

September 20, 2008

Over the time, I have developed a strong liking for non-fictions that explores the darker and complex realities of human societies. When the going gets tough, its easy to complain about how wretched we are, in our circumstances and surroundings. These writings help us to realize that it could always have been worse and that in reality how well we are within our circumstances! Ondaatje who is a Canadian writer of South Asian origin writes about these complex social circumstances. Anil’s Ghost is no different.

Unlike The English Patient which was completely based on fiction (except geographical facts like existence of the Cave of Swimmers and time/circumstances of its discovery), Anil’s Ghost is based on real life political incidents in Sri Lanka. It deals with the Sri Lankan civil war that is still in progress in the Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Civil_War). Anil Tissera, a forensic scientist living and studying in United States/UK visits Sri Lanka, her former homeland to investigate the deaths of civilians in the War as a part of Human Rights Investigation by United Nations. In Lanka, she meets Sarath Diyasena, an archaeologist who helps her in her investigation. During the course of the novel, through numerous flash backs, the writer reveals the characters in depth and the details of their lives to his readers. We come to know about Anil’s failed marriage, her brief relationship with Cullis Wright, a married science writer in the US, Sarath’s view about the war and his confusing allegiance. We also meet Gamini, Sarath brother and learn about their past lives and the reason for their hostility between relations. We learn about Gamini’s deep affection for Sarath’s wife, her death and his wife’s leaving him. We encounter another character, Ananda, who is called upon on the suggestion of Palipana, Sarath’s guru, to help Anil/Sarath to reconstruct the face of a recently buried man’s skeleton. The skeleton is nick-named “The Sailor”, which they had found around an archaeological site. The entire novel revolves around these characters, the Sailor and the lives and feelings of these characters within the circumstances of the civil war and beyond.

But Anil’s Ghost is not entirely about the characters and their experiences. It is, in reality, just an outer clothing to explore the deeper and ugly circumstances of the Lankan civil war. Its about how the govt and the Tamil rebel group (though not named, its the LTTE, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTTE) tried to hide evidence of the killing and how the media was suppressed from reporting the death and the gore around the war. As the investigation goes on, Anil finally identifies the true name of the person behind the Sailor. Just then Sarath disappears along with Sailor! Some dramatic incidents happen towards the end of the novel that cast our suspicion over Sarath. However, we eventually we realize that Sarath was indeed helping Anil. He helps her to safely leave Sri Lanka, away from the eyes of the govt and the rebels. At the same time, he helps her in preserving the evidence – the evidence she had gathered from the Sailor and the skeleton itself along with her tape recorder that she had used to record all critical conversations. However, Sarath himself gets killed in the hands of the same people they were trying to uncover! A tragic yet thought provoking end. In reality, he continues to live within Anil and Gamini, in their memories, like a ghost – Anil’s Ghost.

Nearing the end of the novel, Ondaatje cleverly describes in detail the happenings related to one of the assassinations that kill President Katugala (a fictional name; in reality it represents President Ranasinghe Premadasa, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranasinghe_Premadasa). This is just one representative killing for thousands of other civilians, including the Indian leader of opposition and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajiv_Gandhi). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notable_assassinations_of_the_Sri_Lankan_Civil_War describes other notable assassination victims.

The war still continues in Lanka and keeps taking its toll on innocent victims of war, every day, every moment of our lives …

Posted in Vancouver Diaries  |  Leave a Comment »

The Maxine question in The Namesake

June 22, 2008

So, lots of people have asked this question again and again “Why did Gogol and Maxine break up?”. Most people have vilified Maxine’s character and blamed her for it. As a matter of fact, it was quite opposite.

Here’s my answer that I posted to IMDB:

Unfortunately, most people just seeing the movie comes up with the same conclusion. However, it was entirely opposite. Maxine really loved him and I believe, as per the novel, out of the three women that Gogol got involved with, Maxine was probably the best.

Gogol always struggled with his Indian origin, his own identity and the cultural differences between how his parents were brought up and his American upbringing. He never identified himself with his own Indian parents and embraced a culture, which was so different from that of his parents’. His involvement with Maxine only reaffirmed it. With Maxine, he got well absorbed into their family. As a matter of fact, he started spending a lot of time with Gerald and Lydia (Maxine’s parents) completely brushing off his own parents. The Ratliffs, being unconventional, non-conservative, created an atmosphere where Gogol felt comfortable. During the summer, he went to spend time with them in the country side. IF you read the novel carefully, you would notice that he never gave their phone# to his parents.

In the novel, end of chapter 6, Lahiri aptly tells it all: “… that night, lying in the cabin beside Maxine, he is woken up by the sound of the phone ringing persistently in the main house. He gets out of bed, convinced that its his parents calling to wish him a happy birthday … realizes that the ringing he’s heard had been a dream. He returns to bed, squeezing in beside Maxine’s warm sleeping body and drapes his arm around her narrow waist … then he remembers that his parents can’t possibly reach him: he has not given them the number and the Ratliffs are unlisted. That here, at Maxine’s side, in this cloistered wilderness that he is free.”

When Gogol’s dad dies, for the first time, Gogol realized the barrier that had grown between him and his parents. He realized that he never really tried to understand Ashima or Ashoke. This neglect of his parents caused an intense feeling of guilt in him and mixed with intense trauma and pain of loosing his father, he started to identify Maxine as a cause of all this.

When Maxine meets Gogol at the funeral, she tries to comfort him in her best possible way. She believes that if Gogol could get away from the somber environment, it would make him feel happier. Some people have taken this as Maxine having a lack of feelings and not trying to understand Gogol (primarily because of her American upbringing). This is not true at all. Her thought causes her to propose their getaway plan during the coming Christmas. However, in his mind, Gogol knows that he has pushed himself away from his parents this long, long enough. It was time for him to come home. That’s why in the movie he says “I don’t want to go away”. He also realizes that Maxine probably would never understand him, his Indian half, the way his own parents did. In the novel, Gogol starts spending a lot of time with his mom in the days to come. This sudden change in Gogol’s attitude confuses Maxine as she does not quite realize the reason for this. She somewhat tolerates Gogol for a while. Eventually they begin to fight and Gogol calls off the relationship. A while later, Gogol meets Lydia accidentally and learns that Maxine has got engaged to another man.

Later, Ashima talks Gogol into starting a relationship with Moushumi. Moushumi, being a daughter of Indian Bengali parents and with American/European upbringing appeals to Gogol. But soon, Gogol realizes “perhaps its not enough that we (they) are both Bengalis”. Moushumi’s character is again a different story altogether.

Its unfortunate for both the characters here that this is how things turned up. I do believe that if Maxine could have done anything at this point, it would perhaps have been giving Gogol a little more space and time. Gogol should also have done better if he had explained the situation to her and be frank, the way she had always been. But that never happened. Thus is life anyway …

Some people have vilified Maxine’s character for wearing a black tank-top at Ashoke’s funeral while its Indian (Bengali) custom to wear white. Firstly, this scene never happens in the novel. Secondly, even in the movie, I don’t think anybody cared whether Maxine wore white or black. Customs vary and Maxine could not have known. It was important that she was there for him in his moment of grief and that she came and participated in the Indian funeral ritual. That’s the evidence of right attitude and Maxine had that in plenty.

Hope this helps.

Posted in Vancouver Diaries  |  2 Comments »

Previous Entries  |  Next Entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.