FATELESSNESS
BY Imre Kertész'
Translated From the Hungarian by Tim Wilkinson
FATELESSNESS(Sorstalanság) (1975)
I had the opportunity to introduce another book by a Nobel Prize winner in literature. When discussing a historical event, most of us typically commence by referencing the time. However, it appears to me and many others that it's often the places that possess a more expressive and enduring language to depict historical events. Throughout history, places have served as a more precise representation of events, sufferings, and difficulty of humanity. Forced labor camps like Buchenwald, Zeitz, and Mauthausen and crematoriums such as Auschwitz, mentioned in this book, stand as reminders of a dark chapter in human history.
"FATELESSNESS" by Imre Kertész, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2002 and is regarded by many writers as this Hungarian author's finest novel, narrates a terrible event of world history. This novel also carries elements of a semi-autobiography, expressing the experiences of György Köves, a around 14-year-old Jewish boy from Hungary who left school to support finatialy his family after his father was sent to a concentration camp.
The story's atmosphere is skillfully, clearly, and concisely conveyed. The leading character smoothly navigates the process of humiliation and social expulsion, shedding light on the unforeseen dangers and tribulations faced by a 14-year-old Jew.
During a police search to arrest Jews, Gergi gets off the bus and realizes that his Jewish classmates have already gotten off. After a period of being kept in a stable, thirsty and hungry, they unbelievably find themselves in a concentration camp, and this is how Giorgi becomes one of the narrators of the Holocaust and the events of the concentration camp. The main theme of the story revolves around humanity's effort to survive in the midst of all suffering and shows how people in the depths of despair try to keep the flame of hope burning by relying on their identity, religious beliefs and mental flexibility. Imre Kurtz's book depicts the journey of overcoming physical wounds and mental tensions caused by humiliation and restrictions. The longing to return to Budapest represents hope in the darkness of the camps for Georgi and his fellow prisoners, who seek to preserve themselves and save others with a sense of compassion.
On page 170, we read:
"On the other hand, by the end of the day, I felt that something inside me had broken down irreparably; from then on, every morning, I believed it would be my last awakening; with every step I took, I doubted my ability to take another; with every movement, I felt incapable of giving an order; yet, for the time being, I somehow managed to accomplish it each and every time." - page 170
At the end of the book "FATELESSNESS" the reader returns to the same urban atmosphere of Budapest and the familiar names of the Gyorgy “Gyuri” Koves family. The names and places of Budapest come alive again, similar to the beginning of the book.
Notes from book:
Whatever the reason, it was nevertheless good that this was indeed what happened, and I sensed that it also gratified Father to see them. After that he sent me off to bed. By then I was dead tired anyway. All the same, I thought, at least we were able to send him off to the labor camp, poor man, with memories of a nice day. page 26
... She wanted to know how we felt in regard to our differentness, whether we were proud of it or rather ashamed. page 36
Quite. I too was curious about that; they did not inform us at the brickyard. All they announced was that anyone inclined to do so could present himself for work, specifically in Germany. page 59
Like Uncle Lajos had done once, he too spoke about fate, the fate of the Jews, and he too, like Uncle Lajos, considered that " We have abandoned the Lord," and that explained the tribulation that were being inflicted upon us. page 64
In the strengthening light, on the narrower gable end of the building, facing the direction in which we were traveling, on the surface below the roof, I could in fact make out two words: "Auschwitz- Birkenau " was that I read, written in spiky, curlicued Gothic lettering, joined by one of those wavy double hyphens of theirs. page 76
"Everyone work, no being tired, no being sick!" page 79
What happens to the patients then? "They die." And they dead? "They're burned," We learned. In trust, it slowly became clear that the chimney stack over the way, though I did not catch precisely how, was not actually a tannery but the chimney of a "circumstance," a place where corpses are reduced to ashes, as we were told the word meant. page 108
Then they too had entered the bathroom itself, with the same pipes and showerheads, so I heard, only out of these came, not water, but gas. This did not come to my notice all in one go but piecemeal, each time bringing further details, some disputed, others allowed to stand and added to. all along, I heard, everyone is very civil toward them, swaddling them with solicitude and loving kindness and the children play football and sing, while the place where they are suffocated to death lies in a very picturesque area, with lawns, groves of trees and flower beds, which is why in the end, it all somehow roused in my sense of certain jokes, a kind of student prank. Pages 110&111
Only in the Zeitz did I come to realize that even captivity has its mundane around; indeed, true captivity is actually nothing but a gray mundane around. page 135
All these things, and much else besides, all of it knowledge essential to prison life, I was taught by Bendy Citron, learning by watching and myself striving to emulate. page 137
But neither stubbornness nor prayers nor any form of escape could have freed me from one thing: hunger. I had, naturally, felt - or at least supposed I felt - hunger before, back at home; I had felt hungry at the brickyard, on the train, at Auschwitz, even at Buchenwald, but I had never before had the sensation like this, protractedly, over a long haul, if I may put it that way. page 162
... and anytime I saw grass I would never hesitate; but then, sad to say, there was not much in the way of grass to be found, either in the factory or within the grounds of the camp. pages 162-3
I would maintain that there are certain concepts which can be fully comprehended only in a concentration camp. A recurrent figure in the dumb storybooks of my childhood, for instance, was that of a certain "itinerant journeyman" or "outlaw" who in order to win the princess's hand enters the King's service, and gladly so, because that amounts to only seven days altogether." but seven days with me means seven years to you, "the King tells him. well, I can say exactly the same about the concentration camps. I would never have believed, for instance, that I could become a decrepit old man so quickly. pages 164-5
I can safely say there is nothing more painful, nothing more disheartening than to track day after day, to record day after day, yet again how much of one has wasted away. I was generally in harmony with my body; I was fond of this bit of machinery, so to say. page 165
On the other hand, by the end of the day I felt that something within me had broken down irreparably; from then on, every morning I believed that would be the last morning I would get up; with every step I took, that I could not possibly take another; with every movement I made, that I would be incapable of making an order; and yet for all that, for the time being, I still managed to accomplish it each and every time. page 170
I can affirm that there is no amount of experience, no tranquillity so perfect, nor any insight of such weight, it seems as to lead us to abandon yet one more last chance in our favor- assuming there is a way, naturally. page 184
Despite all deliberation, sense, insight, and sober reason, I could not fail to recognize within myself the furtive and yet - ashamed as it might be, so to say, of its irrationality-increasingly insistent voice of some muffled craving of sorts: I would like to live a little bit longer in this beautiful concentration camp. page 189
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l slumped back on my pillow in relief, only then that something loosened up inside me, and only then did I myself also think-probably for the first time in all seriousness - of freedom. page 236
He declared, " You must put the horrors behind you." Increasingly amazed, I asked, "Why should I?" " In order," He replied, "to be able to live," at which Uncle Fleishmann nodded and added, " Live freely," at which the other old boy nodded and added, "One cannot start a new life under such a burden," and I had to admit he did have a point. page 256
I made it clear to them that we can never start a new life, only ever carry on the old one. I took the steps, no one else, and I declared that I had been true to my given fate throughout. page 259
Auschwitz
Zeitz
Buchenwald
Mauthausen
Theresienstadt. In Czech
In Imre Kertész's novel "Fatelessness," the term "Appell" refers to the roll call or assembly that took place in Nazi concentration camps. It was a routine procedure where camp inmates were gathered and counted by the camp authorities. During these roll calls, prisoners were often subjected to harsh conditions, including standing for hours in all weather conditions, and any attempt to escape or any other form of disobedience could lead to severe punishment or even death.
The "Appell" is a recurring and significant element in the novel, illustrating the dehumanizing and brutal nature of life in the concentration camps.
Links:
یادداشت هایی برای دخترم ، آی سودا
Plot summary, “Fatelessness” by Imre Kertesz in 7 Minutes - Book Review
Fatelessness, Imre Kertész - Book Review
Fateless or Fatelessness by Imre Kertész | Book Review
Ennio Morricone-Fateless / Sorstalansag
Review of Imre Kertesz' "Fateless"
