Art News

Diary by indignant small-town official shows Germans could have known of Nazi horrors

BERLIN (REUTERS).- The newly published diary of an indignant small-town official in Nazi Germany has stirred the sensitive debate over how much ordinary Germans knew of atrocities committed under Hitler, creating a wave of interest at home and abroad. The diary of Friedrich Kellner “‘All Minds Blurred and Darkened’ Diaries 1939-1945” came to prominence thanks to the intervention of the elder former U.S. President George Bush. Filled with scathing commentaries on events, newspaper clippings and records of private conversations, Kellner’s 940-page chronicle gives an insight into what information was available to ordinary Germans. Kellner, a mid-ranking court official who was in his mid-50s when he started writing, vents his anger at Hitler, hopes his country will be defeated in