Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz

Gripping - TelegraphBrilliant - Sunday TimesRiveting - GuardianThe devastating rediscovered classic written from the horrors of Nazi Germany, as one Jewish man attempts to flee persecution in the wake of KristallnachtBERLIN, NOVEMBER 1938. With storm troopers battering against his door, Otto Silbermann must flee out the back of his own home. He emerges onto streets thrumming with violence: it is Kristallnacht, and synagogues are being burnt, Jews rounded up and their businesses destroyed.Turned away from establishments he had long patronised, betrayed by friends and colleagues, Otto finds his life as a respected businessman has dissolved overnight. Desperately trying to conceal his Jewish identity, he takes train after train across Germany in a race to escape this homeland that is no longer home.Twenty-three-year-old Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz wrote The Passenger at breakneck speed in 1938, fresh in the wake of the Kristallnacht pogroms, and his prose flies at the same pace. Shot through with Hitckcockian tension, The Passenger is a blisteringly immediate story of flight and survival in Nazi Germany.

Alemania, 1938. El comerciante Otto Silbermann es un miembro respetado de la sociedad. Es, también, judío. Tras la Noche de los Cristales Rotos, comprueba que muchos de sus amigos y familiares han sido detenidos o han desaparecido. Solo, sin nadie a quien recurrir, consciente de ser el blanco perfecto del odio, procura hacerse invisible. Aferrado a un maletin con el poco dinero que ha logrado salvar, toma un tren tras otro, tratando de hallar la manera de huir de Alemania y fugarse al extranjero. Novela autobiografica de Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, el manuscrito de El pasajero paso decadas desapercibido en el Archivo del Exilio de la Biblioteca Nacional de Alemania, hasta ser descubierto y publicado recientemente en ese pais, convirtiendose en un verdadero acontecimiento literario.

Berlín, novembre del 1938. Otto Silberman és un empresari jueu i ric que pertany a l'alta societat alemanya. Però últimament la vida s'esta complicant, molts dels seus parents i amics han anat desapareixent, o han estat detinguts: l'antisemitisme, esperonat pel govern nazi, s'estén de manera imparable per tot el país. Silbermann comença a plantejar-se marxar de la ciutat, vendre el pis i liquidar tots els comptes, fins que un matí truquen a la porta de casa seva i, en veure un grup de joves que l'espera amenaçadorament a l'altra banda del llindar, decideix fugir. No és cap cas aïllat: aquesta mena d'assalts violents estan passant impunement per tota la ciutat amb el vist-i-plau de les autoritats. I així, de cop, en Silbermann es converteix en un fugitiu. Escrita amb estil directe i ritme tens, El viatger és una nova i terrorífica mirada a l'Alemanya dels anys trenta, un retrat vivíssim dels efectes devastadors del nazisme fet a partir de converses i reflexions sobre el terreny, i resulta un testimoni tan impactant com necessari per entendre com funcionen els mecanismes de poder i d'exclusió i la violència a gran escala.

BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1938. With storm troopers battering against his door, Otto Silbermann must flee out the back of his own home. He emerges onto streets thrumming with violence: it is Kristallnacht, and synagogues are being burnt, Jews rounded up and their businesses destroyed.Turned away from establishments he had long patronised, betrayed by friends and colleagues, Otto finds his life as a respected businessman has dissolved overnight. Desperately trying to conceal his Jewish identity, he takes train after train across Germany in a race to escape this homeland that is no longer home. Twenty-three-year-old Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz wrote The Passenger at breakneck speed in 1938, fresh in the wake of the Kristallnacht pogroms, and his prose flies at the same pace.Shot through with Hitckcockian tension, The Passenger is a blisteringly immediate story of flight and survival in Nazi Germany.

Berlin, November 1938. With storm troopers battering against his door, Otto Silberman must flee out the back of his own home. He emerges onto streets thrumming with violence: it is Kristallnacht, and synagogues are being burnt, Jews rounded up and their businesses destroyed.Turned away from establishments he had long patronised, betrayed by friends and colleagues, Otto finds his life as a respected businessman has dissolved overnight. Desperately trying to conceal his Jewish identity, he takes train after train across Germany in a race to escape this homeland that is no longer home. Twenty-three-year-old Ulrich Boschwitz wrote The Passenger at breakneck speed in 1938, fresh in the wake of the Kristallnacht pogroms, and his prose flies at the same pace.Shot through with Hitchcockian tension, The Passenger is a blisteringly immediate story of flight and survival in Nazi Germany.

Lectura para el nivel C1

Alemania, 1938. El comerciante Otto Silbermann es un miembro respetado de la sociedad. Es, también, judío. Tras la Noche de los Cristales Rotos, comprueba que muchos de sus amigos y familiares han sido detenidos o han desaparecido. Solo, sin nadie a quien recurrir, consciente de ser el blanco perfecto del odio, procura hacerse invisible. Aferrado a un maletin con el poco dinero que ha logrado salvar, toma un tren tras otro, tratando de hallar la manera de huir de Alemania y fugarse al extranjero. Novela autobiografica de Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, el manuscrito de El pasajero paso decadas desapercibido en el Archivo del Exilio de la Biblioteca Nacional de Alemania, hasta ser descubierto y publicado recientemente en ese pais, convirtiendose en un verdadero acontecimiento literario.