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Jean Améry (31 October 191217 October 1978), born Hanns Chaim Mayer, was an Austrian-born essayist whose work was often informed by his experiences during World War II. His most celebrated work, ''At the Mind's Limits: Contemplations by a Survivor on Auschwitz and Its Realities'' (1966), suggests that torture was "the essence" of the Third Reich. Other notable works included ''On Aging'' (1968) and ''On Suicide: A Discourse on Voluntary Death'' (1976). He first adopted the pseudonym Jean Améry in 1955. Améry took his own life in 1978. Formerly a philosophy and literature student in Vienna, Améry's participation in organized resistance against the Nazi occupation of Belgium resulted in his detainment and torture by the German Gestapo at
Fort Breendonk Fort Breendonk ( nl, Fort van Breendonk, french: Fort de Breendonk) is a former military installation at Breendonk, near Mechelen, in Belgium which served as a Nazi prison camp (''Auffanglager'') during the German occupation of Belgium during ...
, and several years of imprisonment in concentration camps. Améry survived internments in
Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
and Buchenwald, and was finally liberated at Bergen-Belsen in 1945. After the war he settled in Belgium.


Early life

Jean Améry was born as Hanns Chaim Mayer in Vienna, Austria, in 1912, to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother. His father was killed in action in World War I in 1916. Améry was raised as a Roman Catholic by his mother.Amery: a biographical introduction
/ref> Eventually, Améry and his mother returned to Vienna, where he enrolled in university to study literature and philosophy, but economic necessity kept him from regular pursuit of studies there.


Religion

While Améry's family was "estranged from its Jewish origins, assimilated and intermarried", this alienation itself, in the context of Nazi occupation, informed much of his thought: "I wanted by all means to be an anti-Nazi, that most certainly, but of my own accord." The Nuremberg Laws of 1935, the text of which he soon came to know by heart, convinced Améry that Germany had essentially passed a sentence of death on all Jews, and that included himself. His ''The Necessity and Impossibility of Being a Jew'' speaks to this inner conflict as to his identity. He suggests that while his personal identity, the identity of his own childhood past, is distinctly Christian, he feels himself nonetheless a Jew in another sense, the sense of a Jewishness "without God, without history, without messianic-national hope".


During Nazi rule

In 1938, when the Nazis were welcomed into Austria and the country joined with Germany into a "Greater Reich", Améry fled to France, and then to Belgium with his Jewish wife, Regina, whom he had chosen in opposition to his mother's wishes. His wife later died of heart disease while hiding in Brussels. Ironically, he was initially deported back to France by the Belgians as a German alien and wound up interned in the south. After escaping from the camp at Gurs, he returned to Belgium where he joined the Resistance movement. Involved in the distribution of anti-military propaganda to the German occupying forces, Améry was captured by the Nazis in July 1943 and routinely tortured at the Belgian Gestapo center at
Fort Breendonk Fort Breendonk ( nl, Fort van Breendonk, french: Fort de Breendonk) is a former military installation at Breendonk, near Mechelen, in Belgium which served as a Nazi prison camp (''Auffanglager'') during the German occupation of Belgium during ...
. When it was established that there was no information to be extracted from him, he was "demoted" from political prisoner to Jew, and shipped to
Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
. Lacking any trade skills, he was assigned to the harshest physical labors, building the
I.G. Farben Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG (), commonly known as IG Farben (German for 'IG Dyestuffs'), was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate. Formed in 1925 from a merger of six chemical companies—BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, Agfa, ...
factory at Auschwitz III, the Buna-Monowitz labor camp. In the face of the Soviet invasion in the following year, he was evacuated first to Buchenwald and then to Bergen-Belsen, where he was liberated by the British army in April 1945.


After the war

After the war, the former Hanns Mayer changed his name to Jean Améry (the surname being a French-sounding
anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...
of his family name) in order to symbolize his dissociation from German culture and his alliance with French culture. He lived in Brussels, working as a culture journalist for German language newspapers in Switzerland. He refused to publish in Germany or Austria for many years, publishing only in
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. He did not write at all of his experiences in the death camps until 1964, when, at the urging of German poet
Helmut Heißenbüttel Helmut Heißenbüttel (21 June 1921 – 19 September 1996) was a German novelist and poet. Among Heißenbüttel's works are ''Das Textbuch'' (''The Textbook'') and ''Marlowe's Ende'' (''Marlowe's End''). He received the important Georg Büchner Pri ...
, he wrote his book ''Jenseits von Schuld und Sühne'' ("Beyond Guilt and Atonement"). It was later translated into English by Sidney and Stella P. Rosenfeld as ''At the Mind's Limits: Contemplations by a Survivor on Auschwitz and its Realities''. He later married Marie Eschenauer, whom he was still married to at the time of his death.


Death

In 1976 Améry published the book ''On Suicide: A Discourse on Voluntary Death.'' He committed suicide via an overdose of sleeping pills in 1978.


Literary and philosophical legacy

The publication of ''At the Mind's Limits'', Améry's exploration of the Holocaust and the nature of the Third Reich, made him one of the most highly regarded of Holocaust writers. In comparing the Nazis to a government of sadism, Améry suggests that it is the sadist's nature to want "to nullify the world". For a Nazi torturer,
slight pressure by the tool-wielding hand is enough to turn the other – along with his head, in which are perhaps stored Kant and
Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
, and all nine symphonies, and '' The World as Will and Representation'' – into a shrill squealing piglet at slaughter.
Améry's efforts to preserve the memory of the Holocaust focused on the terror and horror of the events in a
phenomenological Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...
and philosophical way, with what he characterized as "a scant inclination to be conciliatory". His explorations of his experiences and the meaning and legacy of Nazi-era suffering were aimed not at resolving the events finally into "the cold storage of history",Brudholm, Thomas and Murphy, Jeffrie G. ''Resentment's Virtue''. 2008, page 72 but rather keeping the subject alive so that it would not be lost to posterity, as an abstraction or mere text. As he wrote in his 1976 preface to ''Beyond Guilt and Atonement'':
I do not have laritytoday, and I hope that I never will. Clarification would amount to disposal, settlement of the case, which can then be placed in the files of history. My book is meant to prevent precisely this. For nothing is resolved, nothing is settled, no remembering has become mere memory.
With the prize money that the Viennese writer
Robert Menasse Robert Menasse (born 21 June 1954) is an Austrian writer. Biography Menasse was born in Vienna. As an undergraduate, he studied German studies, philosophy and political science in Vienna, Salzburg and Messina. In 1980 he completed his PhD thesi ...
received for the Austrian State Prize (1999) he re-founded the “Jean Améry–Preis für Europäische Essayistik”, whose winners were
Lothar Baier Lothar Baier (16 May 1942 – 11 July 2004) was a German author, publisher, translator and co-founder of the Literary periodical Text+Kritik. Baier was born in Karlsruhe. He was accepted as one of the most profound German thinkers of the Francopho ...
, Barbara Sichtermann (1985),
Mathias Greffrath Mathias, a given name and a surname which is a variant of Matthew (name), may refer to: Places * Mathias, West Virginia * Mathias Township, Michigan People with the given name or surname ''Mathias'' In music * Mathias Eick, Norwegian Jazz Music ...
(1988), Reinhard Merkel (1991), Franz Schuh (2000), Doron Rabinovici (2002), Michael Jeismann (2004), Journalist, Drago Jančar (2007), Imre Kertész (2009),
Dubravka Ugrešić Dubravka Ugrešić (; born 27 March 1949) is a Yugoslav and later Croatian writer. A graduate of University of Zagreb, she has been based in Amsterdam since 1996 and refuses to identify as a Croatian writer. Early life and education Ugreši ...
(2012), Adam Zagajewski (2016) and Karl-Markus Gauß (2018). Améry was known for his opposition to antisemitism in postwar Germany and support for the state of Israel, which he said was "more important than any other" country to him. In 1969, he wrote an article in ''
Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...
'' in which he stated: "
Anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestin ...
contains antisemitism like a cloud contains a storm".


Works


In German

* ''Karrieren und Köpfe: Bildnisse berühmter Zeitgenossen.'' Zurich: Thomas, 1955. * ''Teenager-Stars: Idole unserer Zeit.'' Vienna: Albert Müller, 1960. * ''Im Banne des Jazz: Bildnisse großer Jazz-Musiker.'' Vienna: Albert Müller, 1961. * ''Geburt der Gegenwart: Gestalten und Gestaltungen der westlichen Zivilisation seit Kriegsende.'' Olten: Walter, 1961. * ''Gerhart Hauptmann: Der ewige Deutsche.'' Stieglitz: Handle, 1963. * ''Jenseits von Schuld und Sühne: Bewältigungsversuche eines Überwältigten.'' Munich: Szczesny, 1966. * ''Über das Altern: Revolte undd Resignation.'' Stuttgart: Klett, 1968. * ''Unmeisterliche Wanderjahre.'' Stuttgart: Klett, 1971. * ''Lefeu oder der Abbruch.'' Stuttgart: Klett, 1974. * ''Hand an sich Legen. Diskurs über den Freitod.'' Stuttgart: Klett, 1976. * ''Charles Bovary, Landarzt.'' Stuttgart: Klett, 1978. * ''Bücher aus der Jugend unseres Jahrhunderts.'' Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1981. * ''Der integrale Humanismus: Zwischen Philosophie und Literatur. Aufsätze und Kritiken eines Lesers, 1966–1978.'' Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1985. * ''Jean Améry, der Grenzgänger: Gespräch mit Ingo Hermann in der Reihe "Zeugen des Jahrhunderts."'' Ed. Jürgen Voigt. Göttingen: Lamuv, 1992. * ''Cinema: Arbeiten zum Film.'' Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1994. * ''Jean Améry: Werke.'' 9 vols. Edited by Irène Heidelberger-Leonard. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 2002–2008. The collected works in German.


Translations into French

* ''Charles Bovary, médecin de campagne: portrait d'un homme simple.'' Roman/essai traduit de l'allemand par Françoise Wuilmart. Actes Sud : Arles, 1991. * ''Par-delà le crime et le châtiment : essai pour surmonter l'insurmontable.'' traduit de l'allemand par Francoise Wuilmart. Actes Sud : Arles, 1995. * ''Du vieillissement.'' Payot : Paris, 1991 968; rééd. Petite Bibliothèque Payot 2009 * ''Le feu ou la démolition.'' Actes Sud : Arles, 1996 974* ''Porter la main sur soi – Du suicide.'' Actes Sud : Arles, 1999 976* ''Les Naufragés.'' Actes Sud: Arles, 2010 935


Translations into English

* ''Preface to the Future: Culture in a Consumer Society.'' Trans. Palmer Hilty. London: Constable, 1964. * ''At the Mind's Limits: Contemplations by a Survivor of Auschwitz and Its Realities.'' Trans. Sidney and Stella P. Rosenfeld. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980. * ''Radical Humanism: Selected Essays.'' Trans. Sidney and Stella P. Rosenfeld. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984. * ''On Aging: Revolt and Resignation.'' Trans. John D. Barlow. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994. * ''On Suicide: A Discourse on Voluntary Death.'' Trans. John D. Barlow. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999. *''Charles Bovary, Country Doctor: Portrait of a Simple Man''. Trans. Adrian Nathan West. New York: New York Review Books, 2018.


Notes


Further reading

* Christopher Bigsby, ''Remembering and Imagining the Holocaust: The Chain of Memory'' (Cambridge University Press, 2006), Ch. 7. * Irène Heidelberger-Leonard
The Philosopher of Auschwitz: Jean Améry and Living with the Holocaust
Translated by Anthea Bell. London: I. B. Tauris, 2010. *
Guia Risari Guia Risari (14 August 1971) is an Italian writer, educator and translator. Biography Born in Milan, Guia Risari graduated from the Liceo Parini in 1990. She went on to study Ethics at university, getting her degree in 1995 with a thesis on Jea ...
, "La paradossale condizione di un non-non ebreo", "Qol", n. 64, lug.-sett.1996 *
Guia Risari Guia Risari (14 August 1971) is an Italian writer, educator and translator. Biography Born in Milan, Guia Risari graduated from the Liceo Parini in 1990. She went on to study Ethics at university, getting her degree in 1995 with a thesis on Jea ...
, "Jean Améry, la morale del risentimento - La Shoah e gli storici", "Golem L'Indispensabile", n. 12, dic. 2003 *
Guia Risari Guia Risari (14 August 1971) is an Italian writer, educator and translator. Biography Born in Milan, Guia Risari graduated from the Liceo Parini in 1990. She went on to study Ethics at university, getting her degree in 1995 with a thesis on Jea ...
, "Il risentimento come principio creativo","Materiali di Estetica", n. 8, gen. 2003 *
Guia Risari Guia Risari (14 August 1971) is an Italian writer, educator and translator. Biography Born in Milan, Guia Risari graduated from the Liceo Parini in 1990. She went on to study Ethics at university, getting her degree in 1995 with a thesis on Jea ...
,"Jean Améry. Il risentimento come morale", Franco Angeli, Milano, 2002 onography Jean Améry : il risentimento come morale, Roma, Castelvecchi, 2016, . *
W. G. Sebald Winfried Georg Sebald (18 May 1944 – 14 December 2001), known as W. G. Sebald or (as he preferred) Max Sebald, was a German writer and academic. At the time of his death at the age of 57, he was being cited by literary critics as one of the g ...
, "Against the Irreversible" in ''
On the Natural History of Destruction ''On the Natural History of Destruction'' is a 1999 book by the German writer W. G. Sebald. Its original German title is ''Luftkrieg und Literatur'', which means "Air war and literature". It consists of essays about literature and writers, through ...
'', Penguin, 2003, pp. 147–72. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Jean Amery biography



Essay on Jean Améry's suicide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Améry, Jean 1912 births 1978 suicides Writers from Vienna Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss Austrian male writers Drug-related suicides in Austria Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery Holocaust historiography Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Buchenwald concentration camp survivors Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivors Breendonk prison camp survivors Jewish philosophers Jewish Austrian writers Belgian resistance members Jewish resistance members during the Holocaust Belgian people of Austrian descent 20th-century Austrian philosophers Gurs internment camp survivors 1978 deaths Austrian torture victims