Aharon Appelfeld QUOTES

1 " Words are powerless when confronted by catastrophe; they're pitiable, wretched, and easily distorted "

2 " De taal is een instrument in handen van de gedachte, je moet je helder en exact uitdrukken. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , Blooms of Darkness

3 " One night I heard one of the refugees say, “There are atrocities that one should not speak about.”
“Why?” wondered another refugee.
“I can’t explain it to you.”
“You have to speak about everything, so that everyone will know what they did to us.”
“I’m not going to argue with you.”
“If we won’t be witnesses, who will bear witness?”
“They won’t believe us, anyway. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , The Story of a Life

4 " Avevo l'impressione che, se avessi trovato il giusto sentiero, mi avrebbe portato direttamente dai miei genitori. Il pensiero che i miei genitori mi stessero aspettando mi protesse per tutta la guerra. (...) Sulle strade che mi condussero al campo di concentramento, e ai tempi del campo, avevo visto molti cadaveri distesi. Per qualche ragione mi rifiutavo di vedere la mia morte simile alla loro morte. Di solito la fantasia tende al sentimentale, abbellisce. Il lieto fine non è solo un'invenzione artistica, a quanto pare è radicato nell'animo umano. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , The Story of a Life

5 " Tutti cercavano di nascondere al nonno le sue condizioni e la situazione che ci circondava. Il nonno sapeva tutto, ma non permetteva che la confusione ed il caos lo sommergessero. Parlava della morte come usava parlare prima di ogni lngo viaggio. (...) Andavo a trovarlo una volta al giorno. (...) Una volta mi raccontò una parabola che non riuscii a capire; lui parve accorgersene e disse: "Non fa niente, l'importante è amare questa mattinata". "

― Aharon Appelfeld , The Story of a Life

6 " Over time I learned that objects and animals are true friends. In the forest I was surrounded by trees, bushes, birds, and small animals. I was not afraid of them. I was sure that they would do nothing harmful to me. I became familiar with cows and with horses, and they provided me with a warmth that has remained with me to this very day. Sometimes it seemed to me that what saved me were the animals I encountered along the way, not the human beings. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , The Story of a Life

7 " Wenn man keine Sprache hat, ist alles Durcheinander, und man hat Angst vor Dingen, von denen man sich nicht zu fürchten braucht. In dieser Zeit stotterten die meisten der Kinder um mich herum, sprachen laut oder verschluckten die Wörter. Wenn man keine Sprache hat, offenbart sich der nackte Charakter. Die Vielredner unter uns wurden noch lauter, und die in sich gekehrten verschluckten ihre Stimme. Ohne Muttersprache ist der Mensch verstümmelt. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , The Story of a Life

8 " I didn't see her die, but I did hear her one and only scream "

― Aharon Appelfeld

9 " In diesen Jahren hatte ich in Israel keine Menschenseele. Doch solche verborgenen Gerechten erschienen gerade in den Momenten, in denen die Verzweiflung mich unterzukriegen drohte.
Ich bin dem einmal nachgegangen. Jeder, der den Krieg überlebte, überlebte ihn dank eines Menschen, der ihm in grosser Gefahr Halt gab. Gott haben wir in den Lagern nicht gesehen, gute Menschen schon. Die alte jüdische Legende, dass die Welt nur dank einiger weniger Gerechten besteht, stimmte damals genau wie heute. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , The Story of a Life

10 " Le passé en lui-même est un très mauvais matériau pour la littérature.
La littérature est un présent brûlant, non au sens journalistique, mais comme une aspiration à transcender le temps en une présence éternelle "

― Aharon Appelfeld

11 " Ich konnte noch nicht einmal Zeuge sein, erinnerte mich nicht an die Namen von Menschen und Orten, nur an Dunkel, an Geräusche und Bewegungen. Erst später verstand ich, dass ebendieses Rohmaterial die Essenz der Literatur war, dass man aus ihm eine innere Geschichte, eine Art Legende formen konnte. Ich sage “innere”, den damals wurden Chroniken hoch geachtet, als enthielten sie die Wahrheit. Der innere Ausdruck war noch nicht geboren. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , The Story of a Life

12 " Le des tin des abstractions est de s'accrocher à vous un instant puis de disparaître. Seuls les mots qui sont des images demeurent. Le reste est un brin de paille. Pourtant il me fallut des années pour me libérer des érudits, de leur tutelle, de leur sourire supérieur, et revenir à mes amis fidèles qui savaient qu'un homme n'est rien d'autre qu'une pelote de faiblesses et de peurs. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , The Story of a Life

13 " Since they were unable to liberate themselves from the old words and the fear, they prowled the streets and cast their angry shadows. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , Badenheim 1939

14 " Había días en que las pesadillas lo perseguían, y por la mañana se levantaba y no recordaba nada. Ya había aprendido que un sueño que se olvida por la mañana no desaparece, se esconde y escarba en secreto, y que hay sueños olvidados que salen a la superficie en mitad del día. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , Blooms of Darkness

15 " A rich body of testimony has been written about the Holocaust, the testimony of the survivor, and it embodies their whole psychology: haste, inarticulateness, and the lack of all introspection. It is as if what had happened only happened outside them. Their spiritual reckoning, if there is such a thing, was principally concerned with conclusions about society, not with the realm of the soul...Such writing must be read with caution, so that one sees not only what is in it, but also, and essentially, what is lacking in it. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , Beyond Despair: Three Lectures and a Conversation with Philip Roth

16 " Where are you from, Jews?" asked the rabbi as people used to ask in the old days. An ancient grief glazed his eyes. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , Badenheim 1939

17 " Il pericolo era grande, ma eravamo pronti a rischiare e nascondemmo il bambino dentro una cassa. Di notte toglievamo il coperchio per dargli da bere e da mangiare. Durante quell'autunno il pensiero di avere un bambino nella baracca cambiò la nostra vita: facevamo a gara a chi gli avrebbe dato la propria razione. Ciascuno di noi lottava per offrirgliela. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , The Story of a Life

18 " Because I spent a large part of the war in villages, in fields, by riverbanks, and in forests, this greenness is imprinted on me, and whenever I remove my shoes and step on the grass, I immediately remember the pastures and the dappled animals scattered over the endless space. And then a fear of these open spaces returns to me. My legs feel tense, and for a moment it seems to me that I’ve made a mistake. I’m still in the war, and I have to beat a retreat to the outer edges of the forest, running and ducking, because the outer edges provide more safety. At the edges of the forest you can see without being seen. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , The Story of a Life

19 " True literature engages what is concealed in fate and hidden in the human soul; it exists in the metaphysical realms. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , The Story of a Life

20 " Someone who was an adult during the war took in and remembered places and individuals, and at the end of the war he could sit and recall them, or talk about them. (As he would no doubt continue to do till the end of his life.) With us children, however, it was not names that were sunk into memory, but something completely different. For a child, memory is a reservoir that doesn’t empty. It’s replenished over the years, clarified. It’s not a chronological recollection, but overflowing and changing, if I may put it that way. "

― Aharon Appelfeld , The Story of a Life

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