Academic Master

English

The Forgotten Soldier by Sajer, Guy

Thesis

This book is written in French which is the author’s native language. It was then translated into English which was complex. Some of the materials translated from French into Germany, then German to French then German to English. This book was published into various formats published at the very least five times in English. Guy Sajer is a penname of Guy Mouminoux, Sajer being the author’s mother’s maiden name. The author’s mother was German and his father French. Throughout the book the author comments on how difficult he finds speaking German fluently, leading him to associate with people who only speak French.

Abstract

Guy Sajer writes a memoir on his experiences while fighting for the German army in his book “The Forgotten Soldier.” Guy survived and fought in numerous battles from Don to East of Prussia, forming strong bounds of friendship with the men he fought with alongside. Sajer’s motivation of fighting is slightly different since he was ethnically French his comrades were Germans. He did not have the indoctrination of the Nazi ideologies that most of his German comrades had experienced. This resulted in having none racial opinions on the German atrocities towards Russian prisoners which was witnessed firsthand.

Guy Sajer’s will to keep on fighting when the German fate was sealed continued to change when compared to the other German soldiers. He states that the reason he was fighting for German was because of the shield he was protecting France from Bolshevism even though the Russians deplored its soldiers only for revenge.

Sajer’s reasons for remaining in the war even when Germany was defeated were inevitable since he was connected to Germany either nationally or emotionally rendering him explicitly placing his loyalty France all the way through the war. When the war coming to an end, sajer fought even more because he was overwhelmed with the thoughts of dying and his will of avoiding death just to become a hero as the fight was a lost cause against Bolshevism.

Book Summary

The Forgotten Soldier is an account of the experiences of the author as a German soldier during World War 2 fighting on the eastern front. Guy Sajer was a Frenchman who fought on the German Wehrmacht side. This resulted in a somewhat less biased viewpoint in his detailed experiences, for example his unfamiliarity of the Nazi ideologies, the beliefs of German invincibility and inferiority Slavs.

Sajer provides detailed information on the reasons behind enlistment of the Wehrmacht, and the success of Nazi anti communist’s propaganda while encouraging the enlistments and atrocities done by the Germans towards the Russian partisans and prisoners. His experience is more believable since he was an outsider amongst German comrades.

Sajer believed that the French would eventually join the Germans in the fight against the Soviets. This was his reasoning behind his enlistment in the German army. He also believes by attacking the Soviet Union, Germany was actually protecting Western Europe. This was a testament of the successful Nazi propaganda. The long march from southern Russia t Germany was the beginning of his most hardships on the eastern front, he kept on believing that the French were on their way.

Most of Sajer’s closest comrades accepted him as one of their own, despite his limited knowledge of the German language. There were not many instances that he was discriminated for pretending to be a German soldier. The most significant encounter happened between Lensen and his German comrade. While drinking with his comrades during a lull, one native from East Prussia begun criticizing the French, this was after Sajer had snug a French song. Even though the two did not fight, Sajer concludes that his poor soldier skills were as a result of his upbringing and ethnicity.

The war on the eastern front turned out to be a war of ideologies after the National Socialism versus the Bolshevism committed nasty atrocities, some of them witnessed by Sajer firsthand. When comparing German’s fight against the bolshevism the author identifies an extent to which German soldiers are influenced by Nazi propaganda. Most specifically for soldiers like Sajer whom are introduced to the nazi propaganda at an early age.

The Nazi ideology resulted in several atrocities being committed on the eastern front against the Soviet partisan fighters and Russian prisoners of war. This war established all Slavic people as inferior to the Germans. Sajer does not give any evidence on if he believes the Russians were inferior to his comrades and himself, even though he was a Frenchman fighting for the Germans. This does not mean that he says he encountered any German soldiers who believed in the Nazi’s idea of racial inferiority.

The author states that every war always gets to its depth of horror due to the idiots who perpetuate terror pretending it to be because of vengeance. His indifference to the allegiance compared to any native German soldier together with his unfamiliarity of the Nazi ideology, Sajer was not likely to condone or feel pity the acts of revenge for any Russian atrocities. This shows the reader how Sajer was less biased on the account of any incident presented in a German account, where an act of revenge always seemed justified because of the influence of nationalism.

There is another incident which occurred in the winter, witnessed by Sajer against a group of partisans derailing a train from going back and forth. Sajer and his comrades successfully attack the partisan’s stronghold. While marching back to the train Sajer sees a firing squad killing the partisans who had surrendered. The commander justified these actions stating that the laws of the war declared them to die automatically with no trial. Even though this was the case Sajer witnessing the execution of the partisans was depressing. Sajer’s comparison between the two tragic events shows that unlike most of the German comrades, Sajer did not think the Slavs were an inferior race. But he believed that the loss of life regardless of any race was tragic.

Sajer also notes the change in attitude of the soldiers when the war begun to change against the Germans during the slow retreat westward. The attitude changed from staunch patriotism to the will to survive nonetheless of leaders and ideologies. The first instance occurred when the Germans surrendered at Stalingrad. Where the author realises that the older men start speaking defeatist while the younger ones are determined in freeing their comrades, he thinks it is because the younger ones have not yet witnessed the horrors of the war.

Change in attitude is not uncommon for soldiers; it occurred during World War 2 in most armies whenever they were up against any insurmountable odd. The original reason why leaders sent soldiers to war are always forgotten when the soldiers on ground are faced with insurmountable odd. It does not matter if the war is for ideological reasons; ultimately the soldiers are defeated like the author and his comrades in the eastern front.

The striking testimony of friendship is depicted in this book among soldiers and not to forget the utter waste of senseless conflict.

Works cited

Sajer, Guy. The Forgotten Soldier. London: Sphere Books Limited, 1978. Print.

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