I Was Hitler's Prisoner: Stefan Lorant

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I think I have an antique book with me. The one I just finished reading. I had bought it second hand from a book shop near my office but at the time I had not noticed the edition. Now, when I was reading Stefan Lorant’s, “I was Hitler’s Prisoner” I saw that it is a Penguin Special Edition, which are the ones that are published immediately on the arrival of the manuscript without much ado. And my edition came out in 1939. What a find. I think I must go and explore that shop more.

I Was... is about Stefan Lorant who was working as an editor in one of the German newspapers when he was suddenly arrested and put into “protective custody,” for no rhyme or reason. He was in prison for six months and the entire book is a day by day account of his experiences written on whatever scraps of paper he could manage including tissues.

Well, for starters it’s a unique view that we get from a German living during the time Hitler was just rising into power. This particular point reminded me of Mark of an Angel by Nancy Huston, which was also told from a German viewpoint. Lorant lands up in a cell with a couple of others who were also arrested for flimsy reasons or no reason at all. We get to know the landscape at such a time in history but after a point it gets monotonous. He tells of “taking exercise,” sharing chocolate and getting news from other cells. After a point his wife is also arrested and I found her diary accounts a bit more colorful than his.

Another interesting point is that we get to know of the misfortunes of Germans themselves. The Second World War is always associated with the suffering of Jews and this book tells us that there was more to the war than that. We learn of how Barons and Counts get beaten up in the prisons for no fault of theirs, only because the new party thought their ideals were different. But Lorant had a comparatively good time in the prison. He was not tortured nor did he go hungry albeit his food was nothing to rave about. He suffered from not meeting his son for six months, but he met his wife in prison. That is small price compared to what the others went through.

I read up later on Lorant and discovered that he was a famous photographer and a journalist and it was his political commentaries that enraged Hitler. Lorant is the ‘godfather of photojournalism,’ according to his biography and he passed away relatively recently in 1997 where he had been staying in Minnesota.


Verdict: Monotonous but offers a different perspective of Germany during Second World War

Rating: 3/5 (I give 3 because as a book I found it a bit dragging but it by no means is a rating of Lorant's courage and risk he undertook to write this. I admire that to the fullest.)