The Diary of Karl Sussheim (1878-1947): Orientalist Between Munich and Istanbul

The orientalist Karl Sussheim kept his Diary in Turkish - and later in Arabic - from his early years in the Ottoman Empire through the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 and after his return to Germany, through war, revolution, and the horrors of Nazi rule. This book presents selected episodes in translation from the surviving parts of Sussheim’s Diary, covering the years 1908 to 1940. In its detached style it allows the reader a remarkable insight into Sussheim’s family surroundings, his academic career at Munich University, and the eventful times he lived through. Flemming and Schmidt aim at providing at once an intimate impression of, and a monument to, one of the great diarists of the last century. To illuminate the issues for a broad range of readers, the selected texts from the Diary are situated against the background of contemporary events and fully annotated. Erst die kommentierte Ubersetzung der Tagebucher gibt Sussheim sein Leben zuruck, macht aus dem Vergessenen und Unbekannten einen an allem interessierten Menschen im Wirbel des dramatischen Geschehens der ersten Halfte des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts […] in diesem Buch entsteht ein Leben, das den Leser in den Bann zieht. Es ist die Lebensgeschichte eines genialen Autodidakten, der durch seine bedingungslose Liebe zum Orient zu einem Aussenseiter wurde. FAZ Flemming and Schmidt have done a remarkable job and the resulting work presents a valuable historical source. Jahrbuch fur Europaische Uberseegeschichte There is more, much more, in this impeccably researched and translated work than can be mentioned in the space of a short review. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society