Accidental Journey: A Cambridge intern's memory of World War II - Softcover

Lynton, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0879518480 ISBN 13: 9780879518486

Publisher: Overlook Books, 1998

Synopsis

This acerbically witty memoir follows the "Cambridge Gang" of internees as they exchange privilege for privation and become part of the war effort.

During the early years of World War II, the author―a German Jew from a privileged background―was suddenly catapulted from his idyllic student elite life at Cambridge into a turbulent seven-year odyssey in an internment camp.

About this title

From Booklist

Lynton, ne{‚} Max Otto Ludwig Loewenstein, was a Jewish, German-born student at Cambridge when the Second World War broke out. He blithely continued his bon vivant lifestyle until suddenly, in 1939, he and other Cambridge students of German and Austrian birth were rounded up and sent to detention camps in England and Canada. Lynton was speedily released once his presence in the Canadian camp was discovered by an old family friend who held a high-ranking position in the British government. Internment was only the beginning of his wartime experiences. Upon his return to Cambridge, Lynton discovered that his domestic servant had destroyed his thesis notes (in case they were evidence of spying activities). When he decided to join the British military service, he was assigned to the Pioneer Corps (being determined by the government too dangerous an alien to serve in the military). However, Lynton was later transferred to the tank division, participated in the invasion of Germany, and by the war's end found himself working in intelligence, helping to interrogate high-ranking German prisoners. This wartime comedy of errors shares some funny, thoughtful insights into the Brits at war. Denise Perry Donavin

From Library Journal

In the early days of World War II, the British rounded up and interned German and Austrian "friendly aliens," first in the English countryside, then in Canada. Max-Otto Ludwig Loewenstein, a student at Cambridge when war broke out in Europe, was interned in England, then shipped to Canada with German POWs. He was released to work in the Pioneers in England and eventually allowed to join the Third Royal Tank regiment (where his name was involuntarily changed to Mark Lynton). Being fluent in German, French, and English, he was promoted to major in the Political Section, Intelligence Division, Third Army of the Rhine. His humor is a bit overdone, though one would do well to dull the horrors of war a bit, and his self-deprecation is unnecessary. His opinions about the political constitution of postwar Germany are fresh if unsubstantiated. Recommended for a well-rounded World War II collection in academic or public libraries.?Harry Willems, Kansas Lib. System, Iola
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Overlook Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0879518480
• ISBN 13: 9780879518486
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352