Schreiben oder Leben

"Writing or Living": This was the decision Jorge Semprun faced shortly after his liberation from the concentration camp. Although he had the desire and conviction to become a writer since childhood, he chose life over writing, opting for action: for a "long cure of aphasia, a conscious aphasia, in order to be able to continue living. At the same time, I chose the illusion of a future." This specific illusion of a certain future had to be shattered, both by himself and by others, so that this aphasia could be lifted and the "calling" to become a writer could be realized. "Writing or Living": Jorge Semprun continues "his" German story and brings it to a close with the depiction of the immediate hours and days of the liberation of Buchenwald by Allied troops in March 1945 - if indeed there is an end.