Ute Scheub

This book came on my way by sheer chance. It caught my attention because last year I read two novels situated in Germany during the second world war: Stones from the river by Ursula Hegi and The book thief by Markus Zusak. Both novels focus on Germans who were "on the right side" during the Nazi episode. It struck me that apparently the general behaviour of Germans during this period is still a very touchy subject. Most people think that they, had they lived in that time, would surely have show more resisted the dictatorship, the mass movement, and the persecution of Jews, and easily identify with characters who resist Nazism. The heroes. However, in reality most people did not resist. So wouldn't it be more interesting to follow a character who is on " the wrong side"? Wouldn't it be interesting to try to understand how or why someone does not resist, or actually get fanatic?

So far, I haven't found a novel written from this perspective ( I am sure it must exist though), but I did run into this book, which is a very personal account of a daughter about her Nazi father. Ute Scheub was born in the 1950's, and had a difficult relationship with her father, who committed suicide in 1969, when she was 13 years old. The case caught attention in that time because the suicide was committed during a congress in the presence of the author Gunther Grass. Decades later she stumbles upon a box of letters and notes from her father, hidden in a dusty attic, and after all this time she decides to try to understand who her father was, what he did, and why he did it.

The account is deeply personal, and deals more than anything with the shame, the utter shame, that the author feels for her father. She reconstructs his whereabouts during the 1930's and 1940's as a student and later on as an SS-officer. However, she cannot reconstruct what he really did. Did he kill people, did he kill innocent civilians? It is possible, however, completely hidden. After the war he never talked about what happened. After this reconstruction, Ute Scheub goes on writing about her own relationship with her father, about the trauma that runs into the families of the Nazi offenders and of offenders in general.

The topic of the book is extremely interesting, and so is the tone. It was shocking in a way, to feel the anger of this daughter, and to feel her frustration about not understanding the acts of her father. Even if he left a boxful of notes, from which she freely uses citations, they are completely incomprehensible. So the daughter, and we, are left to speculate. In my eyes some of the explanations, some of the psychological guesses are way too wild. She runs from facts to speculation, from economic to social to extremely psychological explanations for the behaviour of people. At times this confused me. However I feel that this was a good introduction in the topic. I hope to read more like this in the near future. show less

Hier die rapide Zunahme von Kohlendioxid, dort der rasante Schwund von Humus. Was zunächst nach zwei separaten Problemen aussieht, ist tatsächlich eng miteinander verbunden: Wir haben zu viel Kohlenstoff in der Atmosphäre und zu wenig im Boden. Die Devise lautet also: »Back to the roots!«

Das neue Buch von Ute Scheub und des Permakultur-Experten Stefan Schwarzer zeigt: Ein globaler Humusaufbau von nur einem Prozent würde genügen, um den CO2-Gehalt der Atmosphäre auf ein show more ungefährliches Maß zu senken. Was einfach klingt, ist es auch, denn die Methoden dazu sind teils schon seit Jahrhunderten bekannt. Unter Schlagworten wie Permakultur oder Carbon Farming erleben sie gerade ihre Renaissance: Gärtnern mit Terra Preta, Ackern ohne Pflug, das Lenken mikrobieller Prozesse oder die Vitalisierung von Kulturen - jede dieser Methoden reichert Humus im Boden an und ermöglicht damit gesunde Lebensmittel.

Global gesehen ist die »Humusrevolution« deshalb der wichtigste Hoffnungsträger für weltweite Ernährungssouveränität - sowie für den Kampf gegen Klimaextreme, Armut und Migration. Und das Beste daran: Jeder kann sofort anfangen und mithelfen. show less

Terra preta is the Portuguese name of a type of man-made soil which is thought to have almost miraculous properties. This soil is made from a variety of kitchen or garden wastes, charcoal and earthworms, so it can be produced on every balcony or on the smallest of garden plots. This soil is able to absorb soil contaminants, retain moisture and provide nutrients for the plants, as well as replace top soil lost through erosion. This is an interesting, but somewhat long-winded and simplistic show more book that discusses the importance of soil and how to produce your own humus/compost/black soil or terra preta. show less

In zijn 'Dagboek van een slak' beschrijft Günther Grass hoe tijdens een lezing in Stuttgart plotseling een man opstaat die na een paar verwarde woorden een fles cyaankali leegdrinkt. Hij blijkt een oud-ss'er te zijn, die door een publieke zelfmoord zijn protest wil laten klinken.
Vijfendertig jaar later vindt Ute Schaub, de dochter van de ss'er, op zolder van haar ouderlijk huis een pakje afscheidsbrieven. Scheub is inmiddels een bekend schrijfster en journaliste, en ze besluit een boek te show more wijden aan haar vader en zijn generatie. De zwijgende generatie, die door de leiders in de steek wordt gelaten en stikte in schuldgevoelens. Ute Schaub beschrijft in 'Het valse leven' de opzienbarende zoektocht naar het schuldgevoel van haar vader; het is een intiem portret geworden dat de grenzen van het persoonlijk verre overstijgt. show less