How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
'Did you ever hear any of my broadcasts?' I asked him. The medium of my war crimes was radio broadcasting. I was a Nazi radio propagandist, a shrewd and loathsome anti-Semite. (3.8)
Propaganda messes with a lot of things. Most notably? Reality. It alters what we think we know of the past and what we're experiencing in the present, and that in turn meddles with the future. If individuals have a warped perception of reality, then their actions will adapt to that version of "truth," and a new reality can come about that's even more twisted.
Quote #2
I had a certain amount of skill as a dramatist, and Dr. Goebbels wanted me to use it. Dr. Goebbels wanted me to write a pageant honoring the German soldiers who had given their last full measure of devotion—who had died, that is—in putting down the uprising of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Dr. Goebbels had a dream of producing the pageant annually in Warsaw after the war, of letting the ruins of the ghetto stand forever as a setting for it. (5.8-9)
Here's an example of an instance when art is employed to intentionally alter historical memory and solidify a lie. If Campbell were to write a pageant commemorating the Germans, then future audiences who weren't there might really believe the Nazis weren't the bad guys.
Quote #3
Goebbels asked me where I'd gotten the working title, so I made a translation for him of the entire Gettysburg Address.
He read it, his lips moving all the time. 'You know,' he said to me, 'this is a very fine piece of propaganda. We are never as modern, as far ahead of the past as we like to think we are.' (5.20-21)
Poor Honest Abe. We're pretty sure this is Vonnegut rubbing it in that nothing is sacred, and anything can be used for insidious purposes. On the flipside, it could also be his reminder that maybe our own politicians—no matter how we've valorized them—may have their own skeletons hanging around.
Quote #4
'Howard—' he said to me, 'future civilizations—better civilizations than this one, are going to judge all men by the extent to which they've been artists. You and I, if some future archaeologist finds our works miraculously preserved in some city dump, will be judged by the quality of our creations. Nothing else about us will matter.' (12.9)
Kraft is espousing a popular belief that some people hold about civilization. For one thing, a lot of the time, all we have left of the past is art and artifacts. But if you ask Kraft, we tend to romanticize being human, because if all we are amounts to eating, sleeping, and pooping, then what's the point? Why are we even here? Why can we talk and sing and paint? We need meaning. History gives us meaning, and art gives us meaning, so we're going to go for those things, argues Kraft. That doesn't mean there actually is no meaning; it just means that we're susceptible to lots of kinds of meaning, good and bad, true and false.
Quote #5
And he was, at the very same time, doing a portrait of me that surely showed more sympathetic insight into me, more intuitive affection than could ever have been produced by a wish to fool a boob. (14.7)
Talk about wry and bitter humor. Campbell is sitting for a portrait—like one of the greats of history—and he's desperately trying to convince himself that this means that Kraft really knows him. Like really knows him in his heart of hearts. Everyone wants to be known, and Campbell's having a rough time over his friend being a spy. He's adamant, then, that Kraft's skill at painting him means that Kraft's affection is real.
Quote #6
On and on Helga spun her yarn, weaving a biography on the crazy loom of modern history. (16.20)
At first glance, Helga is telling us what happened to her after she was captured, and Campbell is weaving imagery around to make this small moment a part of "modern history." But this is fake history that Resi is telling. That makes Resi ("Helga") both a woman weaving fate and a liar "spinning a yarn" to beguile her listeners. But her loom is "modern history"—is that concept a lie, too? Mayhaps.
Quote #7
'Don't feel you have to thank them. They feel they owe you a debt of gratitude they'll never be able to repay.'
'For what?' I said. 'For having the courage to tell the truth during the war,' said Jones, 'when everybody else was telling lies.' (16.28-30)
This is just a perfect little bundle of gut-punching regret for Campbell. Background: Jones has returned Helga (Resi) to Campbell. Now he says everyone involved in that reunion thanks Campbell for being the bearer of truth. But all of what Campbell said in Germany was a lie. So, in a twist of misplaced gratitude—and to really pile on the guilt—Campbell has to accept thanks for the shameful act of messing with history and endangering millions of people.
Quote #8
The New York Times published a portrait of me as a much younger man, my official portrait as a Nazi and idol of the international airwaves. I can only guess at the year in which the picture was taken, 1941, I think.
Arndt Klopfer, the photographer who took the picture of me, did his best to make me look like a Maxfield Parrish Jesus covered with cold cream. He even gave me a halo, a judiciously placed spot of nebulous light in the background. The halo was no special effect for me alone. Everybody who went to Klopfer got a halo, including Adolf Eichmann. (29.22-23)
Talk about propaganda. This portrait paints Campbell and Eichmann as saints or holy martyrs or something. As far as creating an alternate narrative of history goes, this one's a whopper. It's convenient for convincing people casually flipping through the newspaper without their critical thinking caps on that Campbell might not be sooooo bad, but nothing about it is actually true.
Quote #9
'You think I was a Nazi?' I said.' Certainly you were,' he said. 'How else could a responsible historian classify you?" (32.71-72)
The question of responsibility is interesting here. The work of doing history requires a lot of care, honesty, and a sincere search for truth. Unfortunately, even with the best of intentions, history can elude us. For instance, Campbell's entire life is a lie, but the effects of his propaganda are far-reaching. By all accounts, he's a famous Nazi, so how else would he go down in history?
Quote #10
My story is told, and none too soon—for tomorrow my trial begins. The hare of history once more overtakes the tortoise of art. There will be no more time for writing. Adventuring I must go again. (45.2)
Correct us if we're wrong, but the tortoise is supposed to win the race because it takes the steady route while the speedy bunny naps, right? Okay, that's what we thought. So, while Campbell makes art the tortoise (the winner that will live on), history hops back to the starting line. It's an interesting notion that art can only function when history takes a nap. Too bad that's a lie, and history (life?) waits for no one.