Borges, Jorge Luis. “Deutsches Requiem” in: The Aleph

In “Deutsches Requiem” the former and fictional subdirector of the also fictional Tarnowitz camp Otto Dietrich zur Linde recounts his final thoughts the night before being executed and how he came to be in that situation. The short story written by Jorge Luis Borges is playing with a meta-fictional framework, since it has been “written” by Zur Linde and clearly “revised” by a fictional and anonymous editor who has altered it. In it, the protagonist states that he has “no desire to be pardoned, for [he] feel[s] no guilt, but [he] do[es] wish to be understood”. Zur Linde, then, elaborates on the great thinkers that have influenced his thoughts, like Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, and passes on to explain his dedication to Nazism, which could only be compared to religious faith. He also mentions how he almost felt pity for a Jewish poet, but successfully refrained from doing so. Finally, he concludes by declaring his happiness about the war’s failure: it proves the perfection of History’s circularity and allows the beginning of a new era without religion.

The style of the narration plays with genres such as testimony, confession and autobiography; but the text is also about self-representation, writing and editing, the production of and intervention on an archive, and memory and legacy; all of this in conversation with its historical context. Therefore, the story offers, first, a reflection on the nature of evil, its banality and the moral implications of the acts of those dedicated to obeying and, second, a commentary on how those kinds of narratives are framed. It also allows a discussion on political fanaticism, the nature of faith, and the role and perception of religion in a secular world. Regarding Borges’ literature, the fact that this text is not fantastic but political draws attention to it, especially in a book like The Aleph. However, it does include typical traits of the Argentinian author’s literature, such as his interest in philosophy and metaphysics, the mediated style of the text and the interest in circularity.

Author of this entry: Claudia Vasquez-Caicedo Rainero

Borges, Jorge Luis. 1952. El Aleph. 2a ed, 138-155. Buenos Aires: Novelistas de España Y América.