Author Event: Timothy Boyce, "From Day to Day: One Man's Diary of Survival in Nazi Concentration Camps"

Darien Library welcomes editor and former Darien resident, Timothy Boyce, who will talk about the book, From Day to Day: One Man's Diary of Survival in Nazi Concentration Camps. Thanks to Boyce, this book, written by Holocaust survivor, Odd Nansen, was brought back to life after being out of print for over 60 years.

Hailed by The New Yorker as “among the most compelling documents to come out of the war,” From Day to Day is a World War II concentration camp diary—one of only a handful ever translated into English—secretly written by Odd Nansen, a Norwegian. This inspiring diary brilliantly illuminates Nansen’s daily struggle, not only to survive, but to preserve his sanity and maintain his humanity. Timothy Boyce rescued the diary from oblivion after reading the memoir of another Holocaust survivor, whose life, as a 10-year-old boy, was saved by Nansen while both were prisoners in Sachsenhausen.

Through selected readings, Tim will explain who Nansen was, why he was arrested, why he wrote the diary, how he preserved it, and why this diary is as important today as it was when first written. 

About the Diarist

Odd Nansen (1901-1973) was a Norwegian architect and humanitarian. Nansenhjelpen, his humanitarian organization, "sought to provide relief for Jews fleeing Nazi persecution in central Europe" (source). His involvement in the Norwegian resistance led to his arrest and imprisonment at a concentration camp and a forced work camp. He secretly kept a journal about his experiences in these camps. 

His diary was praised by Carl Sandberg as “an epic narrative [that] takes its place among the great affirmations of the power of the human spirit to rise above terror, torture, and death" (source).

After the war, he returned home and co-founded UNICEF. 

About the Presenter

Timothy Boyce, a former resident of Darien, practiced law for many years, most recently serving as the Managing Partner of the Charlotte, NC office of Dechert LLP, an international law firm. He holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Finance, and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He received a B.S. from Georgetown University.  

Tim's articles have appeared in The Quarterly Journal of Military History, World War II Magazine, The Scandinavian Review, and Viking Magazine. Tim, who now lives in Tryon, NC, retired in 2014 to devote full time to writing and speaking. Learn more about Tim and his work at https://timboyce.com

Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.

Photo from the Oslo Museum via CC0 1.0 Universal