Meanwhile in Germany in 1937... (3)

 'Who records the most wretched everyday miseries in his memoirs? Until my fortieth year or so I always had neatly cut newspaper in the smallest room . The toilet roll was a luxury enjoyed in hotels. Then I got used to the little rolls at home. I can no longer do without them anymore. But the few pennies they cost add up and are a burden. I used to smoke a pipe. I became accustomed to cigars and then cigarillos. I paid six and eight pfennigs each. The cheapest cigarillos are now the ones at four pfennigs each (and then only in a few shops, usually the minimum price is five pfennigs). I reproach myself for not going back to a pipe; it inflames my gums and tongue, it does not satisfy me; i carry on with four pfennig luxury with a bad conscience. And likewise in everything and with everyone. The ripped suit I wear at home - and people come to me and beg me for an old pair of trousers! But I have a villa and a car. The tragicomic will have a section to itself in my memoirs'   

15th April 1937

An excerpt from 'I Shall Bear Witness -The Diaries of Victor Klemperer 1933-1941' first published in German in 1995, translated into English by Martin Chalmers 1998.