The Sergeant in the Snow

"I know of nothing in the world more rational than to turn the folly of others to our own advantage."
– Werner, in Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Perhaps it were a nobler satisfaction to cure men of their follies."
– Wilhelm Meister's firm response

Goethe masterfully contrasts two perspectives in Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. Werner's pragmatic, selfish view of exploiting the mistakes of others is directly challenged by Wilhelm Meister's advocacy of compassion and moral integrity. This tension serves as a timeless reflection on how we choose to engage with the weakness of others.

This idea is at the heart of the new Traumleser mini-course based on Mario Rigoni Stern's The Sergeant in the Snow.

In July 1942, three divisions of Italian Alpini troops, trained for winter warfare, faced a harrowing retreat through freezing temperatures of -30 to -40 degrees Celsius. In the end, 90,000 soldiers were missing or dead, and 45,000 were frostbitten or injured.

One unforgettable moment deeply shaped Rigoni Stern’s writing: starving, he entered an isba (a wooden hut), where he faced Russian soldiers, women, and children. What followed was a profoundly simple yet powerful gesture—he was given a bowl of soup. No words, no conditions—just the act of feeding someone in need.

I believe Rigoni Stern began writing to capture such moments, with the hope that natural, self-evident acts of kindness might become habits, even traditions.

A similar story comes from Hermann Lohmann, a German soldier whose testimony is documented on LeMO. After the war, while fleeing home, he faced a raging river. A Polish man, without hesitation, helped him cross with his boat. Read here the full story.

Fast forward to an article from 3 February 2025: five Polish citizens are now facing charges for helping refugees with clothes and food, and risking five years in prison. In March 2022, near the border, these people helped an Iraqi family and an Egyptian man who had been in the forest for days without food or water after crossing the border illegally.

Ewa Moroz-Keczy?ska, one of the accused, explained:
"I am a mother myself. I don’t know who could lack compassion when seeing a mother with a sick child. We know from experience that some values must never be violated. The moment compassion ceases, that is the beginning of the end." Read hier the article on Tagesschau.

Discover the Traumleser mini-course, "The Sergeant in the Snow", where you can learn German while reflecting on humanity, literature, and history.

Start today: Il sergente nella neve