Four Weeks in the Trenches

Fritz Kreisler - one of the greatest violinists of hist time, if not of all time, recounts his experiences during World War I as an Austrian soldier. Four Weeks in the Trenches is a brief record of his fighting on the Eastern front in the great war, first published in 1915 after he was honorably discharged when wounded. He spent the remaining years of the war in America. He returned to Europe in 1924, living first in Berlin, then moving to France in 1938. Shortly thereafter, at the outbreak of World War II, he settled once again in the United States, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1943. This book is notable for being the first war book to actually be written by a famous violinist serving at the front. The material is presented with vigor and simplicity. One of the phenomena of war-the sudden transformation of the highly emotional, neurotic man of literary or artistic pursuits, accustomed to an atmosphere of refinement, culture, and luxury, into a primeval savage in the space of a few days-interests the author.