Buchmendel by Stefan Zweig. Short summary

5 seconds

The story of a gifted Jewish bookish man who was imprisoned in a concentration camp. Once out of there, he gradually fell into unconsciousness and died.

1 minute

In Vienna, the writer visited the cafe where the elderly Jewish book-keeper Jacob Mendel once sat daily. He was always reading and didn’t notice anything around him. One day, after reading, Jacob nearly burned himself out.

The author had met him when he was writing about Franz Mesmer and gathering information from his contemporaries about Mesmerism.

Mendel immediately referred the writer to several books on the subject of his interest. He had a phenomenal memory and was a unique bibliographer and bookseller.

The writer asks the cafe workers about Mendel. The author was told about Jacob’s fate by an old cleaning lady. Mendel was arrested during the war, then sent to a concentration camp.

Jacob returned from there, but his memory began to fail him. Mendel lost his job and the new owner of the cafe kicked the old man out.

The bookseller fell into unconsciousness and died in hospital. The cleaning lady gave the writer an antique book, all that was left of Mendel.