Time Stood Still
Paul Cohen-Portheim
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From the publisher
Introduction by Andrea Pitzer
Afterword by Panikos Panayi
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A masterpiece of humanism, Time Stood Still recounts Paul Cohen-Portheim's years of internment in England as an enemy alien during World War One. An artist and theatre designer, he at first viewed internment as a sort of holiday: 'Should I bring my bathing things and evening dress?' he asked the policeman taking him prisoner.
Though confined in a 'gentleman's camp' near Wakefield, as Cohen-Portheim shows with grace, humour, and deep compassion, even under the best conditions, the simple act of being confined and placed in a sort of limbo is a form of torture: 'Where there is no aim, no object, no sense, there is no time.' Time Stood Still is a passionate but balanced argument against internment and its inherently dehumanizing effects.
'Cohen-Portheim is a beautiful writer. It’s an important book not just in concentration camp history, but in world history.' - Andrea Pitzer, author of One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camp
'Splendid in its restraint, its sanity, and its understanding of war ... a civilian All Quiet on the Western Front' - The New York Times