Word: kirst
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...chess tournament was played in five rounds. The Swiss system was used whereby players are matched in each round to opponents who have the same records in previous rounds. The winner of the first place prize was Sandy Zabell who won all five of his matches. Herbert Kirst won the second place prize of $5, winning four of his five matches. In a four-way tie for third place were Clark Slemon, Julio Burunat, Chuck Scappaticci, and Jonathan Gray...
...best of Toomey's career, gave him another 994 points and kept him in the lead. After that, a poor 45-ft. Hin. shotput ("That really depressed me") and a disappointing 6-ft. 4¾-in. high jump dropped him to second behind East Germany's Joachim Kirst. Next came the grinding 400-meter run, and after ten straight hours of competition, Toomey somehow managed to sprint the distance in 45.6 sec. It was the fastest time ever recorded in the decathlon-only 1.8 sec. off the new world record-and it put him back in the lead...
Having succeeded with satire, Kirst has now joined many of his fellow writers in the thriving literary guilt business. He lectures his German readers on their inexpiable wartime sins. His psychological thriller, The Night of the Generals, made into a poor movie (TIME, Feb. 10), was sharpened with moral indignation at the Nazi officer class, which served as Kirst's human symbol for German inhumanity during World War II. Like the earlier book, the present Brothers in Arms also has two levels, one occupied by Kirst's story, the other by his sermon...
...Michael Meiners, left for dead on the Eastern front while the other squad members deserted before the advancing Russians. Meiners' reappearance menaces the peace of men who have deliberately paved over the past, and his murder is promptly arranged. In case any reader has missed the point, Author Kirst puts it on the tongue of the detective assigned to find Meiners so that his comrades can kill him. "The criminals or accomplices of yesterday," says the investigator, "have lost all consciousness of their guilt or complicity. They've genuinely forgotten...
...Kirst's ultimate message is even more unrelenting than that. He specifically places the German spirit beyond redemption: it is a beast, sleeping only between wars, that will stir at any moment to do murder again. Kirst's readers, who beyond any question of guilt or conscience enjoyed the appealing roguishness of Gunner Asch, may be disconcerted to discover that his creator considers Asch a myth. What is more, they may not agree with that view...