“I expected to go to Iraq or Afghanistan,” said Sergeant Malcolm McEwen, manning a Humvee with mounted Stinger missiles on the banks of the Vistula River.
Reconciliation
A Dangerous Moment for Ukraine’s Fragile Ceasefire
What we talk about when we talk about the Minsk peace agreement.
How Vladimir Putin’s Skewed View of World War II Threatens his Neighbors and the West
Remembering the Great Victory is more than an instrument to consolidate Russians. It has also become a way to prepare people for war.
Don’t Tear Down This Wall
A quarter of a century after Ronald Reagan called on Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall, a new generation of Berliners is taking to the streets to preserve it.
At Peace With the Past
Seventy years ago, Soviet forces surrounded and crushed Hitler’s Sixth Army at Stalingrad. Now an exhibition in Dresden returns to that wintry hell on the Volga.
Noble Europe
It takes a curmudgeon to deride the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU.
European history is a chronicle of wars motivated by territorial conquest, religious fanaticism and ethnic hatred.
Europe’s peace should be honored, cherished, emulated.
Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down
Russian nationalists’ embrace of Nazi ideology might seem especially masochistic given Hitler’s plans to enslave and butcher his eastern neighbors. But on the whole, Russians and Germans have gotten along just fine over the past 1,000 years.
We Were Victims Too: The Rediscovery of German Civilian Suffering in World War II
For decades, the Third Reich could be reduced to the most basic formula: Germans = perpetrators, Jews = victims. Two bestsellers published in 2002 allowed Germans to recognize World War II victims among their own.
Czech Students’ Lessons on Nazi-Era Ethnic Hatred
As Jaroslav Klenovsky approached his shattered hometown, he encountered a sight that remains seared in his memory. Armed young men were escorting thousands of women, children, and elderly people out of the city. The German population of Brno was being expelled.
Jewish Renaissance in Berlin
“Jewish life today is different than before the war,” says Boris Feldmann. “The revival of Jewish life in Berlin is the revival of Russian-speaking Jews.”