Monatsarchive: August 2019

There is something shockingly ambiguous about the jealous way in which survivors insist on their exclusive rights to the Holocaust as intellectual property, as though they’d come into possession of some great and unique secret; as though they were protecting … Weiterlesen →

BBC: Israel is blocking two US Democratic lawmakers and prominent critics of Israel from visiting. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib were due to visit the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem next week. Both have supported the boycott movement against … Weiterlesen →

If we want to avoid the possibility of future historians building some Stolpersteine to remind us of our current catastrophe, our task today is to be aware of the steps we are taking: to realize that the real question is … Weiterlesen →

On the island we can see how starkly capitalism (with its structural adjustments and consumerist culture) and historical revisionism (with its ultimate desire to erase all memory not in line with the current official ideology) go hand in hand. As … Weiterlesen →

Die Zeit: Was sich jedenfalls über Deutschland sagen lässt, ist dies: „Am Anfang war Napoleon.“ So beginnt der Historiker Thomas Nipperdey den ersten Band seiner Deutschen Geschichte. Denn wenn es auch die Französische Revolution gewesen sei, mit der „die Grundprinzipien der modernen … Weiterlesen →

A starting-point of analysis is to question whether the polarization into ‘primacy of politics’ or ‘primacy of economics’ does not amount to an extreme over­simplification of a complex structural interrelationship between the policies of the Nazi State and the interests … Weiterlesen →

New York Times: The Premacks noted that one of the difficulties in teaching language to a caged subject is finding things to talk about.

The youth hostel was full of families with small children, the café’s tables half full of happy people enjoying a pleasant day. After reading the placard my sense of the macabre prompted me to sit at this table with the … Weiterlesen →

What a difference forty years makes.

Understand the surrounding streets are filled with tourists. People stream in and out of the Thomaskirche, where a sign levies 1 € to view the Bach Organ. In this context freedom of art means the freedom of advertisers to enforce … Weiterlesen →

Unlike many cathedrals catering to tourists the Nikolaikirche has signs prohibiting photographs. It is a working church. In the nave I honored the request, but this exhibit caused me to well up with emotion. I felt honored to be here. … Weiterlesen →

On an overcast August Saturday there was a well-populated parking lot and several buses of visitors, almost all German. Older people (it’s funny to include myself in this category these days) were well-represented, but there were all ages, including plenty … Weiterlesen →