“Generation War, which was broadcast as a mini-series on German television last year, is perhaps more interesting as an artifact of the present than as a representation of the past. As tWW2 slips from living memory, as Germany asserts its dominant role in Europe with increasing confidence, and as long-suppressed information emerges from the archives of former Eastern bloc countries, the war’s cultural significance for Germans has shifted.”>review (c) NYT, 2014
>trailer (c) musicbox films
Georg Büchner: Revolutionary with Pen and Scalpel [Georg Büchner. Revolutionär mit Feder und Skalpell], an exhibition from October 13, 2013 to February 16, 2014 at the Darmstadium Conference Centre, Darmstadt. The catalogue of the same title is published by Hatje Cantz, 612 pages, €65 (US $89). >More about the author
(c) WSWS, 2014
“As we are entering the anniversary of the centenary with the outbreak of World War One, controversies over how to commemorate the past are heating up. A few day ago, I published a comment in the Austrian daily Die Presse on debates and controversies over the commemoration of World War One. As unfortunately these debates are mostly published in German (and Serbian) only. Thus, some key points and links here.” Reblogged text by Florian Bieber, professor of SE European Studies, University of Graz
101 years ago, in January 1913, Ioseb B. dze Jugashvili aka. Joseph Stalin stayed in Vienna for a while to investigate the multi-ethnic setup of the Habsburg Monarchy for his publication on Marxism & the National Question.In 1949 the Austrian Communist Party KPÖ put a commorative plaque on the facade of the building in Schönbrunner Schlosstraße (no. 30) on the occasion of Stalin’s 70th birthday. In 2012, an additional plaque was mounted to commemorate Stalin’s/Stalinist crimes as well – a very Austrian solution to the problem, it seems. >more (in German); photo (c)ru, 2014
“As a reporter for the prestigious New York Times, the author David Binder interviewed many of the leading political figures of the Balkans (Illyria). He also sought out the area’s intellectuals, many of them critical of their leaders, and everyday people who provide a sense of daily life. He devotes a chapter to each ethnic group from Vlachs to Serbs, talks about their differences and similarities, and does so without giving offense. He also provides a short historical account of the various places he visits, which deepens our understanding of the local cultures.” >more (c) CEU Press, 2013
“Tory claims that 1914 was a fight for freedom are absurd – but then history wars
are about the future as much as the past.”>text & illu (c) THE GUARDIAN, 2014
“Ashkenazic Jews were among the last Europeans to take family names. Some German-speaking Jews took last names as early as the 17th century, but the overwhelming majority lived in Eastern Europe and did not take last names until compelled to do so. The process began in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1787 and ended in Czarist Russia in 1844.” >text (c) SLATE, 2014
Map by Richard Andree: the Jews of Central Europe, 1881.
A photo by Auguste Léon taken on 15 Oktober 1912 in Sarajevo (c) SZ, 2013
“In 2014, most European countries will commemorate the start of the First World War 100 years ago. Among the numerous publications to appear to date is a book from Carl Gerold’s Publishers, which contains numerous hitherto unpublished photographs.” >text & album (c) wieninternational.at 2013
Südbahnhof, the vanished train station of Vienna. Bombed down in 1945, re-erected in the 1950s and torn down again tp create the space needed for Vienna’s new Central Train Station. Image: an aquarell by F. Witt, ca 1900
(c) WIENER G’SCHICHTEN, 2013
delirium clemens 