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      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        September 2020

        The Oktoberfest bombing and the double murder in Erlangen

        How far-right extremism and anti-Semitism were overlooked since 1980

        by Ulrich Chaussy

        On September 26, 1980, a bombing at the Oktoberfest in Munich kills 13 people, and on December 19 the first anti-Semitic murders in Germany since World War II were committed in Erlangen. Far-right extremists were involved in both crimes. Gundolf Köhler planted the bomb in Munich, Uwe Behrendt is said to have shot the rabbi of Nürnberg Shlomo Lewin and his partner Frida Poeschke. Both terrorists were connected to the far-right brigade Wehrsportgruppe Hoffmann. However, both men apparently planned and executed their attacks alone. The leader of the far-right brigade, Karl-Heinz Hoffmann, was found not guilty of the incitement to murder by the district court in Nürnberg. Chaussy uncovers the dramatic failure of the investigators and courts and he shows how both crimes are connected to each other. The bombing of Munich cannot have been planned and executed by one person alone and the anti-Semitic hatred that drove the shooter in Erlangen was not his own idea. Like in 1980 the myth of a terrorist acting alone is till preventing the understanding of far-right attacks and anti-Semitic murder.

      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        April 2019

        The Last Byzantines

        The Expulsion of the Greeks from the Black Sea

        by Mirko Heinemann

        The Ottoman Empire during the First World War. On the evening of August 9, 1917, warships of Christian Russia set fire to the small town of Ordu on the Black Sea coast. Fearing the revenge of Muslim neighbors, its Greek Christian minority panicked and tried to board the Russian warships.One of the lucky ones to be saved was fifteen-year-old Alexandra. But she would never see her homeland again. In the postwar years about 1.2 million Greeks were forcibly displaced from the territory of present-day Turkey, marking the end of more than 2,500 years of Greek cultural history there.A century later, Alexandra’s grandson Mirko Heinemann travels through northern Turkey looking for traces of his family and the last remaining Greeks. He tells how the Christian minority was harassed, persecuted and murdered in the final years of the Ottoman Empire and fell victim to the interests of the great powers after the First World War. It is a story that is almost forgotten in our part of the world, but one that has had a defining influence on the relationship between Turkey and Europe.

      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2018

        The Origins of the BND

        Structure, Financing, Oversight

        by Thomas Wolf

        The roots of the BND – the West German Federal Intelligence Service – go back to the postwar years, when Wehrmacht General, ret., Reinhard Gehlen set up an intelligence agency with the help of the U.S. Army and the C.I.A. The apparatus he built up, however, defied all criteria of rational organization. He employed a range of dubious and unsuitable individuals and was even engaged in the black market. To make matters worse, he massively influenced the West German architecture of security behind the scenes, becoming a factor in domestic politics with no accountability to anyone. Thomas Wolf uses previously inaccessible documents to offer a precise picture of the staff and financing of the BND, depicting its activities at home and abroad until the end of the Adenauer era.

      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        May 2014

        Fascination with Bunkers

        Witnesses of European history in stone

        by Martin Kaule

        Bunkers were built all over Europe in the course of the twentieth century. Martin Kaule documents purpose-built military structures made of concrete, but also underground installations built during World War II for the German armaments industry, civilian air-raid shelters, as well as numerous structures from the Cold War bearing witness to the arms race between East and West.Around 100 bunkers in Germany, among them facilities of the allied powers, and nearly 50 in the rest of Europe, from Russia to France, are dealt with in the form of concise essays illustrated with more than 350 present-day and historical photographs.The historical and political significance of the structures are explained along with their current uses: above-ground and underground air-raid shelters, tunnel systems for submarines and airplanes, or extensive underground facilities, some of which are still off-limits today. Once top-secret military depots and command posts or the bunkered facilities of secret services are presented here for the very first time.

      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2018

        Berlin – City of Revolts

        by Michael Sontheimer / Peter Wensierski

        “If you don’t fight, you’re not living right.” This is what it says on the crumbling façade of a building in the Kreuzberg borough of Berlin. Berlin is a city that is filled with places that were once the scenes of varied revolts: the student movement in the West, dissidents in the East, and the squatters, punks and pirate-radio operators in both parts of the city. The resistance movements in divided Berlin were quite varied, since they were fighting against two fundamentally different systems. But the motivations and courageousness of these mostly youthful rebels had something in common too, revolting as they were against outdated hierarchies and authorities.Michael Sontheimer and Peter Wensierski, both longtime residents of Berlin, have drawn a map of the many revolts in their city. They give contemporary witnesses their say, offer a wealth of photos, and invite the reader on a walk through Berlin.You only see what you know.

      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2020

        Franco's Long Shadow

        Dictatorship and Democracy in Spain

        by Hannes Bahrmann

        Disregarding Cambodia, Spain has the most anonymous mass graves in the world. They originate from the civil war between 1936 and 1939, which led to the dictatorship of Franco. However, it has not been dealt with the Franco regime’s felonies until today. Spain’s democracy was built seamlessly onto the foundations of the old terror regime. All court decisions from that time apply until today. Civil society organisations demand to deal with the past now – while right-wing extremists gather in the new VOX-party and glorify Franco. Hannes Bahrmann, historian and expert on Spain, explains vividly Spain’s dramatic history from Franco’s coup in 1936 to the dictator’s death in 1975 until today. He thereby shows how strong the unresolved past burdens the democratic present.

      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        August 2020

        Egypt

        A Country Portrait

        by Jürgen Stryjak

        In Egypt there are more than 100 million people living in an area the size of Ireland. The rest is uninhabitable dessert. But despite this almost apocalyptic density and great hardship the country does not fall into chaos and violent upheaval. Why is that the case? Jürgen Stryjak lives and reports from Egypt since 1999. In his book he tells us about the history of a country that has for centuries been a cultural melting pot and he describes the strong influence of the river Nile. Stryjak also writes about the economic and political power of the military, the changes that are taking place in a young society and the role of the political Islam. This book reveals many western misconceptions about Egypt and provides new insights into the failure of the pro-democracy movement.

      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2020

        East Berlin

        Biography of a Capital City

        by Stefan Wolle

        The capital of the GDR exists only in memories but it is still present everywhere in today’s Berlin. At every corner, pictures and mysterious symbols hide, which show through every now and then like whitewashed graffiti on houses. Stefan Wolle, who had lived and worked most of his life in East Berlin, is strolling through time and space and is visiting central places: the Alexanderplatz, the street Unter den Linden, and the Brandenburg Gate, centres of political power as well as spots where subculture came to life.This biography of a city is told along historical events from the surrender of the Nazi-Germany in 1945 to the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. The author describes everyday life, buying groceries, weekend trips, and flat-hunting. He links quotations from official files, from literature, and from song lyrics to a many-voiced text.

      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        August 2019

        The Fall of the Berlin Wall

        A Chronicle

        by Hans-Hermann Hertle

        How did the surprising opening of the Berlin Wall come to pass on November 9th, 1989? Günther Shabowski, a member of the politburo of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), became famous when he read the new travel provisions on a press conference being broadcasted live, which led to tens of thousands of people going to the border crossing-points along the Berlin Wall asking for permission to pass. Shortly after that the entire Inner German border was opened.This book tells how exactly the fall of the Berlin Wall took place and why. It also shows how the border troops, the Ministry for State Security and the Party leaders experienced this event and how they reacted to it. The foundations of this definitive book on the topic are years of research and hundreds of interviews with contemporary witnesses. The result is a descriptive chronicle – as exciting to read as a crime story.

      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        August 2019

        Finale.

        The Last Year of the GDR

        by Hannes Bahrmann / Christoph Links

        Year 41 of the GDR is the most exciting in GDR history. Between the 7th October 1989 and the 3rd October 1990 a rush of events is taking place: The people in the GDR overthrow the SED government and force it to open the border, a parallel government is formed and asserts democratic elections. Those are won by the conservative party alliance which pushes for a fast German unification which is realised within a few months with the support of the Allied Forces. The authors describe these events in a concise way while giving insights into the workings of the East-German State with documents, background material and reports from contemporary witnesses. This book is a compact description of the history of the GDR with a chronicle of events, portraits of important figures, reports of contemporary witnesses and background information as well as a lot of jokes from the GDR.

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