Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Treaty of Versailles signed 100 years ago was not a peace agreement based on reconciliation, but rather a continuation of war by other means. However, the idea that it led to the failure of the Weimar Republic is also a historical myth.

By Eckart Conze

There was a certain historical irony at work on that day in December 1918, when US President Woodrow Wilson boarded the USS George Washington on his way across the Atlantic to attend the Paris Peace Conference. The steamer was, in …

The current anti-US prejudices are an expression of German self-contempt.

By Tanja Dückers

The German-American friendship has sunk so low that Germans now have more trust in China than in the United States. A recent survey commissioned by the Atlantik-Brücke and conducted by the polling firm Civey found that 85 percent of respondents …

Misguided accusations of anti-Americanism are an effective tool for stifling debate

By Peter H. Koepf

According to Andrei S. Markovits, “anti-Americanism is a particularly murky concept because it invariably merges antipathy towards what America does with what America is.” In a 2004 book, he bemoaned what he called the “hatred of America.” Markovits could …

The German harmonica and African-American blues culture may be an odd couple. But they have come a long way together

By Herbert Quelle

After the voice and the guitar, the harmonica – or mouth organ, or just harp – which was first sold in Vienna in the 1820s, is the most characteristic instrument of the blues. And the first harps African-American used to …

Two German historians have co-written the story of how Hitler came to power, yet in the form of a contemporary political thriller. It’s a disturbing and entirely intoxicating read.

By Lutz Lichtenberger

Germany, November 1932. These are dark times for the Weimar Republic. While still alive, democracy is but hanging by a thread. Unemployment is dramatically high – more than five million Germans are out of work. Fights are breaking out in …

The people of Kallstadt are known for their hospitality and open-mindedness, yet they are skeptical about a visit by the US president to his grandfather’s hometown

By Dagmar Schindler-Nickel

When Karin Speckert is out sweeping in front of her home and gets asked by tourists where they can find the Trump house, she pretends she doesn’t know. “It drives me crazy,” says the 76-year-old. She lives across from the …

Who is John Maynard? For many Germans, the ballad of this heroic helmsman is inextricably linked to Lake Erie and the city of Buffalo. Its author, Theodor Fontane, was born two centuries ago this year.

By Klaus Grimberg

A paddle-wheel steamer in flames on Lake Erie – hundreds of passengers in mortal danger – the safety of the shore still far off: Ask a German man, woman or child if these fragmentary images ring a bell, and their …

Trans-Atlantic Book Review #02

Trans-Atlantic Book Review #02
By Lutz Lichtenberger

Perception Trap

For four long chapters of masterfully even-handed historical analysis, Andreas Rödder hides his political leanings – without ever being dull. The historian from the southwestern German city of Mainz asks “Who is afraid of Germany?” (Wer hat

In 2018, German screenwriter and director Christian Petzold was invited to be a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, yet his work couldn’t be less Hollywood

By Ursula Scheer

When Christian Petzold thinks of cinema, the image that comes to his mind is Angelus Novus, a print created by the Swiss-German avant-garde artist Paul Klee two years after the end of World War I. Klee’s image depicts what philosopher …

Alexander Gerst: A view from above

By Keenan Brill

The German native had already recorded his “message to my grandchildren” in November, while hovering 400 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, in the Cupola View Module of the International Space Station (ISS). On Dec. 18, Alexander Gerst, commander of the …

Like many German athletes, Moritz Wagner had a rough go of it when he arrived in the US. Now he’s a Los Angeles Laker.

Like many German athletes, Moritz Wagner had a rough go of it when he arrived in the US. Now he’s a Los Angeles Laker.
By Jürgen Schmieder

No. On a sunny morning in this beach town south of L.A., Moritz Wagner does not look much like an NBA star. He’s not dressed like many of his fellow pro-basketballers – flashy designer suits, heavy gold chains, extravagant headgear. …

100 years ago, Save the Children was founded in the UK to help starving kids in Germany

By Keenan Brill

London 1919, disgruntled locals were gathered around a donation stand holding rotten apples in sign of protest against the two sisters who were collecting funds for the children of the war. They were insulted as traitors. „Feeding the enemy’s children“ …

Are the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia preparing for regime change in Iran?

By Michael Lüders

As The New York Times reported in November 2018, the United States and Saudi Arabia have apparently reached a framework agreement for the sale of nuclear power stations to the Kingdom. The deal is said to be worth up to …

The future of the West will be a conditional, task-oriented and transient affair.

By François Heisbourg

NATO is not dead. European defense budgets have been rising steadily since 2014; American forces are staying in Europe; and Donald Trump will eventually leave the White House. Yet Europe can no longer assume the permanence of the historically exceptional …

A new global order is in the offing

By Theo Sommer

The year 2019 was ushered in under clouds of gloom and doom. The current global order is, in fact, a frightening global disorder. Not only is the world economy weakening, as tariff conflicts herald a pernicious trade war, but the …