A lot of smart people are discussing the current refugee crisis stemming from the Syrian Civil War. Much of this commentary is critical of European states and asserts that Europe should look to a kinder gentler past when refugees were treated with dignity. One of these commentators is Emily Bazelon of the New York Times.Continue reading “Refugee History in 20th Century Europe: A Brief Primer”
Category Archives: Germany
Fiscal Military States in Early Modern Europe
According to Nicholas Henshall, historians have long misinterpreted the term “absolutism.” The term “absolutism” emerged after the fall of the ancien regime and came to describe “a highly centralized and despotic government ruled by an all-powerful monarch authority extended to all parts of the realm and was not subjected to any constitutional, aristocratic, or legalContinue reading “Fiscal Military States in Early Modern Europe”
Night Will Fall
Night Will Fall is a 2014 documentary that examines World War II film crews from the three Allied powers who captured the liberation of Nazi concentration camps and killing centers. The chilling footage captured by these film crews was meant to be part of documentary film overseen by Sidney Berstein, but the contingencies of the ColdContinue reading “Night Will Fall”
What Matt Yglesias Gets Right and Wrong About Germany and the First World War
On Friday, Slate policy wonk Matthew Yglesias decided to dive into World War I history, a topic far removed his commentary on politics and business. When reading Yglesias’s blog, I generally find myself in disagreement with his arguments but I find his analysis and commentary refreshing. His work forces me to rethink my own understandings andContinue reading “What Matt Yglesias Gets Right and Wrong About Germany and the First World War”
German Expellees in the Anglo-American Press, 1944-1950
On February 9, 1945 Margarete Marquardt was loaded onto a cattle car and expelled from her home in East Prussia: “[W]e . . . were set on the march eastward. Then we were loaded into cattle cars. The cars remained closed for five days, nailed shut and totally black inside. During the whole trip, whichContinue reading “German Expellees in the Anglo-American Press, 1944-1950”
Douglas I. Bell 