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On 17 May 1946, the Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA) was officially founded. Over the course of the following four decades, the studio produced nearly 700 feature films, as well as hundred of animation and documentary films. By the time it was finally privatised and sold following German reunification, DEFA was one of Europe’s largest film studios.
Continue reading “The 75th anniversary of the founding of the East German film studio DEFA”Today marks the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, commemorating the conclusion of World War II. On May 8, 1945, the Allies formally accepted Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender, marking the end of the war on the European continent.
Continue reading “In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe”TIMOTHY E. PYTELL
The recent United Nations General Assembly declaration that the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz – January 27 – be designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day reflects the reality that the Holocaust has become a touchstone in global memory. Given the magnitude of the “unprecendented” destruction, this is not surprising. However, the conflation of the Holocaust with Auschwitz also distorts our understanding. For example, although Auschwitz is the culmination of the Holocaust, by the time the gas chambers came onto line at Auschwitz in April of 1943 three quarters of the Jews killed in the Holocaust were already dead. The vast majority of the Soviet and Polish Jews were killed east of the Molotov-Ribbentrop line and often by bullets. In Timothy Snyder’s words “Auschwitz is the coda to the death fugue.” (Snyder Bloodlands p. 383).
Continue reading “Viktor Frankl: 75 years after the liberation of Auschwitz”
Today marks the 31st anniversary of National Coming Out Day, honoring all who have come out as LGBTQ or as as a straight ally for equality. Check out the Human Rights Campaign for an account of this day’s history as well as ways to participate and celebrate in your community.
Continue reading “National Coming Out Day and and the Archaeology of LGBTQ Communities”
On October 7th, 1949, the Democratic Republic of Germany was proclaimed, dividing Germany between East and West.
Seventy years later, we find ourselves in the days leading up to the German Studies Association’s annual meeting. A great deal has happened between 1949 and now, and we are delighted to present titles that provide comprehensive histories of this time period.
BY ANDREW REINHARD, author of ARCHAEOGAMING: An Introduction to Archaeology in and of Video Games
September 12 marks the 22nd annual National Video Games Day, a day with hazy origins. When I think about time and video games, a few things come to mind: anniversaries of course, release dates, retirement dates. I found myself wondering: what commercial games premiered in September 1997, the first official #VideoGamesDay (which was the first year I could start buying games for myself with discretionary income)? There are some classics, all for Windows/DOS: Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, Ultima Online, Fallout. There are also some games lost to time: Breath of Fire III, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far, Panzer General II, Poy Poy, and Total Annihilation.
Continue reading “Portable, Digital Heritage and Memories of Place”________________________________________________________________________
In Paperback
EXPERIENCE AND MEMORY
The Second World War in Europe
Edited by Jörg Echternkamp and Stefan Martens
Volume 7, Contemporary European History
CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC BOOK OF THE YEAR 2011
Continue reading “Victory Day to commemorate the end of WWII”
April 24 marks the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day is held annually to recognize and mourn more than 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide, the most tragic element of Armenian history.
Canada Day is the national day of Canada, a holiday celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the British North America Act which united separate colonies into a “kingdom in its own right” within the British Empire named the Dominion of Canada.
As Canada celebrates its important national milestone, Berghahn is delighted to highlight some of our Canadian authors and editors and those currently based in Canada.
This issue marks the beginning of the fifty-first year of publication of the journal, something to be registered with a degree of pride and not a little wonder. We have been served over this time with a remarkable series of editors, beginning with our founding editor Rabbi Dr Ignaz Maybaum z’l (1897-1976). In those early years the direction of the journal was led by Rabbi Michael Goulston z’l (1931-1972) as Managing Editor before his tragic early death. His vision for the journal is well expressed in his words:
Despite numerical depletion, the dangers of destructive assimilation, and the alienation of many in the wake of the European catastrophe, a Jewry with a will to independent existence has a future. We already possess enough intellectual and spiritual strength to achieve a great deal if we can focus it and give it a clear direction. For there can be no successor to the great European heritage except a reborn European Judaism itself.[i]
He was succeeded as Managing Editor by Anthony Rudolf (1972-1975) who shared Michael’s European vision and, as a poet, translator and critic, brought literary and political dimensions to the journal. We open this issue with his memoir of those early days. Rabbi Marcel Marcus (1976-1978) succeeded him and in an early ‘personal view’ noted the journal’s understandable preoccupation with the Holocaust, but that now ‘a new generation has arisen. A generation which does not know the Holocaust, but only knows of the Holocaust.’ He invited authors of the ‘new generation’ – ‘it is time for us, having established, to look into the future’.[ii] Continue reading “European Judaism at 50”