Tag Archives: central Europe

A Woman In Berlin

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

This anonymously written diary was kept between April 20th and June 22nd 1945 by a single thirty-something journalist in Berlin, and describes first-hand the utter collapse of German power in the capital of the Reich and the coming of the … Continue reading →

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singing fascination

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

In a disused church in Aachen, an exhibition by a local artist, Lion Ebergard. He has taken Picasso’s trick with eyes and put it at the centre of his work: it is surprising how much eyes pointing in different directions, … Continue reading →

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the man who invented Europe

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

On Sunday afternoon, Aachen is a quietly typical German bourgeois town, with a brass band playing in the Cathedral square and teenagers wearing t-shirts emblazoned with legends like NEW YORK FUCKING CITY. It has hot springs, which, along with its … Continue reading →

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this could be a place of historical importance

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

On the way from Berlin to Aachen, I had an 18-minute stopover in Cologne, whose name derives from the colony (colonia) that the Romans established here on the banks of the Rhine, their broad German frontier. As the train pulled … Continue reading →

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Deutsche Bahn

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

The German train system is perhaps (the French would argue otherwise) Europe’s finest. It works well. And yet… The train from Poznań to Berlin was 20 minutes late at the border. In Frankfurt an der Oder, the first town on … Continue reading →

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The Pianist

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

This autobiographical tale by Władysław Szpilman is another staggering account of the holocaust, this one by a Polish Jew. A nationally known concert pianist living in a Jewish area of Warsaw with his parents, brother and two sisters, after the Germans … Continue reading →

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Berlin (the start thereof)

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

As a big city, Berlin feels odd: long vistas, plenty of space, and little of the rush and bustle that characterizes Paris, say, or London, or Tokyo. Unter Den Linden seems rather boring, featureless and staid in comparison to Ginza … Continue reading →

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Poznan

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

Poznań is where they say Poland began, back in 966 when the first king converted to Christianity here. A cathedral marks the spot, built, strangely, of red brick (doesn’t that mean industry?) – yet perhaps not so strange when you … Continue reading →

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Warsaw (part thereof)

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

The Nazis and the Soviets between them really made a mess of this town. In late July 1944, as the Red Army reached the east bank of Warsaw’s river, the Vistula, they called on the people of Warsaw to rise … Continue reading →

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east

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

On Saturday night, Lublin is rocking – more even than Krakow. The old town – a few cobbled streets and a medieval square – is jammed with people partying out loud in sweltering heat. A punk band blasts cacophony from … Continue reading →

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