Tag Archives: Soviet empire

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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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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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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Imperium

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

Ryszard Kapuściński was a Polish reporter who was sometimes accused of a certain, well, embellishment. It’s true that this astonishing book about the end of the Soviet empire has its moments of what might be described as magical journalism: a … 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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Love and Garbage

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

A novel by the Czech writer Ivan Klima, written in the early 1980s: mostly garbage, actually. He’s very good on garbage: he describes well the environmental pollution of Prague and its environs by the communist regime, and how they also … Continue reading →

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I Served The King Of England

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

This novel by the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal, written in 1971, consists of a series of impossible anecdotes strung around the life of the narrator, a waiter in Bohemia during the years around the Second World War. At first it’s … Continue reading →

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24 hours in Silesia

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

The small train from the Czech Republic came rattling through cool Sudeten mountain forests of silver birch into Poland, and then descended to the plains. When I was at school back in the 1970s I had a mental picture of … Continue reading →

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48 hours in Moravia

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

On into Moravia, the other half of the Czech lands. Long vistas of rolling land, field and heath and forests that are just as cool and dense and lush, if a little more coniferous than in Bohemia. At a small … Continue reading →

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lagerland

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

Plzeň is ground zero of the global lager explosion – it was invented here in the 1830s (ever wondered what the Ur in Pilsner Urquell stood for?) So much to answer for… There’s a museum dedicated to General George S. … Continue reading →

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