scholarly journals Contesting The Malyn Massacre: The Legacy Of Inter-Ethnic Violence And The Second World War In Eastern Europe

Author(s):  
Jared McBride

On the morning of July 13, 1943, a German anti-partisan formation surrounded the small village of Malyn and its Czech and Ukrainian inhabitants. The soldiers gathered the entire village population in the town square and, after a document check, proceeded to lock them inside the town church, school and their homes. The soldiers then set fire to these buildings and shot them with machine guns. By the end of the day, Malyn ceased to exist. On the surface, the Malyn Massacre appears as just another ghastly crime committed by a brutal occupying force. Yet, a closer look at archival sources, popular discourse, and scholarly literature on Malyn reveals a much different picture – and a murkier one. In total, there are over fifteen different versions of what happened in Malyn that day. The ethnic identities of the units that accompanied the Germans vary from account to account, as do the details of the crime, the justification for the reprisal, and even the ethnicity of the victims. In analyzing materials from over ten archives in six countries and four historiographical-linguistic narratives, in addition to field research in Ukraine and the Czech Republic, this article explains why so many disparate claims about the Malyn massacre exist. I specify four discursive landscapes about Malyn (Soviet, Ukrainian, Polish, and Czech) and detail how and why each of these has come to construct their own version(s) of Malyn in relation to larger grand narratives about the war in the East. This microhistory also underscores how the trauma and legacy of wartime inter-ethnic violence casts a long shadow over the current understanding of the war and highlights the daunting task scholars face writing the history of this region and time period.

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-161
Author(s):  
ELENA MARUSHIAKOVA ◽  
VESSELIN POPOV

This article traces the beginning of Romani literature. It focuses on the work of Alexander Germano in the context of the history of a unique Romani literacy project developed in the USSR before the Second World War. It shows the peculiarity of the Soviet Romani literature and in particular the personal activities and contributions of Germano, the man considered the progenitor of contemporary Romani literature (with works in all three main genres of literature: poetry, prose, and drama). The study is based on a number of years of archival work in a variety of archives in the Russian Federation and to a great extent in Alexander Germano’s personal archive, preserved in the town of Orel (Russian Federation). The documents studied allow us to clarify the blurred spots in his biography, to reveal his ethnic background and identity, and to highlight the reason for the success of the Romani literary project. The example of Germano shows that the beginning of a national literature depends on the significance and public impact of the literary work of a particular author, and is not necessarily related to the author’s ethnic origin and identity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-28
Author(s):  
VIKTOR SHAPOVAL

The history of Soviet Roma literature from the middle of 1938 to the beginning of the Second World War cannot be explored through an analysis of published books, since no books were published in those years. Moreover, a very specific chronological dilemma arises. In Soviet historiography, the events of the Second World War, which began on 22 June 1941, are considered separately from the events of the war that took place beyond the territory of the USSR. This period is also significant for the history of Soviet Roma literature, since for a period lasting almost two years - from September 1939 to June 1941 (when the interwar period formally ended) - Roma writers enjoyed a time of relative peace, which they spent in an intense search for new opportunities, interactions with authorities, and attempts to revive Roma book publishing. This article presents a study and analysis of this period based on previously unexamined archival documents and letters from Roma writers. The analysis of these documents helps create a picture of this time period and clarifies aspects of the plans and hopes that Roma writers had “relatively speaking, after the brief era of Romani Gutenberg.”


Author(s):  
Michael Kinch

This chapter details the birth of the pharmaceutical industry, whose roots trace back more than six millennia. While modern society struggles with opiate addiction, the problem is centuries old and fostered a literal trade war in the form of the Opium Wars of the 19th century and whose scars still muddle international relations of China with the West today. During this same time period, improvements in understanding opium facilitated the discovery of new and more potent products that nurtured modern companies such as Merck & Co. Perhaps no other discovery has impacted the industry or public health as much as antibiotics and we trace the history of these medicines and debunk misunderstandings and misattributions associated with their discovery. The impact of antibiotics was propelled by the Second World War, which also gave rise to the first treatments for cancer when two top-secret projects, one at Yale and another resulting from an audacious raid by the Luftwaffe upon an Italian port town, unexpectedly revealed the life-saving implications of mustard gas. Finally, we relate the triumphant and turbulent relationships that gave rise to the discoveyr of insulin and its widespread distribution by a paragon of “ethical pharmaceuticals”, Eli Lilly & Company.


Urban History ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 388-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Larkham

There are well-known reconstruction plans for various UK cities produced during and after the Second World War, but little attention has been paid to those towns suffering little damage, or whose plans were not drawn up by the usual eminent consultants. This paper explores the process of preparing such a plan for Wolverhampton, in the English West Midlands. Here, a ‘technocentric’ plan is evident, typical of the 1940s reconstruction plans, but one with roots stretching back a decade into the middle 1930s; one whose key impetus was the Borough Surveyor, but which was prepared for a major programme of public involvement and consultation. Although this plan was not carried out in this form, it set the agenda for the next forty years of development in planning thought and in changing urban form. It was pivotal in the history of the town and its restructuring from the middle of the twentieth century.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Agata Mikrut-Kusy

The history of southeastern Poland is inseparably linked with the Jewish community that settled mostly in larger cities located near significant trade routes. Despite limiting privileges, in many cities Jews managed to establish their own quarters, in which synagogues were the most important structures. Only a few cases of historical Jewish religious architecture, in varying states of preservation, have survived to the present. In Przeworsk, to the north of the town hall, an impressive, masonry Jewish synagogue had stood for several centuries. The building was erected at the start of the seventeenth century and up to the Second World War constituted a significant element of the city’s spatial structure. Despite the passage of over eighty years since the demolition of the synagogue, its site has not been commemorated. This paper presents the genesis and architecture of the historical synagogue. The massing of the building, its functional and spatial layout, and its interior décor were investigated. The paper also discusses the commemoration of historical buildings, pointing to the significance of place-based identity and broadly understood cultural heritage.


2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-93
Author(s):  
Jessica Moberg

Immediately after the Second World War Sweden was struck by a wave of sightings of strange flying objects. In some cases these mass sightings resulted in panic, particularly after authorities failed to identify them. Decades later, these phenomena were interpreted by two members of the Swedish UFO movement, Erland Sandqvist and Gösta Rehn, as alien spaceships, or UFOs. Rehn argued that ‘[t]here is nothing so dramatic in the Swedish history of UFOs as this invasion of alien fly-things’ (Rehn 1969: 50). In this article the interpretation of such sightings proposed by these authors, namely that we are visited by extraterrestrials from outer space, is approached from the perspective of myth theory. According to this mythical theme, not only are we are not alone in the universe, but also the history of humankind has been shaped by encounters with more highly-evolved alien beings. In their modern day form, these kinds of ideas about aliens and UFOs originated in the United States. The reasoning of Sandqvist and Rehn exemplifies the localization process that took place as members of the Swedish UFO movement began to produce their own narratives about aliens and UFOs. The question I will address is: in what ways do these stories change in new contexts? Texts produced by the Swedish UFO movement are analyzed as a case study of this process.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-291
Author(s):  
Egor A. Yesyunin

The article is devoted to the satirical agitation ABCs that appeared during the Civil War, which have never previously been identified by researchers as a separate type of agitation art. The ABCs, which used to have the narrow purpose of teaching children to read and write before, became a form of agitation art in the hands of artists and writers. This was facilitated by the fact that ABCs, in contrast to primers, are less loaded with educational material and, accordingly, they have more space for illustrations. The article presents the development history of the agitation ABCs, focusing in detail on four of them: V.V. Mayakovsky’s “Soviet ABC”, D.S. Moor’s “Red Army Soldier’s ABC”, A.I. Strakhov’s “ABC of the Revolution”, and M.M. Cheremnykh’s “Anti-Religious ABC”. There is also briefly considered “Our ABC”: the “TASS Posters” created by various artists during the Second World War. The article highlights the special significance of V.V. Mayakovsky’s first agitation ABC, which later became a reference point for many artists. The authors of the first satirical ABCs of the Civil War period consciously used the traditional form of popular prints, as well as ditties and sayings, in order to create images close to the people. The article focuses on the iconographic connections between the ABCs and posters in the works of D.S. Moor and M.M. Cheremnykh, who transferred their solutions from the posters to the ABCs.


1992 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-126
Author(s):  
Hans Levy

The focus of this paper is on the oldest international Jewish organization founded in 1843, B’nai B’rith. The paper presents a chronicle of B’nai B’rith in Continental Europe after the Second World War and the history of the organization in Scandinavia. In the 1970's the Order of B'nai B'rith became B'nai B'rith international. B'nai B'rith worked for Jewish unity and was supportive of the state of Israel.


2011 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-193
Author(s):  
Frank Seberechts

Uit de papieren van jeugdleider John Caremans, die aan de zorgen van het ADVN werden toevertrouwd, krijgen we een duidelijker beeld van de geschiedenis van de Vlaams-nationalistische jeugdbewegingen voor en tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Caremans voert in 1942 in opdracht van zijn oversten ‘verkenningsopdrachten’ uit bij vertegenwoordigers van de nationaal-socialistische jeugdbeweging in Duitsland. Uit het verslag dat Caremans over zijn reizen opstelt en uit de naoorlogse ondervragingen van Caremans en van zijn chef, jeugdleider Edgar Lehembre, blijkt dat deze reizen naar Berlijn slechts een episode vormen in de strijd die gedurende de hele bezetting woedt tussen de verschillende jeugdbewegingen in Vlaanderen en tussen, de verschillende partijen en ideologische strekkingen in de collaboratie. Alle ingrediënten zijn aanwezig: de scepsis van een deel van de Nationaal-Socialistische Jeugd Vlaanderen (NSJV) tegenover de brute nationaal-socialistische machtshonger, het onbegrip en de machtspolitiek van Duitse instanties als het Deutsche Arbeiterfront (DAF) en de Hitlerjugend (HJ) tegenover de buitenlanders – zelfs wanneer die zich in de collaboratie inschakelen, de inmenging van Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond (VNV) en van de Vlaamsch-Duitsche Arbeidsgemeenschap (DeVlag)/SS. Het wordt duidelijk dat Lehembre en het VNV in deze strijd het onderspit zullen delven.________“Something on behalf of our young people”. John Caremans, Edgar Lehembre, Remi Van Mieghem and the Flemish and German machinations concerning the Flemish nationalist youth movement in 1942.The documents of youth leader John Caremans, which had been entrusted to the care of the ADVN, give a clearer picture of the history of the Flemish Nationalist youth movements before and during the Second World War. In 1942, Caremans was instructed by his superiors to carry out ‘exploratory missions’ among representatives of the National Socialist youth movement in Germany.The report written by Caremans about his travels and post-war interrogations of Caremans and his chief, youth leader, Edgar Lehembre, demonstrate that these trips to Berlin constituted only one episode in the struggle that raged throughout the occupation between the various youth movements in Flanders and between the various parties and ideological trends in the collaboration. All ingredients are present: the scepticism of a part of the National Socialist Youth of Flanders (NSJV) towards the brute National Socialist craving for power, the incomprehension and the power politics of German agencies, like the Deutsche Arbeiterfront (DAF) and the Hitlerjugend (HJ) towards foreigners – even when they engage in collaboration, the interference of the Flemish National Union (VNV) and the Flemish German Labour Community (De Vlag)/SS. It becomes clear that Lehembre and the VNV would come off worst in this combat.


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