Living in Words – New German translations of Ukrainian literature + Books on Ukraine from German publishers

Born in Poltava in 1925, at the time of the Bolshevik regime, Anastasia Gulej grew up in a typical Ukrainian...

Born in Poltava in 1925, at the time of the Bolshevik regime, Anastasia Gulej grew up in a typical Ukrainian village. She was the daughter of a village schoolteacher and a housewife. As a child and adolescent she lived through three disasters: the terrible famine of 1932/33, Stalin's Great Terror of 1937/38, and being transported by the Germans to do forced labour in 1943. After fleeing in 1943, Anastasia Gulej spent time in several prisons, ended up in Auschwitz-Birkenau, survived the death march from Auschwitz in the freezing temperatures of January 1945, and entered the hell of Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated at the last moment by British troops. She returned to her homeland, finished school, studied forestry, and worked in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and later in Kyiv. When Ukraine gained independence in 1991, her work as a contemporary witness at home and abroad began. Anastasia Gulej wrote books about the period of the Second World War, recording the stories of many victims of the Nazi terror. In 2022 she experienced war once again. Russia's invasion of her homeland forced her to leave Kyiv and Ukraine.

The texts in this Neue Rundschau special edition help the reader gain a better understanding of the current situation. Why...

The texts in this Neue Rundschau special edition help the reader gain a better understanding of the current situation. Why did the West not see the invasion coming? What was/is the relationship between Ukraine and Russia like? What impact will the war have on civil society? What kind of Europe is possible now? But also: how do people experience the war both in Ukraine and in Russia? With essays by Vitali Alekseenok, Yevgeniy Breyger, Dmitrij Gawrisch, Volha Hapeyeva, Uwe Kolbe, Olga Martynova, Christoph Ransmayr, Stephan Wackwitz and Alexander Lebedev among others.

In the light of this new war, which is throwing up many old questions, Gerd Koenen embarks on an investigation...

In the light of this new war, which is throwing up many old questions, Gerd Koenen embarks on an investigation that takes us from the cynical partnership of the Hitler-Stalin pact to the friend-or-foe propaganda of our own times, and from the founders of ‘Memorial’ to Putin’s spin doctors. Personal meetings and nuanced analyses come together to produce a long-term diagnosis of a country suffering from deep insecurity, whilst at the same time wanting to be seen as a world power on a par with China and the USA.

This analysis by Eastern Europe expert Sabine Adler not only looks at Ukraine and the present war, but also at...

This analysis by Eastern Europe expert Sabine Adler not only looks at Ukraine and the present war, but also at the role played by Germany – economically, politically and in terms of the media – with regard to the invaded country. Adler, who has been a clear-sighted observer for many years, reflects critically on the situation.

This collection is a homage cum ira et studio to the courageous people of Ukraine, and my very personal declaration...

This collection is a homage cum ira et studio to the courageous people of Ukraine, and my very personal declaration of solidarity with their bravery, their endurance and their desire for freedom: learning from Ukraine means learning Europe!

Few people know Russia better than Michael Thumann, who has been reporting for Die Zeit from Eastern Europe for over...

Few people know Russia better than Michael Thumann, who has been reporting for Die Zeit from Eastern Europe for over 25 years. In this breathtaking book, he traces Russia’s descent into increasingly totalitarian dictatorship and the path to Putin’s imperialist war, viewed from within.

The old nationalism is back, claims political scientist Erhard Crome. That is why Russian oligarchic capitalism is waging war on...

The old nationalism is back, claims political scientist Erhard Crome. That is why Russian oligarchic capitalism is waging war on Ukrainian oligarchic capitalism, so as not to abandon it to the old imperialist powers in the West. It is a war about the redistribution of geopolitical and economic power across the territory of the former Soviet Union and, at its heart, it is about the constitution of the nation. Crome looks not only at the east of the continent, however, but also at the origins of nations, their function in the past and in the present, what we can expect in the future, and why the issue is such a thorny one for people on the left.

"When day broke, a shockwave went around the world: almost 23 years after NATO's attack on Yugoslavia, there was open...

"When day broke, a shockwave went around the world: almost 23 years after NATO's attack on Yugoslavia, there was open warfare in Europe once again." With these words, Jörg Kronauer introduces his account of the background to the war which, with the Russian invasion in February 2022, erupted out of the Ukraine conflict. It is one of the two major conflicts the West has been preparing for for years. One of these conflicts is with Russia, which has stabilised since its dramatic decline in the 1990s and is now insisting on playing an independent role in global politics. The other conflict is with China, which is rapidly developing into a global power. The transatlantic nations want to prevent this. The power struggle against Russia and China is being played out in the fields of politics, business and the media. And military deployments are increasingly forming part of it too. This book shows that a future military confrontation (which, if the situation continued to escalate, could lead to an all-out world war) is the logical outcome of this kind of politics.

Eastern Europe expert Gwendolyn Sasse explains the background to the conflict, describes the course the war has taken and reflects...

Eastern Europe expert Gwendolyn Sasse explains the background to the conflict, describes the course the war has taken and reflects on what its consequences will be: for Russia, for Ukraine, but also for us in the West.

Rüdiger von Fritsch has met Vladimir Putin many times and gained an insight into his personality. He explains what motivates...

Rüdiger von Fritsch has met Vladimir Putin many times and gained an insight into his personality. He explains what motivates Putin and how the autocrat is increasingly becoming a victim of his own obsessions and his warped perception of reality. Rüdiger von Fritsch knows from his years as an ambassador in Moscow that Russia and Putin are not one and the same. But how much resistance is there to Putin? Who can stop him? What will happen to Ukraine? And where will Russia's imperial aspirations end?

The idea at the heart of this book is that the key to understanding lies in asking fundamental questions: what...

The idea at the heart of this book is that the key to understanding lies in asking fundamental questions: what are the causes of the war? Who benefits from it? And who has an interest in allowing a conflict that is so incredibly dangerous – that may even lead to the use of nuclear weapons – to continue? The nature of the war in Ukraine is discussed with a view to possible solutions: is it imperialist, hegemonic, a proxy war, even a world order war? What are the aims  being pursued by Russia, by Ukraine, by the West? What is the role of NATO, which is becoming increasingly dominant in comparison to the UN and the OSCE? In the fraught space between diplomacy and militarisation, between sanctions policy and raw materials policy, the authors also reflect on the social situation in their own country at a time when rearmament is no longer a taboo subject. They take the pulse of a turning point, leading with the question of how 'peace can be restored' (Eugen Drewermann) and how peace can become 'a better deal than war' (Daniela Dahn).

This book sheds light on the background to the conflict, the course of the war itself, the involvement of the...

This book sheds light on the background to the conflict, the course of the war itself, the involvement of the Western alliance in terms of supplying weapons to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia, the growing strength of the political right in Kyiv and Moscow, and the role of the media in the transatlantic space. The rise of NATO and the economic expansion of the EU in an eastward direction runs counter to the concept of 'Russkiy mir', which aims to unite the 'Russian world'. Ukraine – not for the first time in its history – has become a geopolitical football in the struggle between East and West.

Accounts of a culture in flux – the most internationally renowned intellectual and literary voices from Ukraine. A thematic focus...

Accounts of a culture in flux – the most internationally renowned intellectual and literary voices from Ukraine. A thematic focus for these selected authors is Ukraine's multicultural past. Many of them reflect on the extent to which Ukraine is a European country. The common point of reference is the collective and historical memory of Ukraine and its importance in the present day. With contributions from Yuri Andrukhovych, Lyubko Deresch, Andrey Kurkov, Tanja Maljartschuk, Anatoly Rybakov, Serhiy Zhadan and Oksana Sabuschko, among others.

A Formality in Kyiv is the story of a family who once moved abroad full of hope, but who ended...

A Formality in Kyiv is the story of a family who once moved abroad full of hope, but who ended up without any homeland at all. Narrated with the bittersweet humour of a son who is stoically trying to become German.