President George Bush has denounced the Soviet rule of eastern Europe during the Cold War as "one of the greatest wrongs of history" in a jab at Moscow just before massive celebrations in Russia of the 1945 victory over Hitler. He said the end of the war brought liberty from fascism for many in Germany but meant the "iron rule of another empire Exchanging One Brutalism for Another
Eye on Politics & Law Lords: 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF VE DAY: Celebrating war's end
My parents paid a terrible price ... Details of those days are fading from memory. Sixty years ago today, World War II was over in Europe!
The original German title of Uwe Timm's memoir translates as "On the Example of My Brother." That captures its central concern rather more pointedly than "In My Brother's Shadow," for what he wrestles with here is whether the wartime experiences of his long-dead brother Karl-Heinz left an example that can be understood.
In any case, it is not Karl-Heinz's shadow that Timm seems to have been in most of his life, but that of his father, with whom he also does a bit of figurative wrestling. He says, "Writing about my brother means writing about my father, too."
Timm, a respected German novelist ("The Invention of Curried Sausage"), was 3 years old when his brother, 16 years older and a member of the Waffen SS, died in Ukraine in 1943 shortly after being wounded and having both his legs amputated. Timm tried several times to write about him, but couldn't while his mother, father and sister were still alive.
• Shadow' examines Germans' attitudes over WW II [At the outset of the war there were those who believed that democracy was too soft to survive, especially against a Nazi Germany. They boasted the most professional, well-equipped and highly trained military forces in the world Mixed feelings as Moscow marks WWII anniversary ; Tax cuts to offset rising living costs ; Google: Thousands join in rallies to hail wartime heroism]
• · Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev warned last night "there can be no forgiveness" for his predecessor Joseph Stalin, who had created a "slaughter machine". Allies unite to honour heroes ; Dictator Stalin stirs nostalgia as Russians remember war
• · · Arnold Scott-Schlessinger, born a Slovak Jew who, was handed an opportunity to fight fascism. All but 10 of his 60-member Slovak family failed to survive World War II, but Scott-Schlessinger escaped to Britain and joined the Czechoslovak battalion of the British air force. The man who fought fascism - and won ; Auschwitz was a killing factory running at the pace of 12,000 lives a day Why didn't we bomb Auschwitz?
• · · · Google: Leaders pay tribute to WWII Russians; Bridges are all very well in times of peace when trade and communications can freely pass both ways. In times of trouble, bridges are the first things to be closed. In times of war, bridges get blown up Walker's World: Where does Europe stop?
• · · · · If Carr wants to talk business taxes, he calls Margy Osmond, a former National Party staff member who heads the State Chamber of Commerce. Businessman Nicholas Shehadie, who is also the husband of NSW Governor Marie Bashir, chairs Carr's Major Events Board Premiers' Kitchen Hands; Tax tinkering 'is not enough' ; Economic theory suggests that land tax is efficient (even perfect) ;
Bob Carr risked his leadership to back the creation of ICAC Bob Carr is the only Premier over the body's 16-year life who always supported i
• · · · · · Tax cuts to offset rising living costs ; Technorati on Tax