5 h. ago Germany trumpets its reckoning with its Nazi past – except when it’s inconvenient | Hanno Hauenstein

From a media prize with a dubious pedigree to the horrors of Gaza, the establishment forgets and remembers what suits it bestGrowing up in Germany, we were taught to believe we had done better. Better than our grandparents’ generation, who swept their complicity under a thick rug of silence. Better even than our parents, whose revolts in the late 1960s rarely led to any serious reckoning with the legacy of the Holocaust.Born in the late 1980s, my generation learned about Auschwitz early on. We visited former concentration camps and studied the Nazi regime not as an alien aberration, but as a warning: this is how democracies die. Today, with the far-right AfD and ethno-chauvinism on the rise, that warning has never felt more urgent.Hanno Hauenstein is a Berlin-based journalist and author. He worked as a senior editor in Berliner Zeitung’s culture department, specialising in contemporary art and politics Continue reading...

Politics

24 h. ago A naked female dwarf Nazi, a lesbian orgy and explicit sex acts: Director whose last show left audience members needing medical attention shocks Germany with new play

Choreographer Florentina Holzinger is famous across the German-speaking world for her radical works, which usually feature dangerous stunts and unsimulated sex.

Events

3 d. ago The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey review – this dystopia could have been extraordinary

Alternate political realities are compellingly explored in this sinister vision of a children’s home – but the echoes of Ishiguro are just too strongIn 2016 Catherine Chidgey published her fourth novel, The Wish Child, a child’s-eye view of Nazi Germany. Since then the much-garlanded New Zealander has contrived to be not only conspicuously prolific but also intriguingly unpredictable. Though she returned to wartime Germany in her Women’s prize-longlisted Holocaust novel, Remote Sympathy, her work has ranged from the coming-of-age psychological thriller Pet to The Beat of the Pendulum, a “found” novel that drew on everything from conversations and social media posts to news bulletins and even satnav instructions to create a picture of one woman’s life over a year. The Axeman’s Carnival, published in the UK last year, was partly narrated by a magpie. Like The Wish Child it won the Acorn prize for fiction, making Chidgey the only writer to win New Zealand’s mos...

Politics

5 d. ago A vile antisemitic slur, comparing Tory policies to Nazi Germany and non

He's had a hugely successful career in football and broadcasting, but Gary Lineker has also become known for his tweets in recent years which have attracted significant attention.

Events

2 w. ago Chinese troops march with Russian forces as Xi joins Putin for Victory Day parade

Moscow stages largest Victory Day parade since start of Ukraine war with Putin using celebrations to justify invasionRussian troops fighting in Ukraine marched together with Chinese forces on Moscow’s Red Square to mark the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat, in a Victory Day celebration marked by greater spectacle than in recent years.After several scaled-back Victory Days – with reduced military displays and few foreign guests – Vladimir Putin on Friday addressed the largest parade since his 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “The Soviet Union took upon itself the most ferocious, merciless blows of the enemy,” the Russian president said of the victory over Nazi Germany, before turning to his invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Putin’s troops 'break' ceasefire called to mark 80th anniversary of Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany

Ukraine accuses Putin of flouting his unilateral 72-hour ceasefire to coincide with the Victory Day celebrations

Politics

2 w. ago Russia’s Victory Day parade begins, marking the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany

A military parade has begun on Red Square in Moscow, marking the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II

Politics

2 w. ago The heroic Guardian reporter who documented the rise of the Nazis

Eighty years after the end of the second world war, two former Berlin correspondents discuss how the Guardian covered the NazisFrederick Augustus Voigt was the Manchester Guardian’s Berlin correspondent between 1920 and 1932.In this episode, two fellow former Berlin correspondents, Helen Pidd and Philip Oltermann, discuss Voigt’s incredible reporting on the rise of Nazi Germany. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago VE day UPDATES: Britain marks 80th anniversary of WW2's end in Europe

At 3pm eighty years ago on May 8, 1945, then Prime Minister Winston Churchill took to the airwaves to announce that Nazi Germany had unconditionally surrendered - and that the cruelty of World War II was finally at an end

Politics

2 w. ago Relive VE Day as it happened 80 years ago when Britain threw epic party to celebrate Germany's surrender in WWII

LIVE UPDATES: Follow minute by minute details of Britain's VE Day celebrations on May 8, 1945 as the nation celebrated victory over Nazi Germany and the end of the Second World War.

Society

2 w. ago How Putin uses the USSR's victory in World War II to rally support for him and the war in Ukraine

Hardly any other country marks the end of World War II with the same fanfare and fervor as Russia, for which the victory over Nazi Germany 80 years ago remains a source of immense pride and a defining moment of history

Politics

2 w. ago AP PHOTOS: How bitter wartime enemies France and Germany built a friendship that underpins the EU

They were bitter enemies, seemingly destined to be perpetually at odds after fighting two devastating world wars less than 30 years apart.

Events

2 w. ago VE Day saw millions celebrate while this British Paratrooper unearthed Nazi Germany's darkest horrors

Peter Belcher was already a veteran of the D-Day landings and the Battle of the Bulge, but the worst was yet to come

Events

2 w. ago Landmarks across Britain lit in red, white and blue to commemorate VE Day anniversary

The nation has united to mark 80 years since Britain declared victory over Nazi Germany

Events

2 w. ago Buildings across Britain bask in red, white and blue light to commemorate VE Day anniversary

The nation has united to mark 80 years since Britain declared victory over Nazi Germany

Events

2 w. ago Will Ukraine attack Putin's Victory Day parade? Zelensky warns Moscow showpiece 'may not be safe', fires drones at the capital and restarts Kursk offensive in days before Kremlin celebrations

If Vladimir Putin gets his way, May 9 will be a beautiful day of pomp, circumstance and patriotism as Russia celebrates the Soviet Union's triumph over Nazi Germany

Events

2 w. ago Moscow airports close as Ukrainian drones target city for second night

Flights temporarily halted as mayor says at least 19 drones approached and apartment building reportedly hitUkraine war briefing: Moscow drone raids, new Kursk incursionUkrainian drones have targeted Moscow for the second night in a row, forcing temporary airport closures as the Russian capital prepares for a major military parade marking the end of the second world war that is expected to draw world leaders.The consecutive attacks came before the annual 9 May victory parade, which this year commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union and its allies’ victory over Nazi Germany. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago AP PHOTOS: 80 years after World War II, Germany is still searching for its fallen soldiers

In a forest near Berlin, the remains of 107 fallen Wehrmacht soldiers were ceremoniously interred last week. High school students placed white gerbera daisies on small black coffins, and then German soldiers lowered them respectfully into a large, freshly dug grave as a military band played a solemn tune.

Events

2 w. ago 80 years after World War II, Germany is still painstakingly searching for its fallen soldiers

A German organization is painstakingly searching for fallen German soldiers in order to identify them and rebury them, 80 years after World War II

Events

2 w. ago ‘You feel the huge weight of history’: the room where Nazi Germany surrendered

Military armistice ending second world war was signed in this nondescript Reims schoolhouse before VE DayFor a building that witnessed one of the pivotal moments of European history, it is oddly unremarkable: a nondescript red-brick schoolhouse on an unexceptional street on the wrong side of the railway tracks in Reims, eastern France.In May 1945 it was the Collège Moderne et Technique. Students came and went. Passersby may have wondered, briefly, at the two US military police officers outside the doors, but Americans were everywhere – the city had been liberated in August 1944. Continue reading...

Politics