Eastern Europe
Antisemitism is a Tool of Tyrants
As uncomfortable as it may be, we must all face the horror of hate. No one is exempt from this responsibility. No matter how seemingly small the effort, we must stand against hate and stand up for one another.
Read MoreConstant Vigilance
Tomorrow is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. These are my handsome great uncles in 1951 Vienna with their 1934 BMW. Seven years earlier, they hid in holes in the ground left by uprooted trees while Nazis searched for them with bloodhounds. The Nazis had put a bounty on both of their heads, determined to capture…
Read More“Truth Prevails” and Other Exotic Ideals
My great uncle Stefan Moldovan was born into nascent Czechoslovakia, a democracy founded on high ideals by a leader, T.G. Masaryk, known for his integrity, intelligence, and ethics. His country’s motto, “Truth Prevails,” reveals much about his aspirations for his nation and humanity as a whole. Meanwhile in Pittsburgh Two agreements key to the formation…
Read MoreThe Czechoslovakian Dream: An Island of Democracy, 1918-1938
I suppose most of us associate Czechoslovakia with phrases like Eastern Block and Iron Curtain. But in reality, the country was conceived in the name of liberty. For two decades between the world wars, it was a democracy. President Masaryk was known as the “president liberator.” Here’s a newsreel from 1933 in which Czechoslovakia celebrates…
Read MoreConfusion, Disaster, and Empathy for the Invisible
As if the environment were reflecting the chaos and confusion resulting from reactionary extremism, natural disasters have thrown any sense of normality off its footing: multiple hurricanes tore into the southern coastline of the U.S., a massive earthquake shook Mexico, wildfires scorch the American West, and floods have devastated South Asia. The world is disorienting…
Read MoreRight-Wing Rage and Humanity’s Identity Crisis
Are we a species motivated by brutality and hate, hell-bent on self destruction, or will we shift, en masse, to an agenda that sustains life, guided by intelligence, understanding, and compassion? Will we move into the worst or the best of our human potential? As the ruthlessness of conservative extremists is exposed, their rhetoric heats…
Read MoreHungry for Truth, Hardwired for Empathy
Empathy is the opposite of prejudice, persecution, and oppression.This is why I’m writing the epic story of my great uncle Stefan’s survival across the forests of WWII Eastern Europe.
Read MoreKinds of Blue: Searching the Past for Clues to Our Uncertain Future
This blog is the “story behind the story” of one man and his life before, during, and after WWII, a survivor of Eastern Europe during some of its darkest days. I write this blog in parallel as I write the story of my great uncle Stefan, who withstood forced labor, torture, an 18-year sentence for…
Read MoreHigh Crimes and Atrocities: Testimony
JUNE 15, 2017: As the nation investigates an elaborate corruption that has ties to its highest offices, the term testimony has been broadcast far and wide—in print, over wires and airwaves, and in countless individual conversations. A testimony is a story in one’s own words, a formal telling of one’s experience, a public account of an…
Read More“I Am,” I Said: Thoughts on Borders and Refugees
Shifting Borders When I read about the history of Eastern Europe, I realize how changeable national boundaries and concepts of nation are. I live in a very young country, America, which nevertheless has been highly successful in forming a self-concept that seems essential and timeless. Its sense of surety likely is rooted in the concept…
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