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Category Archives: History
Film Review: “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
There are spy stories which have become better by being turned into movies (Ian Fleming’s James Bond being the prime example) and there are those whose writers never should have given permission for their stories to be put on the screen. Tom Rob Smith’s Child … Continue reading
Easily confused (52) Hungarian fences
Hungarian fence in 1989: Helping economic migrants who want to buy better cars and bananas – good. Hungarian fence in 2015: Helping genuine refugees from war-ravaged countries who risk their lives to survive – bad. And just because it rhymes: Hungarian dance
Posted in Cold War, History, Human Rights, Hungary, Music, Politics
Tagged Human Rights, immigration
5 Comments
Hotel Trianon
I bet this hotel in Amsterdam doesn’t receive many guests from Hungary. Ok, that one is hard to understand for non-Hungarians or non-historians. Don’t worry about it, or – if you have too much time on your hands – read … Continue reading
Is it Târgu Mureș or Tîrgu Mureș?
I have been living in this beautiful town in Transylvania for almost a year, yet hardly any of my foreign friends have visited me here. It’s not that they wouldn’t be interested, but it’s just too complicated to travel here … Continue reading
Easily Confused (51) Economic Systems
Communist centrally planned economy: Capitalist free market economy: The main difference seems to be that nowadays, young people do the queuing themselves instead of sending their mothers. That’s progress. (Auf Deutsch.)
The Soviet Military Cemetery
When I am looking for a quiet place to read, there aren’t as many options available as it may seem: In the park, noisy children are playing. In the forest, man-eating bears are roaming. At the library, some of the girls are … Continue reading
Posted in History, Photography, Romania, Travel, World War II
Tagged cemetery, Targu Mures
3 Comments
Who invented Parkour?
There are these two Frenchmen, Raymond and his son David Belle, who go around and claim that they invented Parkour running. In reality, the sport had already been invented by Arnim Dahl in Germany in the 1930s. Here is some … Continue reading
“A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich” by Lucas Delattre
“A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich” would be one of the best spy novels I have ever read, if only it was a novel. But even better, it’s a true story. It’s a cliché that the best stories are … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Germany, History, Holocaust, Military, Politics, USA, World War II
Tagged espionage, Fritz Kolbe, OSS, Switzerland
6 Comments
Romania is the Cradle of our Civilization
One of the amusing aspects of moving from a large country (Germany) to a smaller or less populated country (Romania) is how fixated the latter countries are on their image abroad. One of the questions I get asked the most in Romania is: “What … Continue reading
Posted in History, Romania, Technology, Travel
11 Comments
Next trip: Moldova and Transnistria
My birthday will be on 6 July. Strictly mathematically speaking, I will turn 40 then. Searching for a way to postpone this event or to prevent it altogether, an ingenious solution came to my mind, thanks to my legal education, … Continue reading
The Happy Hermit 