Interned with thousands of Polish officers in the Soviet prisoner-of-war camp at Starobielsk in September 1939, Jo´zef Czapski was one of a very small number to survive the massacre in the forest of Katyn´ in April 1940.

Like a Drop of Ink in a Downpour: Memories of Soviet Russia traces Yelena Lembersky's childhood in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) in the 1970s and '80s. Her life is upended when her family decides to emigrate to America, but instead her mother is charged wi

Lorenz Beckhardt, in einem katholischen Internat erzogen, erfährt erst als Erwachsener, dass er Jude ist und viele Verwandte Opfer des Holocaust wurden. Akribisch geht er der Geschichte seiner Familie nach -- vom Großvater Fritz Beckhardt, dem glühenden Patrioten und Weltkriegspiloten, bis zur Generation, die nach 1945 einen Neuanfang im Land der Täter wagt. Erschütternd beschreibt Beckhardt...

Stefan Zweig, Europäer und Weltbürger, Kosmopolit und Pazifist, erzählt aus seinem verlorenen Leben, von seiner Kindheit und Jugend in Wien über die Zeit des Ersten Weltkriegs bis hin zu den 1930er-Jahren, in denen sich der Schatten des Faschismus über Europa legt. Er beschreibt, wie es einst war und wie es nie wieder sein wird, und das mit einer leidenschaftlichen, beschwörenden Prosa. Es ist...

Wolfgang Frühwalds Aufsehen erregende, von der Zeitschrift Damals preisgekrönte Neuedition der Autobiographie Ernst Tollers, 2011 bei Reclam im Hardcover erschienen, erschließt diesen wichtigen Text durch einen ausführlichen Kommentar, der dem Leser die historischen Hintergründe der Vorkriegszeit, des Ersten Weltkriegs und der Münchner Räterepublik sowie alle auftretenden Personen erklärt.

Oleg Sentsov is a Ukrainian film director, screenwriter and writer, public activist. Laureate of the Sakharov Prize 'For Freedom of Thought' and the National Prize of Ukraine named after T. Shevchenko. He was detained in Crimea in May 2014 and sentenced to 20 years in a Russian prison on charges of terrorism.

Stefan Zweig was enchanted with Mary Stuart, whose life he perceived as immensely paradoxical and from whom he perceived a ‘inexhaustible attraction of mystery.’ Thus, he investigated the queen of Scotland and Elizabeth I's fierce rival through the lens of a novelistic biography. Zweig is the undisputed master of this genre: he meticulously details the tumultuous life of this amazing woman, who...

The first, modern, post-Soviet biography of the scientist-encyclopedist and poet Mikhail Lomonosov, one of the main pillars of modern Russian culture. The author used not only archival materials and documents, but also the writings of Lomonosov's contemporaries to complete the picture of the man in the context of his time.

A revisionist look at Khrushchev and his denunciation of Stalin and Stalin's terror.

able story. The author, who was only discovered in her eighties, became one of the most successful and translated Czech writers almost overnight. He won the State Prize for Literature for his short story collection Želary, and a highly successful film was made based on Joz Hanula's novella, which was nominated for an Oscar. But who is Kveta Legátová (real name Vera Hofmanová)? What were her...

In this groundbreaking memoir, Starobinets chronicles the devastating loss of her unborn son to a fatal birth defect. After her son’s death, Starobinets suffers from nightmares and panic attacks; the memoir describes her struggle to find sympathy, community, and psychological support for herself and her family. A finalist for the 2018 National Bestseller Prize, Look at Him ignited a firestorm...

In 1904, doctor Vikenty Veresaev was called up for military service, assigned to a mobile field hospital and sent to the east. He saw the battle on the Shah River, the Battle of Mukden and peace negotiations. From the first days, Veresaev plunged into the bloody chaos of military operations, witnessed the incompetence and indifference of commanders and officers, as well as the heroism of...