Stalin related content 

A valuable guide to the lies politicians tell, and why. “It is hard to hide a lie for a long period”, writes John Mearsheimer – and the good news is that his study of...

A film about an extraordinary story from wartime Poland is both uplifting and a grim reminder of recent history. In early 1986 I bought a flimsy paperback in a dusty...

Why a row over Austria's release of a Soviet commander is more than a dusty historical question. Who bears responsibility now for the crimes of the Soviet past? This is the...

Hungary's junior foreign minister has been at the heart of the Fidesz party since day one. For Hungary's junior foreign minister, responsibility for the affairs of...

Should the slaughter of ‘social and political groups' be considered genocide? There is a controversial addition to the debate. Stanford University historian Norman Naimark...

For Europeans who know what it is like to be Tibetan, an unwillingness to meet the Dalai Lama is more than cowardice. The Dalai Lama is visiting Europe this August. The...

Russia's acknowledgement of responsibility for Katyn is good news for Russians as well as for Poles. The resolution adopted by Russia's State Duma on 26 November...

While eastern Europe's literary landscape looks less imposing than it did under communism, gems are still being produced. Communism's horribleness produced great literature....

The stock of good jokes – and jocular personalities – is running too low in central and eastern Europe. Jokes helped make communism collapse. ‘Anekdoty', as they were...

EU leaders must speak up about the situation in the North Caucasus. At recent summits with Russian leaders, European and US leaders have largely been mute about the spread...

The death of a Polish president in Russia could bring Warsaw and Moscow closer together Ever since the end of the Second World War, reconciliation between nations and their...

A guide to Eastern Europe's most tedious arguments, complete with tortured facts, rage, arguments and syntax. Last week's column dealt with the arcane name squabble between...

In selling warships to Russia, France's risks nourishing delusions and selling short the idea of a common EU security policy. What is the significance of France's recent...

Central and eastern Europe may be joining the European club of the ahistorical and apathetic. Where would they be without their past, the ex-captive nations? (Or...

Unoccupied Britain would do well to reflect on occupied Britain before talking about others' wartime history. Tweak history a bit. Imagine that in 1940 Hitler and Stalin...

Might the ascent of the Free Democrats break the vicious circle in which Germany and its neighbours find themselves? Eastern Europe owes a huge debt to the Germans. West...

The last British governor of Hong Kong considers the China that Mao made. Every country is shaped by its history, but countries fabricate and rewrite their histories, too....

If you are planning to give an eastern European country some unpleasant news, it is good to know which dates to avoid. History was a long time ago, unless it happened to...

What Russia's prime minister should have said at the commemoration of the start of the Second World War in Gdańsk. Honoured guests, dear Excellencies.

Insults, excuses and not knowing how to say ‘sorry' should be the behaviour of children, not grown-ups. Naughty and tiresome children like insults (both overt and...