Marci Shore Libros

A shimmering literary examination of the ghost of communism, a haunting presence of Europe's past Oskar has just killed himself. After waiting a quarter century, he returned to Prague only to find it was no longer his home. With his memorial service, Yale historian and prize-winning author Marci Shore leads us gently into the post-totalitarian world. We meet a professor of literature who as a child played chess with the extortionist who had come to deliver him to the Gestapo and an elderly Trotskyite whose deformed finger is a memento of seventeen years in the Soviet gulag. Parents who had denounced their teenage dissident daughter to the communist secret police plead for understanding. For all of these people, the fall of Communism has not ended history but rather summoned the past: rebellion in 1968, Stalinism, the Second World War, the Holocaust. The revolutions of 1989 opened the archives, illuminating the tragedy of twentieth-century Eastern Europe: there were moments in which no decisions were innocent, in which all possible choices caused suffering. As the author reads pages in the lives of others, she reveals the intertwining of the personal and the political, of love and cruelty, of intimacy and betrayal. The result is a lyrical, touching, and sometimes heartbreaking portrayal of how history moves and what history means.

This account offers a profound exploration of Eastern Europe's complex psyche following the revolutions of 1989 and the opening of communist archives. Drawing on her deep understanding, the author illuminates the lingering effects of totalitarianism across a landscape that stretches from Berlin to Moscow, traversing cities like Vienna, Prague, Bratislava, Warsaw, Bucharest, Vilnius, and Kiev. The narrative presents communism not merely as a historical specter but as a haunting presence that continues to shape lives. Centered on individuals the author has known over two decades since the fall of communism, the story encompasses a diverse cast—former communists, dissidents, accusers, the accused, and their descendants. For these individuals, the post-communist era has not signaled closure but rather a resurgence of the past, invoking memories of revolution, Stalinism, the Second World War, and the Holocaust. The darker aspects of communism's end are explored as the author delves into archival records, revealing the intertwining of personal and political narratives, love and cruelty, intimacy and betrayal. The result is a lyrical and poignant portrayal of the movement of history and its profound implications.

A vivid and intimate account of the Ukrainian Revolution, the rare moment when the political became the existential

Die Jahrzehnte kommunistischer Herrschaft in den osteuropäischen Ländern haben in praktisch jeder Familie Fragen aufgeworfen, die nach dem Fall des Eisernen Vorhangs irgendwie beantwortet werden müssen. Diese „posttraumatischen“ Störungen in Ländern und Gesellschaften, die nach ihrer Identität suchen, sind das Thema dieses Buchs. Es ist eine Reise in die Seelenlandschaften der Menschen und die Summe einer zwanzigjährigen Beschäftigung. Marci Shore spürt den Geistern des Kommunismus im gegenwärtigen Osteuropa nach, vor allem in Polen, Tschechien, der Slowakei und Rumänien. Sie interessiert sich für das, was Geschichte aus den Menschen und ihren Leben gemacht hat. Sie hat Menschen in Prag, Krakau, Warschau, Vilnius, Kiew, Moskau, Bukarest besucht, aber auch in der Provinz und in den jeweiligen Enklaven in New York, Jerusalem und Wien. Das Buch ist von hoher literarischer Qualität, geradezu betörend schön geschrieben. Es atmet eine tiefe Humanität, und man spürt, dass die Ich-Erzählerin eine ungewöhnlich kluge und sympathische Frau ist; sie wirkt wie ein Medium zwischen den porträtierten Menschen und dem Leser, durch das hindurch man sich sehr gut in die jeweilige Situation hineinversetzen kann, von der sie berichtet.