Not only Thomas Mann was good in radio speeches against the Nazis: Charles de Gaulle worked his way up from exile. The picture was taken in London in 1941.
Image: picture-alliance/ dpa
What historical parallels can be found with Russia’s current loss of reputation? A look at the political situation today, inspired by what Thomas Mann thought about the Germans in 1945. A guest post.
MAccording to consensus polls, sixty to eighty percent of the Russian population supports Putin’s war. Since the demoscopy in Russia works hardly better than democracy, one can assume that many interviewees do not dare to state their real opinion and possible rejection, but the sad finding of a blinded warlike majority remains. They regard those who have gone into exile as cowardly traitors.
The reputation of Russians in the (Western) world has sunk, regardless of whether Putin is delaying his ultimately inevitable defeat through extensive trench warfare or expanding his war aims to other “zones of influence”. In both cases, Putin left a largely devastated country, with hecatombs of dead, including ethnic Russians. His army has been shown to have committed genocide in the form of summary shootings of civilians, systematic sexualized violence, torture and deportations, including minors. The systematic destruction of churches, cultural sites and cultural assets will also have an impact, and last but not least the triggering of a global hunger crisis. The summary will be: Russia has become the enemy of mankind.
