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      • Trusted Partner
        October 2023

        From India to Germany:What My Father's Journey Tells Usabout Migration and the Kindness ofStrangers

        by Sunita Sukhana

        — An extraordinary story of migration — Contemporary history of the 70s and backgrounds to India, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia, the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany He was the son of the Sikh priest, a successful 400-meter runner and, eventually, a migrant. In 1979, Bagicha Singh turned his back on his homeland and set off with a head full of dreams on the long, turbulent overland journey from India to Germany. It was the year the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the Islamic Revolution raged in Iran. A year whose aftermath continues to shape the world to this day. More than 40 years later, his daughter tells the story of Bagicha's adventurous journey. The result is a touching document on origin, contemporary history, and the meaning of migration.

      • Trusted Partner
        October 2022

        My Father's Secret

        The BND, my family and I

        by Corinna von Bassewitz

        For a long time, Corinna von Bassewitz believed her father was a soldier, later on that he was a diplomat. Then, at the age of 16, she learnt something unbelievable: he had been a secret agent for the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND, Germany's Federal Intelligence Service). Once the secret had been at least partly uncovered, she became something of a spy herself and eventually found some confidential documents in her parents' attic. Later, she realised that her father had been living as a double agent for the FRG and the GDR. So what effect does it have on a girl if her father conceals his true identity and eventually disappears without trace? Along with her family history, the author provides multi-layered and exciting insights into the historical context of the Cold War. A very personal book, intriguingly told and emotionally touching.

      • Trusted Partner
        2019

        Harmed Not Cured

        Major medical and pharmaceutical scandals in Germany

        by Eckart Roloff and Karin Henke-Wendt

        Botched medications, malpractice, the transplant business: when doctors or pharmaceutical companies make mistakes or cross ethical boundaries, this often has serious consequences for patients. One example is thalidomide. Despite inadequate testing, the sleeping pill was marketed from 1957 to 1961, and caused a large number of pregnant women to give birth to children with severe deformities. Less well known, but no less scandalous, is the “Anti-D” affair in the former GDR, where, during 1978 and 1979, thousands of women and many children were infected with hepatitis C through contaminated immunoglobulins. This was not revealed until years later. This book presents 16 such cases – often the stuff of thrillers, but tragic at the same time. People who reach out for help, are instead deceived and harmed. All the more important are courageous and persistent patients and journalists, who have uncovered medical scandals, publicised them and taken the perpetrators to court. Without this, no-one would be learning from the mistakes.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        November 2013

        Popular television in authoritarian Europe

        by Peter Goddard

        This lively and ground-breaking collection brings together work on forms of popular television within the authoritarian regimes of Europe after World War Two. Ten chapters based on new and original research examine approaches to programming and individual programmes in Spain, Greece, Czechoslovakia, Romania, the USSR and the GDR at a time when they were governed as dictatorships or one-party states. Drawing on surviving archives, scripts and production records, contemporary publications, YouTube clips and interviews with producers and performers, its chapters recover examples of television programming history unknown beyond national borders and often preserved largely in the memories of the audiences who lived with them. The introduction examines how television can be considered 'popular' in circumstances where audience appeal is often secondary to the need for state control. Published in English, Popular television in authoritarian Europe represents a significant intervention in transnational television studies, making these histories available to scholars for the first time, encouraging comparative enquiry and extending the reach - intellectually and geographically - of European television history. There is a foreword by John Corner and an informative timeline of events in the history of television in the countries covered. ;

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