Paper: Eugene Kulischer, Joseph Schechtman and the Historiography of European Forced Migrations

Map of Jewish Migrations

Yesterday I had the honor of attending a lecture organized by the Centre for Area Studies titled “Migration and Transnational History” with Prof. Dirk Hoerder as lecturer.

Prof. Hoerder is the author of one of my favorite books: Cultures in Contact: World Migrations in the Second Millennium (Comparative and International Working-Class History). The book is an encyclopedic historical treaty that reviews the story Global Migrations in the last 1,000 years.

Today’s paper is related to two other great specialists in Migrations: Eugene Kulischer and Joseph Schechtman whose works are among the most relevant for the study of Migrations and Globalization.

About the Article:

This article deals with two prominent figures in the historiography of twentieth-century European forced migrations: Eugene Kulischer and Joseph Schechtman. Their studies, although published between 1946 and 1962, are still among the standard works on the subject and are as yet unsurpassed in their scope and breadth of outlook, despite the flurry of new publications on the subject after the opening of East Central European archives after 1989. In this article I strive to explain how and why they were able to accomplish such a scholarly feat, paying special attention to their biographies which I have tried to reconstruct, using, for the first time, not only their own writings but also personal testimonies from their students and disparate archival sources located in the United States and Israel. I also discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their works by comparing them with more recent works on the same subject. This is, to my knowledge, the first attempt to reconstruct on the basis of archival evidence the lives and works of the two most important historians of a phenomenon whose impact on the overall history of Europe (and especially of its East Central part) is now generally recognized.

Continue reading: Eugene Kulischer, Joseph Schechtman and the Historiography of European Forced Migrations from Journal of Contemporary History recent issues by Ferrara, A.

On Free Press

“A free press can of course be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad. . . . Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better, whereas enslavement is a certainty of the worse.” Albert Camus

Manuel Baldizón amenaza al periodismo independiente en Guatemala

Coat of arms of Guatemala. Extracted from the ...
Image via Wikipedia

El dia de hoy me enteré de una terrible noticia (link al artículo escrito por Sylvia Gereda) para Guatemala. La independencia de ElPeriódico, uno de los medios impresos más importantes de mi país ha sido capturada por la corrupción, el crimen organizado y las elites del narcotráfico vinculadas al candidato a Presidente de Guatemala por el Partido Líder el Sr. Manuel Baldizón.  Debido a esto, la Señora Sylvia Valenzuela de Gereda, Directora de este Diario, ha presentado su renuncia a la Dirección y anunció su salida defintiva como accionista del periódico.

Con su salida “Atlas se encogió de hombros” y muchos de nosotros junto con ella. Espero que la decisión de la Señora Sylvia Gereda sea comprendida e imitada por muchos guatemaltecos que diariamente deben de decidir si sacrifican sus valores y principios; o deciden luchar por sus propias armas sin nunca sacrificar los valores que con tanto amor protegen.

Esta es la carta que escribí para la Sra. Gereda y los encomio a reproducir sus muestras de apoyo de todas las formas que estén a su alcance (cartas al lector, publicaciones en medios, calco-manías en sus autos, y cuantas otras formas puedan crear).

Estimada Sra. Gereda,

Le deseo muchísimos éxitos en su carrera empresarial y la felicito por tomar una decisión tan importante basándose en principios morales.

Gracias por no claudicar y sacrificar el amor que siente por su familia, por Guatemala y por Sus valores. Porque, tal y como dijo el héroe de la novela “La rebelión de Atlas” en esta época de crisis moral,

“Todo lo que es apropiado para la vida de un ser racional
es lo bueno; todo lo que la destruye es lo malo.

La vida del hombre, como requiere su naturaleza, no es la
vida de un salvaje insensato, de un rufián saqueador o de
un místico gorrón, sino la vida de un ser pensante – no la
vida por medio de fuerza o fraude, sino la vida por medio
de logros – no la supervivencia a cualquier precio, pues
sólo hay un precio que paga por la supervivencia del
hombre: la razón.

La vida del hombre es el criterio de moralidad, pero tu
propia vida es tu objetivo. Si la existencia en la tierra es tu
objetivo, debes elegir tus acciones y valores de acuerdo
con el criterio de lo que es apropiado para el hombre –
con el fin de preservar, enriquecer y disfrutar el
irreemplazable valor que es tu vida.”

Con su partida de ElPeriódico toda Guatemala hizo como Atlas y se encogió de hombros. Pero tengo la certeza de que muchos otros héroes como usted seguirán luchando por construir un mejor mundo para los seres a los que tanto amamos.

Cuenta conmigo y con mi apoyo incondicional.

Éxitos,

Guillermo Pineda

Stephen Colbert Takes on Occupy Wall Street

I just returned after spending a wonderful evening with a German Socialist Activist. It was a wonderful evening because I got to understand many of his arguments and we started discussing them openly; without never aiming at a consensus.  I just got back home and saw the following video: Stephen Colbert Takes on Occupy Wall Street

Now, I just can’t stop laughing! “Ethically” Colbert is just Great!

Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert takes on Occupy Wall Street in a hilarious yet actual segment with protest representatives of “the consensus within the press group” Justin (“a male-bodied person”) and “Ketchup” (“a female-bodied person”) in a “Co-Optportunity” with what Colbert calls a cult, oh sorry, I mean “movement”. via | Tuesday November 1, 2011 at 11:59 PM PDT

Last day to Pre-Order the DVD of a Great Movie!

Today is the Last Day to Pre-Order the DVD of the movie “Atlas Shrugged Part 1” (watch the trailer), which was inspired by The most wonderful fiction book ever written (and my favorite). I strongly recommend you to buy it and enjoy the movie!

GUARANTEE  to be shipped by NOV. 8th

If you buy the DVD today, you get to to guarantee yours for the release date on November 8th. Don’t delay. PRE-ORDER NOW.

 

BLU-RAY

The Atlas Shrugged Special Edition Blu-Ray, which combines ALL of the exclusive content from ALL of the Special Edition DVDs (and then some), will not be available for pre-order until mid-November with a release date pending for late November.

HOWEVER, you can pre-order the standard edition 20th Century Fox version of the Blu-Ray on Amazon right now for release day delivery on Nov. 8th. It won’t be nearly as content rich as the Special Edition but, if you simply can’t wait for the movie, problem solved.

PRE-ORDER THE BLU-RAY NOW.

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