Stolen Children: Switzerland’s hidden persecution of the Yenish people

Mariella Mehr Source: EQUATOR Ethnic Minorities in Europe; the Yenish (Yeniche) People. Introduction by Caroline Froh In November 1998, Mariella Mehr received an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel. She opened her acceptance speech by quoting from her personal file at Hilfswerk für die Kinder der Landstrasse (“Charity for Children of the Country Road”),… Read More Stolen Children: Switzerland’s hidden persecution of the Yenish people

My father, the German refugee who fought the Nazis as a ‘secret listener’

As the far right fulminates about who ‘belongs’ in Britain, let’s remember Fritz Lustig, who arrived here in 1939, just months before war broke out. Initially jailed as an ‘enemy alien’, he played a vital role in a top-secret military intelligence unit Robin Lustig When the Nazis came to power in Germany in January 1933, Fritz Lustig,… Read More My father, the German refugee who fought the Nazis as a ‘secret listener’

Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh: Put fire back into firewood / The Ultimate expression: Muktibodh’s poem, “Andhere Mein”

Apoorvanand “ Why did Muktibodh  became uniquely significant in the summer of 1964? Why did …almost all the weeklies, monthlies and dailies started introducing him to their readers?” Fifty years ago, Shamsher Bahadur Singh, asked this question in the preface to Chand Ka Munh Tedha hai, the first anthology of poems of Muktibodh being compiled. Muktibodh then,… Read More Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh: Put fire back into firewood / The Ultimate expression: Muktibodh’s poem, “Andhere Mein”

Carlo Ginzburg: a historian who taught us to think about outsiders

The work of one of Italy’s greatest scholars focused on ordinary lives oppressed by power and prejudice. That approach resonates today Guardian Editorial Reflecting on the genesis of his most famous work, Carlo Ginzburg wrote that by immersing himself in the trial of a 16th-century miller burned by the Roman Inquisition, he turned a possible… Read More Carlo Ginzburg: a historian who taught us to think about outsiders