When I was here in 2018 this was all construction site. Very glad the museum is open.

The distinction made here between Nazi policy and the German public is quite unusual for Polish installations. There are several mentions of the Trawniki men. I was impressed at the extent of the displays given to Dutch and French transit camps as well.

I’d assumed that with the museum renovation complete the entire site would be open. This morning I’d planned to walk the path in the middle of the photo here. Alas, this is not to be the case. When I asked the docent if I’d be able to walk through the site this summer she said no, originally everything had been scheduled to be completed by now, but currently she thinks perhaps it’ll be open next year.

Sabine Rennefanz, Der Spiegel:

Die Welt, die sich die westliche nennt, hat einen neuen Helden gefunden: Wolodymyr Selenskyj, Präsident der Ukraine. Im »New Yorker« vergleicht ihn der Chefredakteur, David Remnick, mit Winston Churchill, dem britischen Kriegsherrn. Die polnische Ausgabe von »Newsweek« nennt ihn die »Leitfigur des freien Westens«.

In der »New York Times« schreibt die feministische Autorin Maureen Dowd, dass Selenskyj alles dafür tue, damit der Eiserne Vorhang nicht wieder fällt. Es klingt, als sei Selenskyj eine geradezu mythische Figur, wie Atlas aus der griechischen Sage, der den Himmel auf seinen Schultern trägt. Wenn er loslässt, bricht die Welt zusammen.

Ω Ω Ω

Es liegt etwas Unmoralisches im Beobachten von fremdem Mut und fremdem Risiko, das hat Swetlana Alexijewitsch in ihrem Buch »Zinkjungen« geschrieben. Der Satz fällt mir ein, wenn ich die Reaktionen auf Selenskyj betrachte. Mir ist diese Heldenverehrung unheimlich. Mich erschreckt eher, mit welcher Einmütigkeit und Kritiklosigkeit der ukrainische Präsident gefeiert wird. Das sagt allerdings weniger etwas über den Mann aus, als über den Teil der Welt, der sich als Westen begreift.

Ω Ω Ω

Als Deutsche, die nun in dritter Generation die schweren seelischen und körperlichen Folgen von Krieg und Vertreibung aufarbeiten, die sich von Generation zu Generation weiterreichen, sollte man dafür empfänglich sein und die Not der Ukrainerinnen und Ukrainer nicht zum Heldentum stilisieren.

Aber es ist wahrscheinlich einfacher als zu sagen: Ich fühle mich hilflos, erschüttert und traurig. Insofern wirkt die Heldenstilisierung eher wie eine Selbstberuhigungsdroge.

Der Krieg wird nicht mehr erklärt,
sondern fortgesetzt. Das Unerhörte
ist alltäglich geworden. Der Held
bleibt den Kämpfen fern. Der Schwache
ist in die Feuerzonen gerückt.
Die Uniform des Tages ist die Geduld,
die Auszeichnung der armselige Stern
der Hoffnung über dem Herzen.

Er wird verliehen,
wenn nichts mehr geschieht,
wenn das Trommelfeuer verstummt,
wenn der Feind unsichtbar geworden ist
und der Schatten ewiger Rüstung
den Himmel bedeckt.

Er wird verliehen
für die Flucht von den Fahnen,
für die Tapferkeit vor dem Freund,
für den Verrat unwürdiger Geheimnisse
und die Nichtachtung
jeglichen Befehls.

—Ingeborg Bachmann, 1952

Guardian:

Joe Biden announced on Friday that the US plans to ban the import of seafood, vodka and diamonds from Russia in retaliation for Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

…

“Putin is the aggressor and Putin must pay a price,” he said.

Biden said the US was also banning the export of luxury goods to Russia, calling it the latest, but “not the last step we’re going to take”.

A few days ago I carried on a brief Twitter exchange with a taz reader who was drinking Finnish, rather than Russian, vodka as part of his contribution to the defense of Ukraine. He was quite open about being unsure his action had any practical value. It was something he could do. It made him feel good. When I protested that it seemed to me the only motivation here then was to make himself feel better he didn’t seem to see this as objectionable.

I think I may buy a bottle or two of Russian vodka tomorrow. It’s been years since I’ve bought any vodka, but I do want to have the option of drinking it when I want a shot. It’s odd, you know: I imagine there is some chance that even as I type somewhere in the world there is someone pouring a bottle of vodka into the sink, thinking something to the effect of „Ha! Take this, Putin! How do you like that, eh?!“ It’s an odd world.

Guardian:

Facebook and Instagram users in some countries will be allowed to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers in the context of the Ukraine invasion, after parent company Meta made a temporary change to its hate speech policy.

The company is also temporarily allowing some posts that call for death to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, in countries including Russia, Ukraine and Poland, according to internal emails to its content moderators.

“As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules, like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders’. We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians,” Meta said in a statement.

…

The temporary policy changes on calls for violence against Russian soldiers apply to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.

In the email recently sent to moderators, Meta highlighted a change in its hate speech policy pertaining both to Russian soldiers and to Russians in the context of the invasion.

“We are issuing a spirit-of-the-policy allowance to allow T1 violent speech that would otherwise be removed under the hate speech policy when: (a) targeting Russian soldiers, except prisoners of war, or (b) targeting Russians where it’s clear that the context is the Russian invasion of Ukraine (eg content mentions the invasion, self-defense, etc),” it said in the email.

“We are doing this because we have observed that in this specific context, ‘Russian soldiers’ is being used as a proxy for the Russian military. The hate speech policy continues to prohibit attacks on Russians.”

…

Emails also showed that Meta would allow praise of the Ukrainian far-right Azov battalion, which is normally prohibited.

Meta spokesman Joe Osborne previously said the company was “for the time being, making a narrow exception for praise of the Azov regiment strictly in the context of defending Ukraine, or in their role as part of the Ukraine National Guard”.

Guardian:

In Canada, a Russian pianist was pulled from an upcoming set of performances – even though he had spoken out against the war in Ukraine. The Montreal Symphony Orchestra said in a statement it would be “inappropriate” for 20-year old Alexander Malofeev to perform a series of concertos this week.

Malofeev, who has family members in Ukraine, has previously criticized Russia’s “terrible and bloody” decision to invade the country. The Montreal symphony said it would welcome back Malofeev “when the context allows it.”

On Wednesday, the Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra announced that it had decided to exclude Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture from a performance next week. It explained that playing the piece – which commemorates Russia’s victory over Napoleon’s invading forces – would be “inappropriate” given events in Ukraine.

My entire reason for coming here was Rosa Luxemburg, who, apparently not being an outstanding figure of Polish history, did not rate a mention. No matter.

The Napoleonic Wars to some, the War of 1812 in the US, the Wars of Liberation in Germany.