Children hold photos of family members killed in World War II during May 9 celebrations in Moscow.
Image: Picture Alliance
A war of annihilation like the Russian invasion of Ukraine grew out of madness. And whether I want it or not – I was right in the middle of it. A guest post.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine, I wrote a book about Paul Celan. Since then I have only been able to do one thing: follow how the Ukrainians are fighting back, on the battlefield and in social networks. In the very first week of the war I noticed something that Celan had also experienced. I’ll write that down here.
Both of Celan’s parents had been killed in concentration camps as Jews, and hardly anyone in post-war Germany felt guilty. Celan’s readers and friends saw themselves primarily as victims of Hitler, the Royal Air Force, and the victor’s justice. In Ukraine’s bomb shelters, when there’s cell service, people can read how their Russian friends complain on every channel that their professional lives have been destroyed by Putin and how they are suffering under Western economic sanctions, which they sometimes refer to as “carpet bombings”. .