In a 1924 article for the Frankfurter Zeitung entitled “Journey
through Galicia: People and Place,” Joseph Roth referred to this easternmost
region of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire—and his homeland—as a “maltreated,
scorned corner of Europe” full of desolate villages and battle-scarred fields.
There are some places where everything feels “unreal.” “In Lemberg it happened
that a big shire horse fell through an open drain cover,” Roth writes. “The
drain covers in Lemberg are no bigger, the horses no smaller than in the rest
of Europe.” And yet, he adds, “God allows miracles to happen.”EAST WEST STREET: ON THE ORIGINS OF “GENOCIDE” AND “CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY” by Philippe …read more
Source: The New Republic
