A Momentous Milestone, International Developments and a Day of the Dead

Hello subscribers! And welcome new ones!

On Friday I had reason to celebrate yet again, this time not related to my book or the blog, but to my main website. I broke through the mark of one thousand destination chapters! And the 1000th chapter is a substantial one about a special brand-new place that I visited as part of my summer travels this year, namely the Dokumentationszentrum Flucht, Vertreibung, Versöhnung, or in English: ‘documentation centre displacement, expulsion, reconciliation’, which opened in Berlin in late June 2021. The photo above shows one of the largest and most representative exhibits on display in that documentation centre – a wooden horse-drawn wagon that was typical of the treks of German civilians pushing westwards in early 1945 as they fled from the advancing Soviet Red Army.
  

And to mark this breakthrough of the 1000th destination chapter, I also uploaded a new blog post yesterday, which gives a brief introduction to that documentation centre and spells out my personal connection to its core topic.

The post then also provided some updates about a somewhat related topic, namely the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia (also causing a mass refugee crisis), which has featured on the blog a few times already. Now things seem to be moving further in a formerly unexpected direction, namely with an advance of TPLF troops towards the capital Addis! And apparently they’ve now formed an alliance with other rebel militia groups. At the same time the UN released a report on war crimes committed by both sides. In the blog post I provided a few links to online articles about all this. Take a look.

Another development covered in the post is the renewed tensions and threats of a return to violence in Bosnia & Heregovina, now that the Serbian Republika Srpska has apparently formed its own militia and is threatening to expel Bosniak ones from their part of the still bitterly divided country. Again I provided a link to an online article on this topic in the post.
  

And on Monday I uploaded another new blog post to mark the 1st of November, All Saints’ Day, which in Mexico is one of the “dias de los muertos”, Days of the Dead. This is traditionally celebrated in a colourful and fun festival in Mexico. Here in Austria (and other Catholic countries) All Saints’ Day is a public holiday, but a more sombre affair. In Vienna, where I am based these days, it’s customary to go en masse to the city’s cemeteries and visit relatives’ graves and lay down flowers, wreaths and candles. So I marked that day with a post about Vienna’s Central Cemetery, one of the largest in the world, which is full of remarkable sepulchral art and intriguing little details. It’s a very visual post that comes with a whopping 25 photos. So do go and take a look at that too.
  

Thanks also to all those who have already purchased my new book – I hope many more will do the same!
  

Have a good week – and, as always, stay safe!

Best,

Peter