Dramaturgie im zeitgenössischen Tanz ist ? positiv gemeint ? ein heißes Eisen. Idealerweise sind Dramaturginnen und Dramaturgen während der Erarbeitung eines Stücks die besten Freunde der Choreografen.
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Stalin for president
Sixty years after the end of World War Two, Russia is seeing a dramatic re-Stalinisation under President Putin's leadership. As hopes for prosperity dwindle, "Uncle Joe's" star is on the rise again. By Sonja Margolina
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As many wars as nations
May the 8th is the anniversary of the end of WW II, but was it really a liberation? Each European country has a different memory of the war, and there is no real consensus on the Holocaust either. With the EU entry of the Eastern European countries the competing myths will no longer exist in isolation, but will have to be contested with the neighbours. By Adam Krzeminski
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The Mongol devastations
The Americans and British practised the systematic annihilation of entire cities and their populations in the Second World War. Their main goal was to impress Stalin. The burning of Dresden was the first act of the Cold War. By Jörg Friedrich
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The woes of Berlin's memorials
The monuments to the victims of the Nazi era are in a miserable state. Götz Aly has made himself very unpopular in making this very clear.
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I am the people
In response to the furore caused by Oliver Hirschbiegel's film "The Downfall", historian Götz Aly describes how many Germans were seduced by National Socialism's heady mix of generous state handouts and high-speed history making.
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Read the first English excerpt from historian Goetz Aly's new book "Why the Germans? Why the Jews? Equality, Envy and Racial Hatred 1800 - 1933". In response to this question that has been hanging in the air since the end of WWII, Goetz Aly points to the lack of education and fear of progress in so many German Christians at the turn of the century - and to the contrasting readiness of the Jewish population to embrace the new opportunities and education as the ticket to social mobility. Shamed by their shortcomings, the Germans soon turned to racial theory to conceal their envy and resentment.
An exhibition in Naumburg celebrates the greatest sculptor and master builder of Medieval Germany, famed for the creation of Uta, the ideal German woman. But patriots be warned! By Sven Behrisch
The trial of SS officer Adolf Eichmann began fifty years ago. Research continues to show that many of the perpetrators were not just bureaucrats and cretins but educated men who acted out of intellectual conviction - Eichmann, contrary to what Hannah Arendt said, included. An interview with Holocaust historian Ulrich Herbert by Stefan Reinecke and Christian Semler. (Photo: Adolf Eichmann during his trial in Jerusalem)
Sir Sassoon Eskell was a Jewish Iraqi and the country's first minister of finance. His magnificent house, once home to the largest private library in Iraq, sits between Baghdad's Al Rashid Street and the River Tigris. After a close brush with death, author Najem Wali revisited the building, which young Iraqi filmmakers and the army both dream of making their own. 
An exhibition in the Amsterdam Verzetsmuseum celebrates Wally van Hall, the banker who used his financial connections to fund the Dutch Resistance movement during WWII. By Dragan Klaic
Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht was one of Germany's most influential musicologists. His magnum opus "Music in the Occident" sits on the shelves of many a music lover. Ten years after his death, historian Boris von Haken has now revealed that Eggebrecht was involved in mass shootings of Jews during the Second World War.
The idea that 1989 came out of thin air speaks volumes about historical insensitivities and limited horizons. The fall of the Berlin Wall was preceded by years of erosion and attrition. Historian Karl Schlögel looks at the molecular movements on the margins of history that are much more powerful than any deeds of "great men".
Bernard-Henri Levy looks at some of the problems posed by the film "Valkyrie" which are too complex and delicate to be resolved within Hollywood logic. First on the list: the Scientology question.
Was it because Hitler was losing the war? Was it to put an end to the mass murder of the Jews. Or was it to save Germany's honour? Whatever his motives, he was no role model for future generations, says British historian Richard Evans. (Photo: 
A large-scale and long-overdue project has begun. German historians are documenting the persecution and extermination of the Jews in 16 volumes of primary source texts where metal merchants and budgie lovers all have their say - with no recourse to hindsight. By Eckhard Fuhr