Victor Grossman

Victor Grossman is a journalist from the U.S. now living in Berlin. He fled his U.S. Army post in the 1950s in danger of reprisals for his left-wing activities at Harvard and in Buffalo, New York. He landed in the former German Democratic Republic (Socialist East Germany), studied journalism, founded a Paul Robeson Archive, and became a freelance journalist and author. His latest book, A Socialist Defector: From Harvard to Karl-Marx-Allee, is about his life in the German Democratic Republic from 1949 – 1990, the tremendous improvements for the people under socialism, the reasons for the fall of socialism, and the importance of today's struggles.

LATEST ARTICLES BY Victor Grossman

World

Germany: The votes are in
September 18, 2014 By Victor Grossman
Political porcelain has been broken, raising questions on what went wrong and, to quote that old Abbott and Costello routine, "Who's on first?" for the next five years.
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World

Germany: sanctions and weapons deals, follow the money
September 3, 2014 By Victor Grossman
In Germany today, references to Putin evoke all too sharply recollections of German language used against every Russian leader since the start of World War I.
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World

German sour pickles: Gauck, militarism, and Gaza
August 13, 2014 By Victor Grossman
When politicians vacation and little action is expected, the words German journalists use for this is "Saure-Gurken-Zeit" or "sour pickle time."
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World

German Social Democrats paying the price of too many deals
August 12, 2014 By Victor Grossman
Instead of trying to improve its frayed, faded image as a progressive force, this party pays even more attention to "healthy business interests" and thus "encourage the economy."
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Opinion

A month in my home country: What a trip!
July 14, 2014 By Victor Grossman
What a trip! I had last visited my American home country three years earlier; during my visit last month I saw that some things hadn't changed much, some things had.
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World

Left, right, and even satirical parties get votes in Germany
July 8, 2014 By Victor Grossman
In early June, Europe had to digest the results of the European Parliament elections - and choke down some pretty nasty clumps.
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World

German Left party tackles the tough issues at its congress
May 19, 2014 By Victor Grossman
Opinions did differ, but the entire congress gave major blame for the crisis to NATO, the European Union and the German government.
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World

Germany’s Ukraine policy aims for the impossible
May 15, 2014 By Victor Grossman
Germany is having difficulty with its Ukraine policy.
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