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

All hail the (German) chief
March 19, 2012 By Victor Grossman
It's hard to decide: which article on Germany's new president, East Germany's (the former German Democratic Republic's) pastor Joachim Gauck, was more misleading.
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World

Was Islamophobia to blame for the resignation of Germany’s president?
February 21, 2012 By Victor Grossman
President Christian Wulff resigns! This has been in the making since December, so it was no surprise but rather a drawn out misery.
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World

Left or right – where’s the threat?
February 6, 2012 By Victor Grossman
The "crime" of those on the left, aside from occasional rocks or bottles thrown at Nazis, was a failure to support the "basic libertarian democratic order."
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World

Who’s afraid of the big bad Wulff?
January 18, 2012 By Victor Grossman
BERLIN - Americans wonder who will be president next January; Germans are still uncertain who will live in Berlin's presidential mansion this February.
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World

Tough on euros, weak on Nazis
December 14, 2011 By Victor Grossman
Picking one's way through the financial gobbledygook, two key words emerged: "Austerity" was one, "discipline" the other.
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World

The Left Party still relevant in Germany
October 28, 2011 By Victor Grossman
The Left dropped to about half its 12 percent high; it was weakened or defeated in seven elections in 2011.
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World

Pirates in Berlin and troubles on the left
September 21, 2011 By Victor Grossman
An unusual new party, the Pirates, won seats in Berlin's parliament on Sunday, while right, left and Greens are in turmoil.
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Opinion

50th anniversary of Berlin Wall: a deeper look
August 12, 2011 By Victor Grossman
This year Berlin's public TV channel gripped our brain cells every day for a month in advance of the anniversary of the Berlin Wall. For anyone probing more deeply, however, some questions still require answers. Why...
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