The terror and purges of Stalin’s Russia in the 1930s discouraged Soviet officials from leaving documentary records, let alone keeping personal diaries. A remarkable exception is the unique diary assiduously kept by Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador to London between 1932 and 1943. This selection from Maisky’s diary, grippingly documents Britain’s drift to war during the 1930s, appeasement in the Munich era, negotiations leading to the signature of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Churchill’s rise to power, the German invasion of Russia, and the intense debate over the opening of the second front.
Maisky was distinguished by his great sociability and access to the key players in British public life. Among his range of regular contacts were politicians, press barons, ambassadors, intellectuals, writers, and indeed royalty. His diary further reveals the role played by personal rivalries within the Kremlin in the formulation of Soviet policy at the time.

Professor Gabriel Gorodetsky, Quondam Fellow am All Souls College in Oxford und Prof. em. für Geschichte an der Universität Tel Aviv

Im Gespräch mit Dr. Gerd Koenen, Historiker und Publizist (Frankfurt am Main)

Ort: Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung, Mittelweg 36, 20148 Hamburg
Beginn: 19 Uhr
Eintritt: frei

Eine Veranstaltung des HIS in Kooperation mit dem Verlag C.H.Beck.

Beginn der Veranstaltung: 19 Uhr

Quelle: www.his-online.de