From the Fog of War

In 2014, Russia shook the architecture of European security to its very foundations with the annexation of Crimea and the war in the Donbas. Ever since the largescale attack on the whole of Ukraine, that security is history. The Russian military is bringing death, pain, fear, and terror to millions of people. The Ukrainian state and society are withstanding, supported by the international community in the West – but so far, they have not succeeded in breaking Moscow’s desire for destruction.

Since Russia’s attack on Ukraine, thousands of people have died, hundreds of thousands have suff ered terror and destruction, millions of citizens have fl ed. And yet, the resistance continues. Out of the fog of war, a new, uncertain future is emerging. The authors of this volume – writers, scholars, activists, artists and journalists – capture the simultaneity: the ruin that is brought to life and its places; civil and military selfassertion; the will to create a new, peaceful homeland. They describe and analyse the situation of traumatised people in war – their profound transformation, their ability to nevertheless fi nd themselves in very uncertain times.

With contributions by Kateryna Mishchenko, Oksana Karpovych, Volodymyr Rafeienko, Artem Chapeye, Alisa Ganieva, Oksana Dutchak, Angelina Kariakina, Nataliya Gumenyuk, Kateryna Iakovlenko, Yuriy Hrytsyna, Svitlana Matviyenko, Stanislav Aseyev, Irina Zherebkina, Susanne Strätling, Tamara Hundorova, Karl Schlögel and Aleida Assmann.

»From the Fog of War is a great find. Precisely because these texts are all so immediate, written from the ruins of a previous life, one can only marvel at their density. It is one of those books that seem to breathe their time in and out on every page, as if they were the lungs in which the oxygen of our present is processed.« Alex Rühle, Süddeutsche Zeitung

»The quality of this anthology lies in the fact that almost every text is a combination of personal consternation and analysis of the situation.« Gerrit Bartels, Tagesspiegel

»powerful« Victor Mauer, NZZ am Sonntag

»From the Fog of War leads into the destruction of former certainties and into a totality of uncertainty.« Christian Thomas, Frankfurter Rundschau

»From the Fog of War presents current texts on the war in Ukraine, ranging from bitter thoughts at night to sober stocktaking. The telegram style of [reporting] events is juxtaposed with essayistic thoughtfulness.« Judith Leister, SWR2

»A collection of essays and reportages that try to grasp the impenetrable present.« ZDF aspekte