About the event

Handling dictatorships – from right-wing generals to communist secretaries general, up to the autocrats of the "Third World" – has been a challenge for German democracy from the start. On the basis of extensive archive research, Frank Bösch shows what interests were at stake in public and in the back rooms, and what official and obscure channels were used to arrange deals.

In his brilliantly written book, he shows how economic, political and civic interests interlaced in a zigzag course in handling dictatorships in the decades after national socialism, the inconsistencies and consequences of which still make themselves felt today.

Moderator: Niels Beintker, Bayerischer Rundfunk

In cooperation with the C.H.BECK publishing house.

About the author

Frank Bösch holds a professorship of European history of the 20th century at the University of Potsdam and is the Director of the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History (ZZF). His best-selling book (SPIEGEL rating) "Zeitenwende 1979. Als die Welt von heute begann" [1979, turn of an era. Starting point of the world of the present] was published by the C.H.Beck publishing house.

About the series

"Zur Sache ..." / "To the point ..." – Authors at the Staatsbibliothek, is a series of events jointly organised by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and Munich publishing houses, with the kind support of the Sponsors and Friends of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and the book trader Lehmkuhl.

Information on the event at a glance