The Center Lies Eastward

1989 is already far behind us. The fall of the Wall is an image from happier days, now superimposed with another, that of the passenger plane hurtling towards the World Trade Center. Still digesting the end of the old era of East-West antipathies and conflicts, we have been catapulted, unprepared, into an even more confusing present. We have to grant ourselves the luxury of stopping the film, for a moment, and reconsidering. If there are no certainties, at least there might be explorations, reflections. The result will be no major undertaking or new world-order but something smaller, something more central. In the light of world politics, European affairs can seem secondary and unimportant. Yet Europe, Central Europe, still serves a purpose. And we cannot count on inevitable success. Europe has opportunities that it can use or gamble away. These are the topics of Karl Schlögel's essays, written on the eve of the 1989 revolution and during the decade between the two images.

"When it comes to introducing Central Europe in all its facets to the public - both lucidly and entertainingly - Karl Schlögel has few equals. His texts are a happy mixture of essay and reportage, theory and practical illustration, encyclopaedia and detailed observation." (Der Tagesspiegel)