Boris Schumatsky

born 1965 in Moscow, has been living and working as an author in Berlin and Munich since the mid-1990s. In his book "Silvester bei Stalin", he re-traces his family's steps through times of terror and war. Schumatsky's essays on current political events have appeared in renowned newspapers such as "Die Zeit", "NZZ" and "Süddeutsche Zeitung".

Boris Schumatsky - The new subjects

Postmodernism, Populism & Putin

25 years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Europe's democracies are in a deep crisis. Old political camps are fading: the left is trading revolution for nationalism; the right is borrowing a useful enemy – the banks – from the left. It causes Boris Schumatsky great dismay to see the growing success of Russia's autocrats. Whether right, left or middle: Ruling is fun, freedom is tough. During the 1990s, a wave of postmodernism seemed to promise everlasting peace. Now the ease of those days, and with it an inability to tell apart truth and lies, has turned into a populist monster. Boris Schumatsky delivers an astute analysis of current political trends and future prospects.