The London Moment in Big Pictures: Allied (2016)

The blog’s subject, Europeans in wartime London, has been covered by a couple of feature films. There is the classic: Ernst Lubitsch’s „To be or not to be“ from 1947 about a Polish theatre company changing Second World War history. In 2008, Nick Whitby also staged the plot of the film as a play. Then there is the 2017adaption by Christopher Nolan  of the evacuation at Dunkirk in 1941. And of course there is more than one film about Churchill: this year alone, two films came out. One facing th..

Upcoming Event: Colonialism and Law

Legal History Research Seminar AK GRR on Colonialism, Friday 14th December 201

Jean-Louis Crémieux-Brilhac: Resistance Fighter and Historian

Eric Hobsbawm did not live during the 19th century but he wrote a great book about the long century. Christopher Clark did not experience the First World War but he wrote one of the most discussed books about the years 1914 to 1918. It is not common for historians to write about experiences, it would be easy to accuse them of lacking objectivity. However, Winston Churchill wrote "The Second World War" and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. Like the British Prime Minister, Jea..

Research assistant: Marten Steinbömer

I am a B.A. student at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and research assistant in the project „The London Moment“. My subjects at university are history and philosophy. Since April 2015 I work in the research project „The London Moment“. Currently I am writing my bachelor thesis about the French exile-community in London during the Second World War in the perception of the British newspapers

Romain Gary: Writer, Diplomat, Pilot and Son

He had no talent for playing the violin, but was full of promise with the paintbrush. But he was not allowed to make full use of it because of his mother's fear that he could impoverish like all other painters like van Gogh. And he never accomplished to juggle the eighth object, as Enrico Rastelli (a well-known Italian juggler and example) did. So Roman Kacew had to become a famous and popular writer. Although his mother thought his name was the name of a virtuoso musician. As a writer, he ha..

Film Review: Darkest Hour (2017)

Opening Scene: A heated debate is raging in the British Parliament: Clement Attlee, head of the opposition Labour Party, explains to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain what he thinks of his appeasement policy and explains his condition for a coalition government: His condition is called Winston Churchill. (Not Lord Halifax, as favoured by the Conservatives.) Thus, Churchill is present in the film before he even appears for the first time. In the next scene, Winston Churchill, working..

„The Flag of Joan of Arc floats over England“ - French National days in Exile

On Whitehall in Westminster, London's government district, the cenotaph commemorates the British soldiers killed in the First World War. Until today, it is at the centre of Remembrance Day service, taking place on the Sunday closest to Armistice Day on 11th November. Here, between the Department of Health and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, a wreath is laid in front of the column. The British monarch and the Prime Minister, as well as veterans, regularly participate in this ceremony dedica..

Research assistant: Marten Steinbömer

I am a B.A. student at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and research assistant in the project „The London Moment“. My subjects at university are history and philosophy. Since April 2015 I work in the research project „The London Moment“. Currently I am writing my bachelor thesis about the French exile-community in London during the Second World War in the perception of the British newspapers

Day of Prayer for France

After the November 2015 Paris attacks, the London Eye was illuminated in blue, white and red, the colours of the French flag, as a memorial to the attacks. The British People - as the most people throughout the world - showed their solidarity with France and the French People. The hashtag #prayforparis went viral. It was the 15th of June, 1940, when the archbishop of Canterbury concluded the service at Canterbury Cathedral with the following words: "To stay upon God will be our greatest stren..

Five friends and the English Prime Minister

On 22 September 1941, five young Frenchmen, together with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine, sat in the garden of the house at 10 Downing Street. Accompanied by a mutual friend, the two pairs of brothers had been invited by the Prime Minister for lunch after spectacularly crossing the English Channel from France in a small rowing boat. Following the blog post about the French national celebrations in London during the Second World War, this entry sheds light o..