war

Four cultural figures in Syria and in exile discuss the future of art in the country

A visit to Kafranbel, a small Syrian town that became a hotspot of resistance. What remains of the spirit of the revolution?

Concrete, brick, steel: Aref al-Swaidani wants to rebuild Syria from its ruins. In Weimar he’s conducting research on recycling building materials.

How to get justice after the horrors Syria has witnessed? Sociologist Mohammed Bamyeh sees signs that the new leadership wants to come to terms with the past, but warns against selective justice

For the first time in eleven years, Yassin al-Haj Saleh returned to his homeland. The Syrian writer and dissident found a country torn apart by internal conflicts and beset by worries about the return of tyranny. A historical analysis

The Assad regime used minority protection as a pretext to pit different Syrian communities against each other. That left behind left deep wounds that are still painful today

Putin is fighting in the Ukraine for the right to an equal dialogue with the West

A complex civil war with international involvement has been raging in Yemen for years. It is extremely dangerous for journalists to pursue their profession, Yemeni journalists still pay a heavy price for the civil war. Many have left the country and young reporters with no training are taking their place

Or Levy was abducted by Hamas from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023. In this interview, his brother Michael discusses his family’s experience over the last twelve months, his hopes and fears for the future, and the ongoing campaign to free Or from captivity

Avital Benshalom runs the Hagar School in Be’er Sheva, where Jewish and Arab children learn together. How did the school continue its work after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza?

In Israel, the Jewish and Arab populations share a common everyday life, but currently the peaceful coexistence could escalate any moment. Mohammad Darawshe, Strategy Director of Israeli peace organization Givat Haviva, talks about emergency programs and damage limitation

Politicians, the military, investors: in Sudan, key players are fighting over power and money. On how violence is flaring up again in a state that just won’t settle down

It would seem hopeless to keep an opera house running during times of war. Vasyl Vovkun, general director of the National Opera in Lviv, talks about how he and his team keep working nonetheless

“Mystetskyi Arsenal” in Kyiv hosts exhibitions, theater shows and festivals. Museum manager Olga Zhuk describes the race to put up exhibitions between power outages, and why it is important to retain spaces for reflection

Projector offers creative courses in Ukrainian. After the Russian invasion, they halted all operations. But it turns out that demand is on the rise, not least because many Ukranians need a new job now, says Head of Product Anna Chernysh

What once seemed significant for author Serhij Zhadan - irony, coolness, status symbols -  became irrelevant overnight when war broke out in his homeland. Now, collective solidarity and the fight against “evil” is what counts. How are the people in Ukraine affected by this sudden shift?

Civil war, nightly air raids, a lack of water: as a refugee from Palestine, Mohammad El-Hassan, felt he had no future in Lebanon. He fled to Berlin in 2003 and today works as a cook in Prenzlauer Berg

When the Taliban came to power, women in Afghanistan lost almost everything overnight: their rights, their jobs, their dignity. What are their concerns today? We asked Afghan women for a selfie, and asked the question: how are you doing?

Ethnic plurality, religious tensions, rival elites: Afghanistan is a nation of contradictions. In an effort to dig below the surface, we posed seven questions to four experts

Both the genocide of the Herero in Namibia and the Boer War in South Africa were brutal events, but the history books only tell of “heroes”. Can historical fiction give the victims a voice?

Power outages, lack of young talent and scarce materials: In Damascus, arts and crafts struggle to survive

Libraries, archives and manuscripts: ever since they have existed, they have also been at risk. Librarian Richard Ovenden has written a history of their destruction

The Vietnamese author Nguyen Phan Que Mai tells a family tale from her war-ravaged land

Bjeen Alhassan, born in Qamishli, Syria, now lives in Germany. In her Facebook group “Learning with Bijin” she helps refugee women, earning her the German Integration Award