Began reading Antony Beevor's "Stalingrad", his
history of the battle of
Stalingrad during
World War II. The book starts with the invasion of the
USSR by
Germany on
June 22, 1941. It was the Soviet Foreign Minister,
Vyacheslav Molotov, and not
Stalin (who was apparently petrified with
disbelief like a
rabbit facing a
snake), who made the
radio announcement to the Soviet people of
war with Germany. "Today at four o'clock in the morning, German troops attacked our country without making any claims on the Soviet Union and without any declaration of war...Our cause is just. The
enemy will be beaten. We will be victorious."
Tonight on the BBC World Service was a short discussion in connection with some American historians or whoever having decided what are the 20th century's 100 greatest speeches. The BBC played bits of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" and JFK's "Ask not what your country can do for you" speeches. Also a short extract from Churchill's May 1940 "This was their finest hour" speech. Afterwards I realized that the commentators hadn't mentioned whether any of Hitler's, Goebbels', or Stalin's harangues were amongst the 100 greatest.
The post-Christmas sales have started: bought luggage. Think that at last I'm in departure mode. If I don't lapse back into my usual slothlike state, may even get outta here by the end of January.