World War II
Treaties and Treachery
Syria's presidents have been jailed, shot and exiled. Only one has left a memoir, and that has only recently been published. Its editor explains how Shukri al-Quwatli’s account changes what we know about Syria and Churchill, King Faisal and early Zionist leaders.
The First Arab Indie Label
The rise and fall of the Baidaphon music label is a story of entrepreneurship and inventiveness, spanning countries at a time of global upheaval, and of love and friendship among Arabs and Jews amid growing racism and antisemitism. But above all, it is the story of the Baida family.
After France Outlawed Brothels, Its Army Kept North African Women Selling Sex in Secret
After World War II, France outlawed prostitution and shut more than a thousand brothels within its borders. But the army, which had thousands of North African troops to demobilize, set up its own secret brothels and trafficked women, often against their will, to service the troops.
Ukraine Embraces its Jewish Minority, and Reckons with its Traumatic History
Add it all up, and Ukraine’s Jews are witnessing an unprecedented embrace. “Jews are more accepted today in Ukraine than at any time in its history,” said David Fishman, a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America who teaches in Kyiv and has written about Ukraine’s Jews.