12
Feb
Churchill and Bismarck: Common traits – common fates?
Lecture by Dr Franziska Augstein
More than once, Winston Churchill has been compared to the other two great democratic leaders during the Second World War: Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Charles de Gaulle. As he is universally known as a man always true to his roots in the 19th century, Dr Augstein suggests another comparison: In how far did his frame of mind, his political style, and his “raison d’être” resemble those of Otto von Bismarck? Arguably, during peace times Bismarck was more interested in England than Churchill was in Germany. Also, at home both statesmen were faced with very different challenges. Yet in glory and in failure they may have had more in common than what at first sight meets the eye.
Free and open to all.
Image © Marlena Waldthausen.
Speaker:
Dr Franziska Augstein
Franziska Augstein, born in Hamburg, studied history, philosophy and politics in Berlin, Bielefeld, at the University of Sussex and UCL. For the daughter of Rudolf Augstein, publisher of the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, it was an obvious idea to venture into journalism. While studying at university, she published freelance articles in various papers. In 1997 she became an editor at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, focusing on the intersections where history, the arts, and politics meet. From 2001 until 2021 she worked at Süddeutsche Zeitung, first at the arts pages, then as “political books” editor, and until 2021 as columnist (“Augstein’s World”) at the paper’s “economics” section. Since 2021 her main work has been dedicated to her books.
In 1998 she was awarded the Ernst-Robert-Curtius-Förderpreis; in 2000 the Theodor-Wolff-Preis (Essay) of the Federal Association of German News Publishers. In 2008 she published Von Treue und Verrat. Jorge Semprún und sein Jahrhundert; in 2021 Von Wagemut, Irrtum und Verblendung. Einblicke in politökonomische Schlamassel (including a spirited review of Brexit); in 2024 Winston Churchill. Biographie.
