Nearly all interested parties think I write too shortly on the subjects that interest them most. Norman Davies Read Quote
Nowadays, it is no longer possible to maintain that the Nazi-Soviet pact of 23 August 1939 was a fiction invented by bourgeois-imperialist enemies. Everyone has seen the film clips of Herr Ribbentrop landing in Moscow, and of Stalin smiling broadly as Ribbentrop and Molotov signed up side by side. Norman Davies Read Quote
One might have thought that 70 years was time enough to work out what really happened in 1939. It isn’t the case. Misunderstandings and misinformation abound. Norman Davies Read Quote
Any historian worth their salt should be aware of wars, conflicts, catastrophes. They happen. This is part of the panorama. Norman Davies Read Quote
The idea that historians write the definitive version of something that will last for all time is less current than it used to be. Norman Davies Read Quote
Our mental maps are distorted by who are the ‘winners’ of history and who are the powers of today. Norman Davies Read Quote
I wanted to produce a book that would demonstrate not only the rich diversity of people who answered to Anders’s command but also the extraordinary variety of their experiences and emotions: from death to despair, fear and longings and eventually to hope. Norman Davies Read Quote
The most noticeable thing about the Soviet collapse was that it followed a natural course. Norman Davies Read Quote