Harry C. Merritt
@harrymerritt.bsky.social
Historian working on the social history of war in 🇱🇻🇷🇺🇩🇪. Book: Latvian Soldiers of World War II: Fighting for the Homeland in Nazi and Soviet Service (Oxford University Press, 2026). Opinions my own, not those of my employer.
Reposted by Harry C. Merritt
‘The Dual Monarchy seeded countless ideas that germinated much later. Vushko argues that the European Union traces its “origins to the history of pre-1918 federalism and internationalism in the Habsburg Empire”.’
Holly Case reviews ‘Lost Fatherland’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Holly Case reviews ‘Lost Fatherland’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Holly Case · Thin Pink Glaze: Habsburg Legacies
We still live in the long shadow of Habsburg disintegration. In addition to the lingering legacy of 19th-century state...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 19, 2025 at 9:10 AM
‘The Dual Monarchy seeded countless ideas that germinated much later. Vushko argues that the European Union traces its “origins to the history of pre-1918 federalism and internationalism in the Habsburg Empire”.’
Holly Case reviews ‘Lost Fatherland’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Holly Case reviews ‘Lost Fatherland’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Sveicam Lāčplēša dienā! / Greetings on Lāčplēsis Day! (poster: “The spirit of Lāčplēsis has not passed away,” Rihards Zariņš, 1934)
November 11, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Sveicam Lāčplēša dienā! / Greetings on Lāčplēsis Day! (poster: “The spirit of Lāčplēsis has not passed away,” Rihards Zariņš, 1934)
Tomorrow at UMass Boston, I will give a talk on historical narratives of/memory work by veterans of the Waffen-SS Latvian Legion as an interesting case of "overcoming defeat"
November 3, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Tomorrow at UMass Boston, I will give a talk on historical narratives of/memory work by veterans of the Waffen-SS Latvian Legion as an interesting case of "overcoming defeat"
Reposted by Harry C. Merritt
New podcast episode! 🎙️
This month we share an episode from our colleagues at the EUROPAST podcast: "The Battle for Memory: Populism vs. Pluralism in Public History" with Professor Jan Kubik. It's a fascinating and highly timely listen - check it out now! vist.ly/4cd8e
This month we share an episode from our colleagues at the EUROPAST podcast: "The Battle for Memory: Populism vs. Pluralism in Public History" with Professor Jan Kubik. It's a fascinating and highly timely listen - check it out now! vist.ly/4cd8e
October 31, 2025 at 8:33 AM
New podcast episode! 🎙️
This month we share an episode from our colleagues at the EUROPAST podcast: "The Battle for Memory: Populism vs. Pluralism in Public History" with Professor Jan Kubik. It's a fascinating and highly timely listen - check it out now! vist.ly/4cd8e
This month we share an episode from our colleagues at the EUROPAST podcast: "The Battle for Memory: Populism vs. Pluralism in Public History" with Professor Jan Kubik. It's a fascinating and highly timely listen - check it out now! vist.ly/4cd8e
Reposted by Harry C. Merritt
Smart people keep saying…
“AI technologies severely impede humans’ ability to learn and retain skills… Rather than expanding our intellectual horizons, these technologies undermine the very conditions that allow us to think for ourselves.”
“AI technologies severely impede humans’ ability to learn and retain skills… Rather than expanding our intellectual horizons, these technologies undermine the very conditions that allow us to think for ourselves.”
AI Is Hollowing Out Higher Education
Olivia Guest & Iris van Rooij urge teachers and scholars to reject tools that commodify learning, deskill students, and promote illiteracy.
www.project-syndicate.org
October 25, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Smart people keep saying…
“AI technologies severely impede humans’ ability to learn and retain skills… Rather than expanding our intellectual horizons, these technologies undermine the very conditions that allow us to think for ourselves.”
“AI technologies severely impede humans’ ability to learn and retain skills… Rather than expanding our intellectual horizons, these technologies undermine the very conditions that allow us to think for ourselves.”
Reposted by Harry C. Merritt
I will be giving a lecture on the Holocaust in Latvia this Thursday at the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center in Providence, RI
bornsteinholocaustcenter.org/event/the-ho...
bornsteinholocaustcenter.org/event/the-ho...
October 14, 2025 at 3:38 PM
I will be giving a lecture on the Holocaust in Latvia this Thursday at the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center in Providence, RI
bornsteinholocaustcenter.org/event/the-ho...
bornsteinholocaustcenter.org/event/the-ho...
Reposted by Harry C. Merritt
The Prussian city of Konigsberg is a microcosm for the twentieth century. This week, explore the it's storied legacy as we deep dive with @nicoleeaton.bsky.social into her book, "German Blood, Slavic Soil: How Nazi Königsberg Became Soviet Kaliningrad."
patreon.com/posts/how-konigsberg-141130456
patreon.com/posts/how-konigsberg-141130456
October 13, 2025 at 10:41 PM
The Prussian city of Konigsberg is a microcosm for the twentieth century. This week, explore the it's storied legacy as we deep dive with @nicoleeaton.bsky.social into her book, "German Blood, Slavic Soil: How Nazi Königsberg Became Soviet Kaliningrad."
patreon.com/posts/how-konigsberg-141130456
patreon.com/posts/how-konigsberg-141130456
I will be giving a lecture on the Holocaust in Latvia this Thursday at the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center in Providence, RI
bornsteinholocaustcenter.org/event/the-ho...
bornsteinholocaustcenter.org/event/the-ho...
October 14, 2025 at 3:38 PM
I will be giving a lecture on the Holocaust in Latvia this Thursday at the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center in Providence, RI
bornsteinholocaustcenter.org/event/the-ho...
bornsteinholocaustcenter.org/event/the-ho...
If you're wondering why one of Superman's antagonists in the 2025 movie is a Radovan Karadžić analog from "Boravia," a seemingly Slavic, onion-domed land of militarism and ethnic hatred, see my Awl (RIP) essay on imaginary Eastern Europe in comic book films:
www.theawl.com/2015/08/the-...
www.theawl.com/2015/08/the-...
The Forever-Doomed Eastern Europe of Our Imaginations
by Harry MerrittComic book films that can’t manage find convincing motivations for their protagonists can often be rescued by matching the heroes against a compelling villain — Loki alone has saved at...
www.theawl.com
July 24, 2025 at 2:04 PM
If you're wondering why one of Superman's antagonists in the 2025 movie is a Radovan Karadžić analog from "Boravia," a seemingly Slavic, onion-domed land of militarism and ethnic hatred, see my Awl (RIP) essay on imaginary Eastern Europe in comic book films:
www.theawl.com/2015/08/the-...
www.theawl.com/2015/08/the-...
My thanks to @balticstudies.bsky.social for their support in the publication of my book with Oxford University Press, Latvian Soldiers of World War II: Fighting for the Homeland in Nazi and Soviet Service!
bsky.app/profile/balt...
bsky.app/profile/balt...
Congratulations to Oxford University Press and @harrymerritt.bsky.social for receiving the AABS Book Publication Subvention! The award will support Harry's monograph, "Latvian Soldiers of World War II." Learn more: aabs-balticstudies.org/2025/07/13/o...
July 21, 2025 at 3:36 PM
My thanks to @balticstudies.bsky.social for their support in the publication of my book with Oxford University Press, Latvian Soldiers of World War II: Fighting for the Homeland in Nazi and Soviet Service!
bsky.app/profile/balt...
bsky.app/profile/balt...
Reposted by Harry C. Merritt
Congratulations to Oxford University Press and @harrymerritt.bsky.social for receiving the AABS Book Publication Subvention! The award will support Harry's monograph, "Latvian Soldiers of World War II." Learn more: aabs-balticstudies.org/2025/07/13/o...
July 19, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Congratulations to Oxford University Press and @harrymerritt.bsky.social for receiving the AABS Book Publication Subvention! The award will support Harry's monograph, "Latvian Soldiers of World War II." Learn more: aabs-balticstudies.org/2025/07/13/o...
Reposted by Harry C. Merritt
Of course, the utilisation of postcolonialism in CEE, which is not unreasonable in any sense, can easily overplay its understanding of colonisation elsewhere. It's is understandable but must be delivered with due consideration
martindbrown.substack.com/p/on-postcol...
martindbrown.substack.com/p/on-postcol...
On postcolonialism and Westsplaining.
Ohh, and Eastsplaining too.
martindbrown.substack.com
June 20, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Of course, the utilisation of postcolonialism in CEE, which is not unreasonable in any sense, can easily overplay its understanding of colonisation elsewhere. It's is understandable but must be delivered with due consideration
martindbrown.substack.com/p/on-postcol...
martindbrown.substack.com/p/on-postcol...
Reposted by Harry C. Merritt
Competative victimhood doesn't quite work if you don't know your history
June 20, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Competative victimhood doesn't quite work if you don't know your history
Reposted by Harry C. Merritt
There's a call for papers going round everybody! Pleased to announce the BASEES Study Group on the Baltic States' third annual workshop on 30-31 August in Glasgow, welcoming submissions from postgrads and early career researchers.
Call for Papers: Third Annual Baltic Study Group Workshop, The University of Glasgow, 30-31 October 2025. Please see below for full details.
Please send a 250-word abstract and a 150-word bio note by 1 August 2025 to baseesbalticstudiesgroup@gmail.com
Please send a 250-word abstract and a 150-word bio note by 1 August 2025 to baseesbalticstudiesgroup@gmail.com
June 9, 2025 at 8:22 PM
There's a call for papers going round everybody! Pleased to announce the BASEES Study Group on the Baltic States' third annual workshop on 30-31 August in Glasgow, welcoming submissions from postgrads and early career researchers.
What do you know about Great Britain? Test your knowledge! (from the November 1, 1974 "Foreign Language Corner" of Plēsums, newspaper of the Latvian Academy of Agriculture in the Latvian SSR)
June 6, 2025 at 3:32 PM
What do you know about Great Britain? Test your knowledge! (from the November 1, 1974 "Foreign Language Corner" of Plēsums, newspaper of the Latvian Academy of Agriculture in the Latvian SSR)
Reposted by Harry C. Merritt
Huge opportunity for a political party that believes government can do good things. Public opinion is finally shifting after 50 years of right wing anti-government propaganda. This isn't the time for cowering and throat clearing www.cnn.com/2025/06/01/p...
June 1, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Huge opportunity for a political party that believes government can do good things. Public opinion is finally shifting after 50 years of right wing anti-government propaganda. This isn't the time for cowering and throat clearing www.cnn.com/2025/06/01/p...
Senate Republican JRPG Villain Caucus
bsky.app/profile/bria...
bsky.app/profile/bria...
May 31, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Senate Republican JRPG Villain Caucus
bsky.app/profile/bria...
bsky.app/profile/bria...
"If people whose ancestors have lived here for a long time...are asked to feel only like tenants here, nothing good will come of it. I am not a tenant in Latvia, I do not rent my room. I am part of this nation and belong to it."
-Valentīna Freimane, "The Law of Antigone"
bsky.app/profile/mkap...
-Valentīna Freimane, "The Law of Antigone"
bsky.app/profile/mkap...
Valentīna Freimane un latviskā identitāte (avots: "Antigones likums")
May 19, 2025 at 5:25 PM
"If people whose ancestors have lived here for a long time...are asked to feel only like tenants here, nothing good will come of it. I am not a tenant in Latvia, I do not rent my room. I am part of this nation and belong to it."
-Valentīna Freimane, "The Law of Antigone"
bsky.app/profile/mkap...
-Valentīna Freimane, "The Law of Antigone"
bsky.app/profile/mkap...
Reposted by Harry C. Merritt
Feels extra bleak that one of Google's top search results for habeas corpus directs you to this utterly useless AI graphic
May 9, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Feels extra bleak that one of Google's top search results for habeas corpus directs you to this utterly useless AI graphic
This V-E Day/Victory Day, I am thinking of the Red Army soldiers of the 130th Latvian Rifle Corps who liberated Latvia from the Nazi occupation in 1944/45, some of whom also later contributed to the restoration of Latvian independence from the Soviet Union from 1988-1991.
May 8, 2025 at 2:03 PM
This V-E Day/Victory Day, I am thinking of the Red Army soldiers of the 130th Latvian Rifle Corps who liberated Latvia from the Nazi occupation in 1944/45, some of whom also later contributed to the restoration of Latvian independence from the Soviet Union from 1988-1991.
Reposted by Harry C. Merritt
It’s time to reconsolidate a counterculture and politics against this shit. Science, art, medicine, poetry, philosophy as the beautiful life, the fullness of human civilization, that they want to destroy. Humanism, not cynicism, not slop, not tech “””nerd””” culture
May 7, 2025 at 4:28 PM
It’s time to reconsolidate a counterculture and politics against this shit. Science, art, medicine, poetry, philosophy as the beautiful life, the fullness of human civilization, that they want to destroy. Humanism, not cynicism, not slop, not tech “””nerd””” culture
Darkly humorous that liberals spent 2016/2020 lecturing leftists about Weimar Germany and the KPD's shortsightedness ("After Hitler, our turn!") but now the official Democratic Party strategy is to "play dead" and let Trump run wild ("After the midterms/2028, our turn!").
bsky.app/profile/davi...
bsky.app/profile/davi...
Last month, James Carville published a NY Times oped declaring: "It’s time for Democrats to embark on the most daring political maneuver in the history of our party: roll over & play dead.”
Democrats took his advice & now polls show Dems have the highest unfavorable ratings in 30 years.
Democrats took his advice & now polls show Dems have the highest unfavorable ratings in 30 years.
How Dems Are Destroying Their Party
They’re giving Trump congressional votes, helping MAGA in blue states, and resurrecting their unpopular has-beens. Polls show America hates it.
www.levernews.com
May 2, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Darkly humorous that liberals spent 2016/2020 lecturing leftists about Weimar Germany and the KPD's shortsightedness ("After Hitler, our turn!") but now the official Democratic Party strategy is to "play dead" and let Trump run wild ("After the midterms/2028, our turn!").
bsky.app/profile/davi...
bsky.app/profile/davi...
"May 1st - International Workers' Solidarity Day. In commemoration of the May 1st, 1886 protest by Chicago workers, May 1st, 1889, was declared International Workers' Solidarity Day." (Alnis Mitris, Latvian SSR, 1986)
May 1, 2025 at 6:54 PM
"May 1st - International Workers' Solidarity Day. In commemoration of the May 1st, 1886 protest by Chicago workers, May 1st, 1889, was declared International Workers' Solidarity Day." (Alnis Mitris, Latvian SSR, 1986)
The Latvian Prosecutor General's Office closes the case on Holocaust perpetrator Herberts Cukurs, effectively posthumously exonerating him (again), despite copious evidence of his participation in the Nazi occupation's SD Arājs Kommando.
www.jta.org/2025/04/25/g...
www.jta.org/2025/04/25/g...
Latvia again closes case against ‘Butcher of Riga,’ tied to mass murder of Jews - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Some far-right Latvians venerate Herbert Cukurs, whom Mossad agents assassinated in 1965.
www.jta.org
April 29, 2025 at 2:45 PM
The Latvian Prosecutor General's Office closes the case on Holocaust perpetrator Herberts Cukurs, effectively posthumously exonerating him (again), despite copious evidence of his participation in the Nazi occupation's SD Arājs Kommando.
www.jta.org/2025/04/25/g...
www.jta.org/2025/04/25/g...