A stunningly poignant ending. Diversity and multiculturalism are hardly alien to Eastern Europe — indeed, they were once central to it. Rather than turning its back on this legacy as something dead and buried, the whole of Europe should look to it as a model for its future:

A stirring and bittersweet summation of the tragedy of Eastern Europe:

Every Pole born in the mid-90s or earlier remembers the massive market in the Stadium of the 10th Anniversary — but I had no idea about the geographic spread of its diverse customer base:

A Hungarian leader welcoming immigrants to his lands in order to enrich their diversity, cultural wealth, and economic prosperity — unheard of!

This passage is crucial for understanding why Eastern Europe has historically been such a chaotic wilderness of ethnic identity — for centuries, empire and smaller states alike made few efforts to unify their realms under a single ethnic or religious identity:

The centrality of the Polish crown to the Jewish experience cannot be overstated. Although it’s not easy to perceive in modern-day Poland, the history of Judaism is inseparable from the country’s history: