David Pizzo
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pizzohistorian.bsky.social
David Pizzo
@pizzohistorian.bsky.social
All pics and opinions mine unless otherwise indicated. Historian. History professor at Murray State University: Modern Germany, Eastern and Southern Africa, the World Wars, Genocide, & Slavery. Director of KIIS Austria & SiR Berlin Program. All views mine.
Reposted by David Pizzo
“Someone” cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second.

We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared.’
October 8, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
The “compact” for higher ed is an unserious document written by unserious people from a position of spectacular ignorance. No one should take it seriously. Sadly, my bosses are taking it seriously.

newrepublic.com/article/2013...
Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down
How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education
newrepublic.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
what bugs me about "what about assimilation!?" arguments is the fact that american history is one long proof that america is very good at assimilating immigrants, and always has been

*right now* 28% of americans are immigrants or children of immigrants!

gabydelvalle.substack.com/p/the-spirit...
The spirit of Ellis Island
look at my leftist public intellectuals dawg
gabydelvalle.substack.com
February 11, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
Are you a teacher covering the Holocaust or Nazi Germany in your #GCSE or #ALevel curriculum this year?

Our educational website #TheHolocaustExplained includes free downloadable resources drawing on unique materials from our archive 🔗
Educational Resources – The Holocaust Explained: Designed for schools
This section features educational resources on different topics related to Nazism and the Holocaust. Each resource draws upon original primary sources from The Wiener Holocaust Library’s archive. It…
buff.ly
February 12, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
"The Path to American Authoritarianism: What Comes After Democratic Breakdown" by Profs Levitsky and Way. Answer: Electoral Autocracy coupled, I would add, with rule of law breakdown aka systemic lawlessness whenever the ruling regime feels it is warranted

www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
February 12, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Reposted by David Pizzo
An unelected South African has taken control of the US Treasury and is deciding to stop payments on American obligations, in violation of numerous court orders, and admits in the Oval Office that he has done so upon incorrect information, while the President sits impotently behind the Resolute Desk.
Reporter: You said an example of fraud that you have cited was $50 million of condoms was sent to Gaza but after a fact-check apparently it was Gaza in Mozambique meant to protect them against HIV. 

Musk: First of all, some of the things I say will be incorrect
February 11, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
So @pizzohistorian.bsky.social and I are teaching modern Italy this semester and there is precedent for the pope excommunicate people over politics. Just saying.
(I’m not catholic… but it would be funny.)
February 11, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
Recently, UNC Press authors have had their US visas revoked and talks canceled.

For over 100 years, we have stood for academic freedom and open discourse, and continue to do so. Read more on the UNC Press Blog ⬇️
Academic Freedom and Open Discourse - UNC Press Blog
For over 100 years UNC Press has championed the principles of academic freedom, open discourse, and the free exchange of ideas—values essential to a democratic society and the pursuit of knowledge.  R...
uncpressblog.com
January 31, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
Was soll in den paar Jahren Faschismus schon passieren?

Ach ja.
January 21, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Reposted by David Pizzo
"China recently displaced Russia as the largest arms exporter to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Beijing has captured a 10% share of an arms market that is increasingly crowded & competitive...Approximately 70% of all African armies now operate Chinese armoured vehicles" (IISS)
January 21, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Reposted by David Pizzo
The temperature at noon on Monday will be 22 degrees which is the same temperature it was in 1961 when Kennedy was inaugurated.

The ceremony was held outside.
January 17, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
Can a headline alone be eligible for a Pulitzer?
January 17, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
The American Historical Association vetoed a resolution passed overwhelmingly by its members to condemn Israel's destruction of educational systems in Gaza.

In so doing, they told the youngest & most active members of a field under threat that their professional and moral outrage doesn't matter.
Stunning cowardice by the AHA Council. For shame. "The Council considers the Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza ... to contravene the Association’s Constitution and Bylaws because it lies outside the scope of the Association’s mission and purpose." 🗃️
www.historians.org/news/busines...
Business Meeting Resolution Update - AHA
Update as of January 17, 2025: The AHA Council deplores any intentional destruction of Palestinian educational institutions, libraries, universities, and archives in Gaza. The Council considers the “R...
www.historians.org
January 17, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
I wanted to share some thoughts on what to expect from the second Trump presidency and its early days.

Cruelty. Violence. Intimidation. Huge cultural shifts. And wholesale plundering by the oligarchs who bought Trump and the presidency.

jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/back-into-...
Back Into the Breach: Thoughts on the Second Trump Presidency
We shouldn't have to deal with this. But, unfortunately, we're going to.
jaredyatessexton.substack.com
January 15, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
TIL that the venerable Crock Pot was invented by Irving Nachumsohn, who was Litvak, a Lithuanian Jew. These are my people!! (I'm Litvak on both sides).

He also was the first Jewish engineer at Western Electric.

A nice way to head into Shabbat. Good shabbos!!

#JewSky
A Brief History of the Crock Pot
More than eighty years after it was patented, the Crock Pot remains a comforting presence in American kitchens
www.smithsonianmag.com
January 11, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by David Pizzo
Caribbeanists/scholars of slavery: consider signing this important petition about the burial grounds of enslaved people at Newtown plantation in Barbados www.change.org/p/put-the-he...
Sign the Petition
Put the Heritage District Project on Pause
www.change.org
January 10, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
If you’re at all familiar with Peter Thiel’s youth in apartheid South Africa/Namibia — where his German dad helped run a concentration camp-like uranium mine under military control that violated international law — his name-checking the Truth and Reconciliation Commission here is especially gross.
January 10, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
Yes, "Hatred Was His Job".

cc obit and op-ed writers over here, who've done their worst to invent a Jean-Marie Le Pen who never existed since the fascist thug died.
Powerful front page from L'Humanité on Jean Marie Le Pen: 'His Profession Was Hatred'. The dagger pictured was recovered at the scene of the brutal torture and murder of Ahmed Moulay in Algiers in 1957. One of multiple pieces of evidence showing Le Pen was a torturer.
January 8, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
It's here, it's happening, it's out! @ramonanegron.bsky.social
@jessicadenoudsten.bsky.social @fatahblack.bsky.social
and I present to you as editors a three part volume: West Africa, At Sea and Conflict Management and Discourse. New and exciting research on the Dutch Transatlantic Slave trade!
January 7, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Reposted by David Pizzo
Professors: If you are restructuring your syllabi for the semester to reflect the new administration, some people may use that language to attack you. This is what happened to a co-author teaching about the American Presidency.
heterodoxacademy.org/blog/academi...
Constructing ‘Campus Craziness’ - Heterodox Academy
The demonization of Ken Mayer exemplifies how the 'campus craziness' narrative is created -- and lays bare the cynical opportunism at its core
heterodoxacademy.org
January 8, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
CEO Unveils Bold New Plan To Undo Damage From Last Year’s Bold New Plan
theonion.com/ceo-unveils-...
December 31, 2024 at 8:21 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
The fact that the FBI didn’t hold a press conference announcing the largest seizure of self-made explosives in history tells you everything you need to know about race and ideology of the suspect. Wanna guess? www.nytimes.com/2024/12/31/u...
F.B.I. Says It Found Largest Cache of Homemade Explosives in Its History at Va. Farm
Investigators discovered more than 150 devices, mostly pipe bombs, on a property outside Norfolk, court papers say.
www.nytimes.com
January 1, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by David Pizzo
U.S. president Jimmy Carter with Nigeria's Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo (1977).
December 30, 2024 at 8:14 PM