Mr. Laqueur grew up in Breslau, Germany, in a modest home that he remembered as adorned by geraniums. Mr. Laqueur often broke with conventional wisdom, nowhere more than in his writings on terrorism. Only pessimists survived the Holocaust, Hoffman recalled Mr. Laqueur saying, because optimists believed Hitler could be controlled. As a scholar, Mr. Laqueur would devote years to deconstructing Europe’s submission to and recovery from fascism. Among his most recent books was “Reflections of a Veteran Pessimist: Contemplating Modern Europe, Russia and Jewish History” (2017).

Source: Washington Post October 01, 2018 01:41 UTC