During the 13-year civil war in Syria, the forces loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad carried out some of the most horrific chemical attacks in recent history. One of them was in April 2018, in Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus. The memory of the 2018 chemical attack continues to be on the minds of residents. They say the wounds have not healed, and that no real justice has been served.
The clash between the Trump administration and Voice of America continues. In March, an executive order was issued to eliminate VOA’s supervising agency. Since then, VOA has been slashed and has cut down operations while also challenging the executive order in court. But as VOA shrinks, Russian news agencies targeting international audiences are growing.
David Bliss grew up hearing stories about his great-aunt Bertha, a once-energetic woman who ran her own shop in the small German town of Husen. But he knew very little else about her until he found a high school in Husen, which for decades has had students research the lives of Holocaust victims. Bliss’ journey to memorialize his great-aunt unearthed debates about such memorials in Germany, including those over the Stolperstein, or “Stumbling Stone” project. Rebecca Rosman traveled to Husen and Munich to tell this story.
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