Member-only story
THE NARRATIVE ARC
Peace to ‘Pieces’ in Our Time
Munich 2025 echoes history
Sometimes, the most significant moments in history aren’t clear until we look back. I’ve spent years working on and writing about global security, but today, I struggle to process the seismic shifts of these past days. Trump’s actions regarding Ukraine and Europe will fill history books that have yet to be written, and the scholars who will analyze these will have what we lack today — the clarity of hindsight.
When History Shifts Beneath Our Feet
In my study at home, there’s a small black and white photograph that shows my father at thirteen, a passport-style portrait dated May 13, 1940. On the back, three simple words: “just in case.” The photo was taken just three days after Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands. My father lived in a seaside village near The Hague, where battles still raged, and the airport had already fallen. Within days, Rotterdam would burn, and the Netherlands would surrender.
I often wonder what went through my grandmother’s mind that day. What made her take her son to a photographer amid the chaos of invasion? She must have sensed that they were living through one of those moments when history shifts beneath your feet.
