In Europe

communism under
Stalin
, and
1984
, which describes a totalitarian future state.
Homage to Catalonia
draws on his experiences in Spain when he volunteered for militia service to fight against the fascists.
    Ossi : colloquial term for a person from the former East Germany.
    Paisley , The Reverend Ian Richard Kyle (b. 1926): militant Protestant leader in Northern Ireland, MP for North Antrim since 1970 and leader and co-founder in 1971 of the Democratic Unionist Party. Outspoken critic of the Roman Catholic Church and a vociferous defender of the Protestant Unionist position in Northern Ireland.
    Pétain , Henri Philippe (1856–1951): French general, head of state of the French government of Vichy 1940–4. Viewed as a war hero in France for his leadership in the
First World War
but discredited for cooperating with the Germans in the
Second World War
. Sentenced to death for treason but this was commuted to life imprisonment by
de Gaulle
.
    Pogrom : organised and extensive violence against the persons or property of ethnic, religious or minority groups. The term can be particularly applied to attacks on Jews in Russia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and in Germany and Poland during the
Nazi
rise to power.
    Radek , Karl Berngardovich (1885–1939): communist propagandist and key figure in the Communist International. Played an important role in the
First World War
in secret negotiations with Germany regarding funding of the Bolsheviks and acted as a mediator between
Lenin
and the Germans.
    Rathenau , Walther (1867–1922): German statesman and industrialist who organised distribution of raw materials during the
First World War
. Helped form the German Democratic Party and was appointed Minister of Reconstruction in 1921 and Foreign Minister in 1922. His political policies and Jewish origins led to his assassination that year.
    Reagan , Ronald Wilson (1911–2004): Republican statesman and President of the United States 1981–9. His talks with the Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev
in Geneva and Reykjavík, where the two sides pledged to make the world a safer place, contributed to the ending of the
Cold War
.
    Ribbentrop , Joachim von (1893–1946): German politician and Foreign Minister under the
Nazi
regime 1938–45. The negotiation of the non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, was his greatest diplomatic coup and cleared the way for
Hitler
to invade Poland in 1939. Tried at Nuremberg and hanged for war crimes.
    Roosevelt , Franklin Delano (1882–1945): Democratic statesman and President of the United States 1933–45. Played an important role during the
Second World War
, providing Britain with financial support and supplying the Allies with arms to defeat
Nazi
Germany.
    Roth , Joseph (1894–1939): Austrian novelist and journalist, best known for his novels
The Radetzky March
, which portrays the latter days of the Habsburg monarchy, and
Job
, a novel of Jewish life. In his books he draws upon his own experiences of war, revolution and social upheaval. On
Hitler
's rise to power he was forced to flee Germany and spent most of his final years in Paris.
    Rust, Mathias (b. 1968): German amateur pilot who, at the age of nineteen, on 26 May, 1987, landed his Cessna aeroplane in Red Square, in front of the Kremlin, without being challenged by Soviet air defences. Shortly afterwards,
Mikhail Gorbachev
replaced the ministers responsible, who were opposed to
glasnost
and
perestroika
, with men who supported his policies.
    SA (
Sturmabteilung
, ‘assault division’): also known as
Sturmabteilung
or
Brownshirts
. Until the
Night of the Long Knives
this was the
Nazis’
leading paramilitary organisation.
    Second World War (1939–45): a worldwide war in which
Nazi
Germany, Fascist Italy and Japan were defeated by an alliance including Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States. In Europe the war ended with the German surrender in May 1945. An estimated fifty-five million people were killed.
    Siedler, Wolf Jobst (b.1926): German journalist and writer who lives in Berlin. For nearly twenty years he was head of Ullstein & Propyläen publishers and, from 1980 to 1998, of his own publishing house. Keen critic and commentator on political and historical events in Germany.
    Solidarity : Polish independent trade union movement, founded in 1980 and led by
Lech Walesa
. An anti-communist coalition of diverse groups, it advocated non-violence in its