A Danish woman in the Balkans. Between Kosova and Brussels

The journalist Christine von Kohl, who is highly regarded in the German-speaking world, wrote a very personal, up-to-date and profound book about the Balkans. "I knew nothing about the Balkans - until I got there. It has been an elixir of life for almost forty years - and I have to ask myself: Why?", only to discover: "What is the Balkans? It is above all about people. If they were characterised by contentment, security and prospects, they would not be as they are. Namely, objects of incessant blows of fate, of threats, individually and collectively, and with no prospect of a predictable future. Responsible for this was a chain of rulers, be they migrating masses of people, be they state-organized powers, be they feudal lords or cummunistic dictators. Despite great differences in mentality, there is still a certain fundamental one.