# Thomas Urban

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{{Short description|German journalist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
'''Thomas Urban''' (born 20 July 1954) is a German journalist and author of historical books.
[[File:Thomas Urban Lech Wałęsa (1992).jpg|thumb|Thomas Urban (left) interviewing [Lech Wałęsa](/source/Lech_Wa%C5%82%C4%99sa) (1992)]]

== Education ==
Urban was born in [Leipzig](/source/Leipzig). His parents were [German expellees](/source/Flight_and_expulsion_of_Germans_(1944%E2%80%931950)) from [Breslau](/source/Breslau), the capital of the [Prussia](/source/Prussia)n province of [Silesia](/source/Silesia), which came [under Polish sovereignty in 1945](/source/Recovered_Territories).<ref>[https://networks.h-net.org/node/35008/reviews/44369/frieberg-urban-der-verlust-die-vertreibung-der-deutschen-und-polen-im Frieberg on Urban, 'Der Verlust: Die Vertreibung der Deutschen und Polen im 20. Jahrhundert'] ''H-German'' (October 2005).</ref> They first settled in the [Soviet occupation zone](/source/Soviet_occupation_zone) from which the [GDR](/source/GDR) emerged. When Urban was 15 months old, the family fled from the [GDR](/source/GDR) to the [Federal Republic of Germany](/source/Federal_Republic_of_Germany).<ref>[http://medientage.org/kategorie-podiumsteilnehmer,328.html Podiumsteilnehmer der 5. Deutsch-Polnischen Medientage] ''Deutsch-polnische Medientage'', 2012.</ref>

Urban spent his school days in the industrial district of [Bergheim](/source/Bergheim%2C_North_Rhine-Westphalia), near [Cologne](/source/Cologne_(Germany)), in the [brown coal](/source/brown_coal) mining area on the left bank of the [Rhine](/source/Rhine). After high school graduation (''[Abitur](/source/Abitur)'') he finished his military service in the [Bundeswehr](/source/Bundeswehr) as an officer of the [military reserve force](/source/military_reserve_force).

He studied [Romance](/source/Romance_Studies) and [Slavic Studies](/source/Slavic_Studies), as well as the history of Eastern Europe at the [University of Cologne](/source/University_of_Cologne). He received scholarships from the [German Academic Exchange Service](/source/German_Academic_Exchange_Service) (DAAD) for semester studies at the [University of Tours](/source/University_of_Tours), the [Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv](/source/Taras_Shevchenko_National_University_of_Kyiv) and the [Pushkin Institute](/source/Pushkin_Institute) in Moscow. His master's degree was devoted to writers of the [Russian emigration](/source/White_%C3%A9migr%C3%A9) in Paris in the 1920s.<ref>''Die gelbe Villa im Weyertal. Sechzig Jahre Slavisches Institut der Universität zu Köln (1953—2013).'' Nümbrecht 2014, p. 415.</ref>

In Cologne he became a collaborator of the dissident [Lev Kopelev](/source/Lev_Kopelev), who had been expatriated from the Soviet Union.<ref>[http://www.kopelew-forum.de/lew-kopelew-forum---veranstaltungsarchiv-2015.aspx Veranstaltungen 2015] ''kopelew-forum.de''</ref> In 1981/82 he received a DAAD scholarship for [postgraduate](/source/Postgraduate_education) studies at [Lomonosov University](/source/Moscow_State_University) in Moscow. As he had transported letters and medicines for [dissident](/source/dissident)s, he was arrested by the [KGB](/source/KGB) and deported.<ref>[https://archive.today/20130927220003/http://www.kiev-dialogue.org/index.php?id=159 ''Thomas Urban''] ''kiev-dialogue.org'', retrieved 30 January 2023.</ref> After returning from Moscow, he worked as a Russian teacher at the language school of the [Bundeswehr](/source/Bundeswehr).<ref>[http://medientage.org/kategorie-podiumsteilnehmer,328.html Podiumsteilnehmer der 5. Deutsch-Polnischen Medientage] ''Deutsch-polnische Medientage'', 2012.</ref>

== Journalism ==
In 1983 Urban left the civil service to attend the School of Journalism in [Hamburg](/source/Hamburg) ([Henri-Nannen-Schule](/source/Henri-Nannen-Schule)), then worked for the news agencies ''[Associated Press](/source/Associated_Press)'' and ''[Deutsche Presse-Agentur](/source/Deutsche_Presse-Agentur)''.<ref>[https://archive.today/20130927220003/http://www.kiev-dialogue.org/index.php?id=159 Thomas Urban] ''kiev-dialogue.org''</ref>

In 1987 he joined the editorial staff of the ''[Süddeutsche Zeitung](/source/S%C3%BCddeutsche_Zeitung)'' in Munich. From 1988 to 2012 he was the [correspondent](/source/correspondent) of this newspaper for Eastern Europe.<ref>[https://www.buchmesse.de/files/media/pdf/FBM_2018_07_Broschuere_Weltempfang_105x210_EN.pdf We need to talk.] ''buchmesse.de''</ref> Until 1992 he reported from [Warsaw](/source/Warsaw), where he followed the fall of the [Polish United Workers' Party](/source/Polish_United_Workers'_Party) and the [transition of the Polish economy](/source/Balcerowicz_Plan). During this time he also worked for the American radio station [RIAS](/source/Rundfunk_im_amerikanischen_Sektor), which broadcast a programme in German from West Berlin.

From 1992 to 1997, he was head of the Moscow office; he analysed the major changes under [Boris Yeltsin](/source/Boris_Yeltsin) and also wrote reports on the theatres of war in [Abkhazia](/source/War_in_Abkhazia_(1992%E2%80%931993)) and [Chechnya](/source/First_Chechen_War).<ref>"Nochmals: Militärische Aspekte des Tschetschenien-Kriegs."  ''Osteuropa'', 12/1995, p. 1064-1065.</ref> From 1997 to 2012 he reported from Kiev, where he witnessed the [Orange Revolution](/source/Orange_Revolution), and again from Warsaw, where he accompanied the rise of the [Kaczyński twins](/source/Jaros%C5%82aw_Kaczy%C5%84ski).<ref>[https://archive.today/20130927220003/http://www.kiev-dialogue.org/index.php?id=159 Thomas Urban] ''kiev-dialogue.org''</ref>

From 2012 to 2020 Urban was the correspondent of the ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' in [Madrid](/source/Madrid).<ref>[http://www.esferalibros.com/autor/thomas-urban/ Thomas Urban] ''esferalibros.com''</ref> He also reported on new opera productions of the [Teatro Real](/source/Teatro_Real)  for the German magazine ''Opernwelt''.<ref>''Opernwelt'', 3.2013, 4.2014, 9.2016, 6.2018, 7.2019.</ref>

Since 2022 he is analyzing developments in the former [Eastern Bloc](/source/Eastern_Bloc) for ''[Cicero](/source/Cicero_(magazine))''  magazine.<ref>[https://www.cicero.de/taxonomy/term/9335 ''Cicero. Magazin für politische Kultur''] ''cicero.de'', retrieved 4 December 2023.</ref>

== Books and essays ==
Urban is the author of popular scientific works and academic essays on the history of Eastern Europe. He paid special attention to German-Polish relations. He wrote a book on the German minority in [Upper Silesia](/source/Upper_Silesia)<ref>[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nationalities-papers/article/politics-and-society-in-upper-silesia-today-the-german-minority-since-1945/8DAC5D1BB51E67DDD170BF08F518919B "Politics and Society in Upper Silesia Today: The German Minority Since 1945"] ''Cambridge Core – Nationalities Papers'', vol. 24/2, June 1996.</ref> and another on mutual forced expulsions for which he won the [Georg Dehio Book Prize](/source/Georg_Dehio_Book_Prize).<ref>[https://networks.h-net.org/node/35008/reviews/44369/frieberg-urban-der-verlust-die-vertreibung-der-deutschen-und-polen-im "Frieberg on Urban, 'Der Verlust: Die Vertreibung der Deutschen und Polen im 20. Jahrhundert'"] ''H-German'' (October 2005).</ref> In a book series edited by former [chancellor](/source/Chancellor_of_Germany) [Helmut Schmidt](/source/Helmut_Schmidt) and former president [Richard von Weizsäcker](/source/Richard_von_Weizs%C3%A4cker) on the relations of the Germans with their neighbours, he took over the volume on Poland.

His book on the murder of thousands of Polish officers by Stalin's secret police [NKVD](/source/NKVD) in the forest of [Katyn](/source/Katyn_(rural_locality)) was translated into English in an extended version.<ref>''The Katyn Massacre 1940. History of a Crime.'' Barnsley 2020.</ref> Another book on the great powers' propaganda war following the discovery of the [mass graves in Katyn](/source/Katyn_Massacre) was published only in Polish.<ref>''Katyń. Zbrodnia i walka propagandowa wielkich mocarstw.'' Warsaw 2019.</ref> He is co-author of a biography of the Polish Pope [John Paul II](/source/John_Paul_II).<ref>[https://www.chbeck.de/media/3638/fr2020_1.pdf Foreign Right News Spring 2020] ''chbeck.de''</ref>

His second topic was [Russian emigration](/source/White_%C3%A9migr%C3%A9). He dedicated a book to the Berlin years of the Russian-American writer [Vladimir Nabokov](/source/Vladimir_Nabokov)<ref>''Vladimir Nabokov — Blaue Abende in Berlin''. Berlin 1999.</ref> and another to Russian writers who had emigrated to Berlin in the 1920s.<ref>[https://russkiymir.ru/en/publications/152635/ Russian Berlin. The 1920s.] ''Russki Mir'', 2 October 2014.</ref> He published essays on [Boris Pasternak](/source/Boris_Pasternak),<ref>"Boris Pasternak in Berlin. Der russische Schriftsteller zwischen Emigration und Sowjetmacht", in ''Berlin in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Jahrbuch des Landesarchivs.'' Berlin 2010, pp. 181—198.</ref> [Ilya Ehrenburg](/source/Ilya_Ehrenburg),<ref>"Ilja Ehrenburg als Kriegspropagandist", in ''Tauwetter, Eiszeit und gelenkte Dialoge. Russen und Deutsche nach 1945.'' Ed. K. Eimermacher, A. Volpert. Munich 2006, pp. 455–488.</ref> [Gaito Gazdanov](/source/Gaito_Gazdanov)<ref>"Gajto Gasdanow – ein Schriftsteller des Russkij Montparnasse / Гайто Газданов – писатель русского Монпарнаса", in ''Das russische München/Русский Мюнхен.'' Ed. T. Lukina. Munich 2010, pp. 184–193.</ref> and [M. Ageyev](/source/M._Ageyev).<ref>"VN, Agheyev and the ''Novel with Cocaine''", in ''The Nabokovian'', 38(1997), pp. 52–54.</ref>

His special interest was the political history of football in Eastern Europe. He published a book on the instrumentalisation of football players of the [German](/source/Germany_national_football_team) and [Polish national teams](/source/Poland_national_football_team) by their governments' propaganda.<ref>''Schwarze Adler, Weiße Adler. Deutsche und polnische Fußballer im Räderwerk der Politik''. Göttingen, 2011.</ref> His analysis of the football ban in occupied Poland during World War II was also translated into English.<ref>[https://www.peterlang.com/view/9781788744768/chapter-016.xhtml  "Football 'Only for Germans', in the Underground and in Auschwitz: Championships in Occupied Poland"], in ''European Football During the Second World War''. Ed. M. Herzog, F. Brändle. Oxford 2018, pp. 367–376.</ref> During the [Euro 2012](/source/Euro_2012) a trilingual exhibition (Polish, English, German) co-designed by Urban on the basis of the book was shown in the open air in the centre of Warsaw.<ref>[http://archiwum.estrada.com.pl/1397_2012?lang=en White eagles, black eagles] ''Stoleczna estrada'', archive 2012.</ref> In a video documentary he commented on the life of the German-Polish goal scorer [Ernest Wilimowski](/source/Ernest_Wilimowski).<ref>[http://willimowski.football "Willimowski – Fußballer für Deutschland und Polen"] ''willimowski.football'' (category: Spieler)</ref>

On the occasion of Euro 2012, whose final was held in Kiev, he analysed Russian and Ukrainian publications on the alleged [Death Match](/source/The_Death_Match) of 1942. He concluded that the previously propagated version (execution of Soviet footballers who had won against a Wehrmacht team in occupied Kiev) was a legend of Soviet propaganda.<ref>"Der Mythos vom Kiewer Todesspiel", in ''Vom Konflikt zur Konkurrenz. Deutsch-polnisch-ukrainische Fußballgeschichte.'' Ed. D. Blecking, L. Pfeiffer, R. Traba. Göttingen 2014, p. 205–221.</ref> He also published texts on the fate of the famous football brothers [Starostin](/source/Nikolai_Starostin) in the Soviet Union in the Stalin era.<ref>"Die Fußballbrüder Starostin – Berias Opfer im GULAG", in ''Sportler im „Jahrhundert der Lager".'' Ed. D. Blecking, L. Pfeiffer. Göttingen 2012, p. 280–285.</ref><ref>"Nikolai Starostin. Aufstieg, Fall und Wiederaufstieg einer Spielerlegende", in ''Russkij Futbol. Ein Lesebuch.'' Ed. S. Feisberg, T. Köhler, M. Brand. Göttingen 2018, p. 64–75.</ref>

He is the author of a historical essay on the [Russo-Ukrainian war](/source/Russo-Ukrainian_war).<ref>''Die Irrtümer des Kremls. Warum wir den Krieg im Osten Europas stoppen müssen''. Munich 2015.</ref> In a book published in 2022, he criticised Germany's [Ostpolitik](/source/Ostpolitik), which had made the politicians of the Federal Republic "blind to the black sides" of first the Soviet Union, then [Vladimir Putin](/source/Vladimir_Putin)'s Russia. In this way, Germany had made itself dependent on Russian energy sources.<ref>[Patrick Wintour](/source/Patrick_Wintour), [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/02/germany-dependence-russian-energy-gas-oil-nord-stream '''We were all wrong': how Germany got hooked on Russian energy''] ''theguardian.com'', 2 June 2022, retrieved on 2 September 2022.</ref>

== Bibliography ==
* ''Deutsche in Polen. Geschichte und Gegenwart einer Minderheit''. Мunich 1993  {{ISBN|3-406-37402-6}}
* ''Polen''. Мunich 1998 {{ISBN|3-406-39875-8}}
* ''Vladimir Nabokov — Blaue Abende in Berlin''. Berlin 1999 {{ISBN|3-549-05777-6}} 
* ''Von Krakau bis Danzig. Eine Reise durch die deutsch-polnische Geschichte''. Munich 2000 {{ISBN|3-406-46766-0}}
* ''Russische Schriftsteller im Berlin der zwanziger Jahre''. Berlin 2003 {{ISBN|3-89479-097-0}} 
* ''Der Verlust. Die Vertreibung der Deutschen und der Polen im 20. Jahrhundert''.  Мunich 2004 {{ISBN|3-406-52172-X}}
* ''Polen''. Ed.: [Helmut Schmidt](/source/Helmut_Schmidt) and [Richard von Weizsäcker](/source/Richard_von_Weizs%C3%A4cker). Munich 2008  {{ISBN|978-3-406-57852-6}}
* ''Schwarze Adler, Weiße Adler. Deutsche und polnische Fußballer im Räderwerk der Politik''. Göttingen 2011 {{ISBN|978-3-89533-775-8}}
* ''Katyn 1940. Geschichte eines Verbrechens''. Munich 2015 {{ISBN|978-3-406-67366-5}} (extended English edition: ''The Katyn Massacre 1940. History of a Crime.'' Barnsley 2020 {{ISBN|978-1-52677-535-1}})
* ''Die Irrtümer des Kremls. Warum wir den Krieg im Osten Europas stoppen müssen''.  Munich 2015 {{ISBN|978-3-86497-300-0}}
* ''Katyń. Zbrodnia i walka propagandowa wielkich mocarstw.'' Warsaw 2019 {{ISBN|978-83-11-15361-5}}
* with Matthias Drobinski: ''Johannes Paul II. Der Papst, der aus dem Osten kam.'' Munich 2020 {{ISBN|978-3-406-74936-0}}
* ''Verstellter Blick. Die deutsche Ostpolitik''. Berlin 2022 {{ISBN|978-3-949262-16-6}}
* ''Lexikon für Putin-Versteher. Legenden Lügen LGBT''. Berlin 2023 {{ISBN|978-3-949262-34-0}}

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Urban, Thomas}}
Category:Living people
Category:1954 births
Category:University of Cologne alumni
Category:German reporters and correspondents
Category:20th-century German journalists
Category:German newspaper journalists
Category:Süddeutsche Zeitung people
Category:University of Tours alumni
Category:21st-century German journalists
Category:German male non-fiction writers
Category:20th-century German male journalists
Category:21st-century German male journalists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Thomas Urban](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Urban) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Urban?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.