What is a war hotel?

This is the question you might ask and is certainly the question I was pondering when I visited Professor Kenneth Morrison's talk "From Print to Documentary: Making War Hotels" at De Montfort University. 

It was a well attended event in the Clephan Building. The first half of the event comprised a film screening and the second a talk.

The film was a fascinating watch.

A 'War Hotel' is no different from any other hotel around the world that it is near the front line. This is the places where journalists stay when reporting on conflict.

I wouldn't really recommend you going there yourself, just watch the TV documentary War Hotels for a taste of what it is like over there. 

And if you get a chance to hear a talk by Professor Morrison, do go as he's a very engaging speaker with lots of interesting information to share. 

 

Georgia Langley

From ignorance to inspiration

Who wants to go and listen to someone talk about an obscure Bosnian hotel for an hour? 

 

Lots of people, apparently, since the room for the talk on an obscure Bosnian hotel was packed. And for good reason, since the talk was incredibly interesting.

 

It was a treat to hear Dr. Kenneth Morrison telli anecdotes about several hotels during war/conflict before talking about the Holiday Inn in Sarajevo during the Bosnian war. For the audience it was fascinating, and for creative writers like myself, the talk was a source of inspiration. The way Dr. Morrison told stories of members of the press in a hotel during these conflicts made it sound almost like a intense movie. 

 

And if my praise still hasn't convinced you, and you're still asking the opening question, then I ask you this: why are you still reading who a blog post about  someone listening to someone else talk about an obscure Bosnian hotel for an hour?

Adil L

Hotels in Hell

The History of the War Hotel was certainly an interesting lecture. Kenneth Morrison talked about the uses of war hotels in times of conflict, and the impact they had on people. A hotel could be a place for strategic/military assets, a place where the press/media could set up base, and a sanctuary for people in general.

It was particularly shocking to find out that the Hotel Europa in Belfast, had the misfortune of being bombed 33 times during 1971-1993. However, this almost caused the place to become a symbol of survival, and the hotel itself employed both Catholics and Protestants.

Grand Hotel, Brighton, was also targeted on one occasion, when Margaret Thatcher was among the guests, in attempt to cripple the government. Five people were killed and thirty-one injured but Mrs Thatcher escaped unhurt.

The Holiday Inn, Sarajevo, known for being painted yellow, was said to have been built on land deemed as “cursed”. It too had its fair share of hell.

Dominique Slatter

An impossible objective

Although I knew little about the subject, I found myself enthralled by Professor Richard Evans' talk on Germany losing the Second World War.

Over the hour, Professor Evans detailed Hitler's plans for the world, including the transformation of Berlin into the "World Capital", and the complete domination of Europe and the East. He explained that it was all too evident that Germany's aims were overreaching; the very fact that its plans were limitless ensured that they would never be fulfilled. At the same time this one country was facing insurmountable odds from the combined forces of the British Empire, America and Russia. This led to a fascinating dissection of how it was near impossible for the Germans to have won.

The talk was intelligent, concise and - speaking as someone who doesn'tt know a great deal about the details of this particular aspect of the War- utterly absorbing.


Edward Spence

Why Germany lost

Richard Evans, author of the Third Reich trilogy, begins his talk on World War II in front of a completely packed-out lecture hall. Right from the off, the room is silent with everyone entirely attentive, laughing at every joke and paying attention to every word. We look too, as the lecture accompanied by pictures from the period.

Evans splits the loss into different reasons including the economy. Germany found it impossible to keep up with the production of the British Empire, the USSR and the USA.

As well as this, Evans claims that the aims of Germany were so large they could never be achieved. Hitler was said never to be rational and this came across throughout the talk. As Richard finished there was a large round of applause from the interested crowd.

I'd been looking forward to Richard Evans' talk and I appreciated his raconteur style. It reminded me why I loved history back in my A-Level days.

Grant Cole