In the organizer's words:

Book launch and discussion
The Failure: An Investigative History of German Russia Policy

Tuesday, December 02, 2025, at 6:00 pm
At the Lew Kopelew Forum - Neumarkt 18 - 50667 Cologne
Presence and online
Admission: solidarity price model from 5,- to 15,- Euro
Please register: https://forms.gle/vE4UDxDuhD8zP8SJA

With: Katja Gloger and Georg Mascolo
Moderation: Thomas Roth

Immediately after publication at number 3 on the Spiegel bestseller list!

When Putin attacks Ukraine in February 2022, the world is in shock. Intelligence services had warned of this war - but the players in the misguided Russia policy remained silent. In a sensational investigation, Katja Gloger and Georg Mascolo reveal how those responsible ignored warnings for decades and suppressed critical voices in German Russia policy.
Using numerous secret documents and conversations with dozens of contemporary witnesses, they tell a breathtaking story: about the previously unknown background to the acclaimed Putin speech in the Bundestag and a back channel into the Kremlin, who was a Stasi spy in a former life. About a secret dossier from the Federal Foreign Office, a variant of which describes an armed conflict over Crimea and eastern Ukraine as early as 2007 - and which ended up in the archive. They reveal the details of an at least planned, inexplicably close military cooperation, which was only called off at the last minute - and why Putin's nuclear threats made a German chancellor travel halfway around the world.

Katja Gloger and Georg Mascolo, in conversation with former ARD Moscow correspondent and Tagesthemen presenter Thomas Roth, present their new book "Das Versagen" (The Failure) at the Lew Kopelew Forum, a brilliant piece of investigative research that takes a critical look at German policy towards Russia in recent decades.
The book entered the bestseller list immediately after its publication and has been the subject of intense debate ever since.

"The most important players of that time are stonewalling, then you have to look in the files. Some truths can be found there. Katja Gloger and Georg Mascolo show this brilliantly in their book. The failure. Their "investigative history of German Russia policy", as the subtitle says, is a masterpiece of journalistic research." (Matthias Nass, 30.10.2025, DIE ZEIT)

"A must-read ... Incredibly precise, grippingly written." - Markus Lanz
"A fantastic book." Carlo Masala

"A book that was long overdue - and reveals so much new information about how colossal the failure of German Russia policy really was. Katja Gloger and Georg Mascolo have spent years researching and reveal in great detail what, from Gerhard Schröder to the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, did not want to be seen, even though there were so many warnings. A captivating work by authors who know their stuff, have exclusive access and have written it down magnificently." Paul Ronzheimer

The book table is organized in cooperation with "Der andere Buchladen". The books can be purchased at the event.

The book was published by Ullstein Verlag on 16.10.2025.
The event will be broadcast on the YouTube channel of the Lew Kopelew Forum.

Price information:

Solidarity pricing model: 5-15 euros