Interviews
Lea Gekle: The Great Fear of 2020 by Karl Heinz Roth, in: Endnotes (May 2022; Interview conducted on March 10, 2022).
“Below we publish Lea Gekle’s interview with Roth, in which he presents his analysis of these measures, as well as his criticisms of the Zero Covid platform defended by some on the German left. Today, when the severe lockdown in Shanghai is producing desperate hunger riots, Roth’s book is a timely intervention. We hope, as he suggests, that it can be the beginning of a serious debate on the return of what he and his comrades in the 1970s described as “the crisis state.” In this spirit, we intend to soon publish a longer comment on Roth’s book, as well as a reflection on the psychic dynamics of the “great fear” by Florian Bossert.”
Link to the interview on the Endnotes page
Florian Rötzer: Corona-Pandemie: “Ich sehe keine Anzeichen dafür, dass weltweit Konsequenzen gezogen werden” [Corona pandemic: “I see no signs that consequences will be drawn worldwide”], in: Krass & Konkret (March 22, 2022).
“Physician and medical historian Karl Heinz Roth on the severity of the Corona pandemic, compulsory vaccination, the shortcomings of the health care system, and what consequences should be drawn from the mistakes made in dealing with it.”
Link to the interview on the page of Krass & Konkret
Timo Thalmann: Interview mit Mediziner und Historiker Karl Heinz Roth. “Der Profit muss raus aus der Medizin” [Interview with physician and historian Karl Heinz Roth. “Profit must get out of medicine”], in: Weser Kurier (March 3, 2022).
“In his book “Blinde Passagiere” [“Stowaways”], the historian and physician Karl Heinz Roth has critically analyzed the course of the Corona pandemic. His conclusion: it need not have come to the global epidemic.”
Link to the interview on the page of the Weser Kurier
Simon Poelchau: “Zero Covid war eurozentristisch und extrem staatsfixiert” [“Zero Covid was Eurocentric and extremely state-fixated”], in: nd (neues deutschland) No. 42 (February 19/20, 2022), p. 20.
“Karl Heinz Roth on the disastrous Corona crisis management and the lessons of the pandemic for the left.”
Link to the interview on the page of nd
Jörn Boewe: “Jede Epoche hat ihre eigene Pandemie” [“Every Epoch Has Its Own Pandemic”], in: der Freitag No. 7 (February 17, 2022), pp. 6-7.
“In conversation: Viruses shape society: Historian Karl Heinz Roth analyzes how Corona heralds digital capitalism – and deepens the crisis of the left.”
Link to the interview on the page of der Freitag
Reviews
Michael Backmund: Versagen im Blindflug: „Ein Strategiewechsel ist dringend erforderlich“ [Failure in flying blind: “A change in strategy is urgently needed”], in: weckersblog.de (May 14, 2022), online in: https://www.weckersblog.de/post/versagen-im-blindflug-ein-strategiewechsel-ist-dringend-erforderlich.
The new book by Karl Heinz Roth on the Corona crisis and its consequences – a book recomendation for weckerswelt.
Link to the review on weckersblog.de
Anselm Weidner: Buchkritik: Karl Heinz Roth – Blinde Passagiere. Die Corona-Krise und Ihre Folgen [Book review: Stowaways. The Corona Crisis and its Consequences] , in: SWR 2 (April 26, 2022).
“With ‘Stowaways – The Corona Crisis and its Consequences’, the medical doctor and historian Karl Heinz Roth has written a fundamental work for the critical reappraisal of the pandemic, its prehistory, spread and dynamics as well as the countermeasures, failures and the mental, social, economic and political consequences (review by Anselm Weidner).”
Link to the radio review on SWR 2
Buchmarkt.de: Sachbücher des Monats April 2022 [Non-fiction books of the month April 2022], (March 28, 2022).
The book “Stowaways” on place 3 of the best list of Die Welt / WDR 5 / Neue Zürcher Zeitung / ORF-Radio Österreich 1.
Link to the list on buchmarkt.de
Rudolf Walther: Schlüsselproblem Dunkelziffer [Key problem dark figure], in: taz (March 22, 2022), p. 17.
“Karl Heinz Roth has presented the first overall account of the pandemic and would like to point out deficits in the fight against the pandemic.”
Link to the article on the page of the taz
Thomas Sablowski: Der Fehler als System [The error as a system], in: nd (March 18, 2022).
“Lockdowns were never without alternative: with “Blinde Passagiere” [“Stowaways”] Karl Heinz Roth presents a standard work on the Corona crisis that criticizes the prevailing policy.”
Link to the article on the page of the newspaper nd
Hans Durrer: Karl Heinz Roth: Blinde Passagiere [Karl Heinz Roth: Stowaways], in: B & B – Bücher & Bilder (March 5, 2022).
“A tremendous piece of diligence and a compelling foundational work that considers just about everything that needs to be analyzed to respond appropriately to pandemics in the future.”
Link to review on B & B – Bücher & Bilder
Sven Kochale: Buchvorstellung Karl Heinz Roth: “Blinde Passagiere – Die Coronakrise und die Folgen” [Book presentation Karl Heinz Roth: “Stowaways – The Corona Crisis and its Consequences”], in: MDR Kultur (March 1, 2022).
“For two years now, the Corona pandemic has dominated our daily lives. We have learned to keep our contacts to a minimum. We know how a rapid test works. And we have learned about incidence as a new yardstick for political decisions. But the long-term consequences of the pandemic are difficult to assess. A first attempt has now been made by the medical and historical scientist Karl Heinz Roth. In his book “Stowaways
he analyzes the global corona crisis and questions the decision-making processes.”
Links to the radio review and to the transcript of the radio review
Daniel Arnet:Bereiten wir uns auf den nächsten Ausbruch vor! [Let’s prepare for the next outbreak!], in: Blick (March 1, 2022).
“You can only be surprised by what you don’t know. So let’s draw our lessons from two years of Corona, because after the pandemic is before the pandemic.”
Burkhard Müller: Die Menschheit lernt nicht. Sachbücher zur Pandemie [Mankind does not learn. Non-fiction books on the pandemic], in: Süddeutsche Zeitung No. 39 (February 17, 2022), p. 18.
The reviewer discusses several new publications on the pandemic. “The serious heavyweight in this series is by Karl Heinz Roth”.
Link to the review on the Süddeutsche Zeitung page.
Matthias Becker: Keinplandemie [Noplandemic], in: konkret No. 2/2022.
“In Blinde Passagiere (Stowaways), the physician and historian Karl Heinz Roth searches for alternatives to the state’s epidemic-policing approach to the pandemic.”
Gerhard Hanloser: Blinde Passagiere [Stowaways], in: der Freitag Community Blog (January 23, 2022).
“Review: The physician and historian Karl Heinz Roth has presented a fundamental work on the critical reappraisal of the worldwide corona pandemic.”
Link to the review on the blog of the der Freitag Community
Podcasts & Online Events
Medico International Podcast: A conversation with Karl Heinz Roth. Podcast series “Global Trouble”. Episode 3: “Pandemic and Failure” by Katja Maurer and Steen Thorsson (January 31, 2022).
Yesterday lockdown, today mandatory vaccination: the public battle over government corona policies continues – and often bitterly. Here, opposition to vaccination, Corona denial and mask denial; there, advocacy of the measures or even calls for their intensification. Is a democratic health policy still conceivable and possible in this mixed situation? A critical look at fatal shutdowns and the pharmaceutical industry, ZeroCovid and Giorgio Agamben – and a plea for a “third way” in which criticism of authoritarian politics and advocacy for an effective response to the virus are not opposites.
Link to the podcast on the page of medico international
Link to the podcast on Spotify
Link to the podcast on Apple Podcasts
Corona and Global Capitalism: Karl Heinz Roth in conversation on the Corona crisis. A conversation format by Gerhard Hanloser, Peter Nowak and Anne Seeck – Zoom conference from the series “Corona and global capitalism”, held on January 24, 2022.
Link to the recording of the online event published on Youtube