Author: Peter Maass

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. In 1983, after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, I went to Brussels as a copy editor for The Wall Street Journal/Europe. I left the Journal in 1985 to write for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, covering NATO and the European Union. In 1987 I moved to Seoul, South Korea, where I wrote primarily for The Washington Post. After three years in Asia I moved to Budapest to cover Eastern Europe and the Balkans. I spent most of 1992 and 1993 covering the war in Bosnia for the Post.

Righteous Wrath

The New York Times
July 14, 1997
The last time I saw Simo Drljaca, he gave me a friendly pat on the back as I said goodbye. We had spent the better part of a day together, ending it with a beer and a toast to peace. Mr. Drljaca was a warlord in Prijedor, and he gave me a tour of his prison ... (Read more)

Know Maass

Slate
July 10, 1997
When I first moved to Manhattan, a neighbor approached me in the corridor of my apartment building.

“Are you Peter Maass, the writer?”

Though I have heard this many times over the years, I still don’t know the correct response. Yes, I am; no, I am not. Both are accurate. ... (Read more)

Rwanda, the Sorrow and the Pity

The Washington Post
Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journey. By Fergal Keane
August 25, 1996
By Fergal Keane
Viking. 198 pp. $21.95

Reviewed by Peter Maass

HOW DO you explain what war is like? How do you explain the mad violence of drunken soldiers or the spiritual ruins that survivors have been turned into? ... (Read more)

Suddenly They Are Killers

The Washington Post
May 12, 1996
His name was Ibrahim. I was interviewing him at a refugee center in Croatia, in a cold room that smelled of stale cigarettes. It was late 1992. Ibrahim had just been released from Omarska, a Serb prison camp where he witnessed the worst of atrocities, ... (Read more)

Bosnia’s Ground Zero

Vanity Fair
In Bosnia, soldiers keep an uneasy peace. In the Hague, an international war-crimes tribunal convenes. But neither courts nor armies can lay to rest the nightmare of the Bosnian Serb death camps. In an excerpt from his new book, Peter Maass finds that mass torture, rape, and murder ... (Read more)

Will Killers Go Free? War Criminals Shouldn’t Walk

The Washington Post
February 25, 1996
At the start of the interview, my host politely offered me a Dutch cigarillo before lighting one for himself. While a waiter served orange juice and coffee, he made small talk about Los Angeles, my hometown. And when I decided to raise the issue of ... (Read more)

Lesson for a Younger Generation

The Washington Post
April 20, 1994
BUDAPEST–When politicians and generals discuss Bosnia, they often have Vietnam on their minds. Their warnings about quagmires, mission creep and the shortcomings of air strikes relate to Vietnam and the lessons that we should have learned from ... (Read more)

The Olympic Spirit Takes a Backseat to Politics

Sports Illustrated
South Korea Moves On
June 26, 1989
Aside from the sports stadiums squatting along the Han River, there are few traces in Seoul of the 1988 Summer Olympics. The Games, which catapulted South Korea into global prominence nine months ago at a cost to its citizens of $3.1 billion, ... (Read more)