Digital Forum Central and Eastern Europe

Founded in 2008 and based in Munich, the association Digitales Forum Mittel- und Osteuropa e. V. ((Digital Forum Central and Eastern Europe), or DiFMOE, pursues the goal of digitizing historical printed works relating to the multi-ethnic cultural landscapes of Eastern Europe – especially those with (formerly) larger German or German-speaking populations – and making them accessible to scholars and the interested public online. 

DiFMOE does not have any original collections itself, but cooperates with partners in Germany and abroad in the implementation of its projects. To date, a total of about 70 libraries, archives, associations, cultural and scientific institutions, but also private collections in German-speaking countries, Eastern Europe, Israel and North America have cooperated or are cooperating with the Digital Forum as lenders of original holdings for digitization, as exchange partners for material already available in digital form, and/or in public relations work.

While in the first years DiFMOE was completely focused on the digitization of historical German-language periodicals (especially newspapers and magazines) of Eastern Europe, this source-categorical profile has since changed. Now, not only are periodicals included in the forum's activities but it also encompasses books (monographs, serial works, small publications), archival materials and visual material (photographs, postcards, etc.) – and no longer only in German. An important aim is that the sources can convey something about the historical life and worlds of the German-speaking population groups in Eastern Europe and about the relations between them and their respective neighbors.

In addition to the focus on digitizing and putting historical documents online, DiFMOE makes regular contributions at specialist conferences and in digital and analog publications.