Skip to main content
History and
Cultural Heritage
in Eastern Europe
Hauptnavigation
About us
Team
Authors
Editorial Board
Translators
Network
Contribute
Contact
Topics
Migration (hi)stories
Music cultures
Culinaria
Kopernikus#550
Ukraine
Spaces
Jewish life
Blog
Search
de
en
Research in the portal
Enter search term
search
News from the Copernico portal
Our newsletter keeps you informed about new content in the portal and the news from the Copernico editorial team.
Subscribe to the newsletter now
No, thanks
Organizations
(14)
Projects
(18)
Online resources
(17)
Collections and holdings
(10)
Journals and series
(13)
Funding programs
(9)
Exhibitions
(25)
Event series
(17)
Articles
(19)
Blog post
(1)
19 Results
Sort by
Relevance
Title
Chronologically
Filter results
Selected filters:
Categories
remove filter Node type:
Articles
remove filter Geographical context:
Silesia
remove filter Geographical context:
Baltics
remove filter Geographical context:
Munich
remove filter Geographical context:
Austria
External Image
Thementexttyp
Object story
"What you can carry on your own"
On November 18, 1944, nine-year-old Elsa Beck flees the Hungarian village of Máriakéménd with her mother and sister. Elsa's mother allows her to take with her what she can carry herself. Elsa decides to take her school suitcase. Today, this is held in the Danube Swabian Central Museum in Ulm.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Object story
A Steinway for Eugen d'Albert?
In the “Eichendorff Hall” of Haus Schlesien in Königswinter there is a Steinway grand piano made of lemon wood. It is a noteworthy museum object not only because the famous Steinway & Sons lettering is emblazoned on it, but also, and above all, because it was owned by Gerhart Hauptmann, the 1912 Nobel Prize winner for literature.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Object story
A Transylvanian church fur from South Africa
Among the numerous pieces of traditional costume at the Transylvanian Museum in Gundelsheim is one whose change of ownership and the resulting journey render it a fitting symbol of the collective fate of entire families, indeed entire Saxon village communities from northern Transylvania in the 20th century.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Biography
A celebrated conductor from Liegnitz
He is considered the ancestor of the Berlin Philharmonic: Benjamin Bilse, born in Liegnitz, Silesia, was one of the most famous conductors of the 2nd half of the 19th century.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Map and text
Commemorating Copernicus
Since the 19th century, numerous Copernicus monuments have been built around the world. Even today, new sites of remembrance honoring the astronomer emerge, especially in Poland. Each site has a unique agenda, narrative, and background.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Picture gallery
Emil Orlik
Emil Orlik (1870–1932) was one of the most famous and versatile Czech artists of the turn of the century. He was known primarily as a graphic artist and draftsman whose artistic work ranged between realism and art nouveau. His extensive oeuvre includes drawings of famous contemporary musicians and composers – whom Orlik also liked to show practicing their art.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Biography
Expulsion from Wünschelburg in Silesia to Bredelar in Sauerland
A diary transcript documents the stations on the journey of Eva S.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Biography
Fritz Lamm: A diary as a companion during his escape in 1936
Fritz Lamm describes his escape from the Nazi persecution of Jews from Stettin via Switzerland and Austria to Prague in his previously unpublished diary.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Object story
From Sample Case to Museum Piece
Over 100 years, and it's still on the move – despite its rather plain appearance, this old brown case has had a rather impressive "career". It was once a sample case for woolen fabrics, a trusted companion on vacation trips, a means of transportion on the run and a piece of furniture in the bare dreariness of a home for refugees. Today, on loan from HAUS SCHLESIEN, it is an exhibit in the Museum of the Lubuskie Region in Grünberg (Muzeum Ziemi Lubuskiej w Zielonej Górze), and a silent witness to a hundred years of history.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Object story
Home in a trunk of clothes - the Garlik family's traditional costume suitcase
This suitcase has traveled far – not, as one might expect, after the Second World War, but rather in the decades after the flight of the Nessner family. It was used to transport the traditional costumes of a Danube Swabian dance troupe from Baden-Württemberg as they toured to enclaves of Danube Swabians scattered around the world.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Background article
How did a German Emigrant find his Way in Eastern Europe at the Beginning of the 19th Century?
How someone finds their way in a foreign country can be explored in different ways. In the case of Franz Xaver Bronner's travels from Switzerland to Kazan in 1810, and his return in 1817, a geographical approach is used to provide a fact-based foundation.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Biography
Liberation from forced labor and the search for a new home
21-year-old Janina Jagodzińska describes the arduous beginning of 1945 in Poland's new western territories.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Object story
Moving Piety
The family crib was so important to his father that he took it with him when he emigrated to the USA. The report of a donor reveals what happened between its production in Waldenburg and the return to Europe, which made its donation to Haus Schlesien in Königswinter possible.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Object story
Not a Moment to Lose
In 1944, the entire German-speaking population of the village of Novo Selo in Yugoslavia flee for their their lives as the Red Army approaches. Among them is the Neuburger family, who travel by horse-drawn wagon via Hungary to Austria.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Biography
On foot and by train from Silesia to West Germany
In a report, 24-year-old Hilda J.-S. describes her resettlement from Rohnstock (Silesia) to Rosellen on the Lower Rhine area in the summer of 1946.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Background article
Summer 1941: Jews from the Baltic States flee for their lives
The long shadow of the past. Only a few Jews from Lithuania and Latvia managed to escape the Holocaust in the Baltics. Here are some of their accounts and the reasons for their difficult escape.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Biography
The longed for destination is America
Latvian Pēteris Plostiņš kept a detailed diary about the relief situation in the displaced persons camp in Kleinklötz (Bavaria) as well as about preparations for emigration to America.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Biography
Two German-Baltic noblemen and a Polish coachman fleeing from Wartheland to Hesse, early 1945
A typewritten report from the refugee journey, several letters and a general map give an insight into how the noblewomen Irmela von Manteuffel, Adline von Campenhausen and their coachman Johann Borowczyk fled westward from the Soviet Army in early 1945.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Object story
With Grandma's Laundry Basket, Running for our Lives
A nondescript woven wicker basket stands in the storeroom of the Martin Opitz Library in Herne. The handles on either side indicate that it might once have served as a laundry basket. With its four rather makeshift wheels, however, the basket tells more than just a family story; it also tells of local history and a story of escape.