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
Exhibitions
(3)
Event series
(2)
Articles
(20)
20 Results
Sort by
Relevance
Title
Chronologically
Filter results
Selected filters:
Categories
remove filter Node type:
Articles
remove filter People and institutions:
zur Mühlen, Raimund von
remove filter People and institutions:
Rilke, Rainer Maria
remove filter People and institutions:
Conover, Willis
remove filter People and institutions:
Kopernikus, Nikolaus
remove filter People and institutions:
Lehndorff, Vera von
External Image
Thementexttyp
Background article
Antje Vollmer
She is known as a Green Party politician and for her longstanding role as Vice President of the German Bundestag. After retiring in 2005, she became a freelance author. Her first book project “Doppelleben” (Double Life) tells the story of Heinrich von Lehndorff, one of the conspirators of the events of 20 July 1944 , and his wife Gottliebe. It is a moving biography of two young aristocrats that tells of their daring and their love.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Biography
Artist and Art Figure
Monika Hunnius is generally known as a Baltic German author. She, however, saw herself as a musician – and was part of a network of musicians that extended all over Europe, to which Julius Stockhausen, Johannes Brahms, and Clara Schumann belonged as well.
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
Bildergalerie-Seitenelement
Galerieelemente Instruments and methods
External Image
Thementexttyp
Podcast
Hanna Schygulla
The actor Hanna Schygulla was 30 years old when she first met Gottliebe von Lehndorff in 1973. The scene of the encounter: the artists' colony in the old Peterskirchen vicarage, east of Munich. They lived there for thirteen years, their apartments backing onto each other. Despite their age difference, they had many things in common, not least the experience of losing their homeland. In the podcast, the years they shared at Peterskirchen come back to life.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Map and text
Important locations in Copernicus’ life
Nicolaus Copernicus rose to fame due to his interest in the stars. But where did he spend his life on Earth? Most of his sites of activity are found in present-day Poland, and many of them also relate to German history.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Map and text
In Copernicus’ name
These days, there are a whole host of organizations in Poland, Germany, and the USA bearing the name Copernicus. Although they all relate to the same historical person, they have quite different goals.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Picture gallery
Instruments and methods
At the time of Copernicus, how did astronomers work? Despite being relatively simple, the instruments and methods were constantly improving.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Introduction
Introduction
Nicolaus Copernicus was cautious about sharing his conviction that the planets rotate around the Sun, and only did so over the course of several decades. He was reluctant to cause a major turning point or revolution – and, initially, his teachings were not seen in this way either.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Introduction
Jazz in the Eastern Bloc
More than just music: During the Cold War, jazz suddenly found itself between all fronts – at the same time, it served as a propaganda weapon, a symbol of freedom and a musical bridge between East and West.
show video
Thementexttyp
Interview (video)
Nicolaus Copernicus: Astronomical findings and their significance for society
In this interview, Dr. Sibylle Anderl, head of the science department at the “Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung” newspaper, talks about the fascination with Nicolaus Copernicus and about popular images of science. She sees the 2023 Copernicus anniversary year as an opportunity to address the doubts about fundamental scientific findings that have become visible in certain places in recent times.
show video
Thementexttyp
Interview (video)
Nicolaus Copernicus: The Copernican Revolution and today’s “planetary thinking”
Are current terms from sustainability research like “Anthropocene” and “planetary thinking” associated with a new kind of Copernican Revolution? In this interview, Giessen-based geographer Prof. Dr. Lea Schneider considers this complicated yet fascinating question. She also explains the objectives behind the European Union’s Earth Observation Program, which bears the name “Copernicus”.
show video
Thementexttyp
Interview (video)
Nicolaus Copernicus: The relationship between theology and science
Prof. Dr. Matthias Haudel is professor of systematic theology and has specialized in the relationship between theological perspectives and scientific findings, in particular with a comprehensive introductory book published in 2021. In this interview, he clarifies the widespread prejudices about the relationship between the Church and science during Copernicus’ time and continues along this vein to consider the possibilities of a dialogue that could arise today, e.g. between quantum physics and theology.
show video
Thementexttyp
Interview (video)
Nicolaus Copernicus: The state of source material and the history of research
Prof. Dr. Andreas Kühne was the co-editor of the 2019 edition of the Complete Works of Nicolaus Copernicus. In this interview, he describes what we can learn about Copernicus from the available sources and how the figure of Copernicus came to be politicized. He also describes how research into Copernicus could lead to new findings.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Introduction
The Copernican Revolution – a European legacy?
The 550th anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus’ birth invites us to look at the mark that the astronomer left on the world. And it is also an opportunity to look more closely at how Copernicus has been viewed in the past and how these anniversaries have been treated differently in different periods of history.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Map and text
The Copernican network
Despite living in relative isolation, Copernicus maintained a number of significant contacts during his time as a scholar and cleric.
Astronomers from many parts of Europe carried on his work after his death.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Biography
The Four Lehndorff Daughters
"I lost my home," Vera von Lehndorff once said, "but lost childhood is a better description." When her father was executed on September 4, 1944, she was five years old. Her sister Eleonore, "Nona," was six and a half, and Gabriele was two. Catharina was only 19 days old; she was born in the Torgau prison hospital. The Nazis had taken the girls and their mother Gottliebe into custody, a practice known in German as "Sippenhaft” or “kin liability". It was a traumatic time and was by no means over when the war ended in 1945.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Object story
The Odyssey of a Rococo dresser
For more than 150 years, the Rococo dresser stood on the upper floor of the Steinort castle, in the so-called "Simson room". It bears witness to the lifestyle of an East Prussian noble family. Behind it lies an adventurous journey that began after the failed assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944, when Heinrich Graf von Lehndorff, the last lord of the castle, was arrested and executed.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Introduction
The many names of Nicolaus Copernicus
What is the name of the astronomer who introduced the heliocentric worldview? In principle, there can only be one answer to this question. But, when it comes to the actual spelling of the name Copernicus, it varies massively depending on where you look.
External Image
Thementexttyp
Biography
Verus von Plotho
"There was no culture of remembrance in my family," says Verus von Plotho. He grew up in a cosmopolitan world. He was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1969 and grew up in Munich. His mother is Gabriele Freifrau von Plotho, the third daughter of Heinrich and Gottliebe von Lehndorff. There was hardly any talk at home about his grandfather and his resistance to Hitler, nor about his earlier life at Steinort Castle. Grandson Verus grew up – unencumbered – in the shadow of a dramatic past.