337 Results

"Skoro damoi!" Hope and despair

Starting in January 1945, large numbers of Transylvanian Saxons were deported to the Soviet Union to do forced labor. The exhibition showcases personal objects, photographs and documents that shed light on this central chapter of the recent history of Transylvanian Saxons.
Background article

"Wait till the Scots come!"

This old Prussian proverb exhorts us to be patient and wait for the right opportunity. But what does this have to do with the far north of Great Britain? The answer leads us to Gdansk. In the early modern era, the port city attracted numerous merchant ships from the Baltic region and beyond. Some even came from as far away as Scotland to seek their fortune there.
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.
Research project

"Whoever is not for us is against us": The New Order and the Russian-German Youth in the Soviet Union (1917–1941)

What role did the Communist Youth League play in the politicization of German youth? What methods were used to influence the young people?
Research project

(Self)-Images of a Habsburg Periphery in High Modernity

What roles did picture postcards play in the nationality struggle of the late 19th century? How were the different ethnic groups portrayed? What did the (self)-images of the crown land, which together with Galicia was considered the poorhouse of Cisleithania, look like? These and other questions...

1920 - A province disappears

The First World War was an important caesura in the history of the province of West Prussia. The cornerstones negotiated in the Treaty of Versailles ended the integration of West Prussia into Prussian territory and incorporated the region into the newly founded Polish Second Republic. This led to...

A Breath of Valkyrie on the Baltic Sea. Nationalism and Romanticism in the Literature of East Prussia

What do a knight of the Teutonic Order, the Song of the Nibelungs and Hermann the Cheruscan have in common? They were all intended to legitimize the founding of the German Empire in 1871, which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. This was a "unification from above" for which Prussia waged...
Object story

A Doctor and his Military Case

In March 2015, a military case from the First World War was donated to the Transylvanian Museum. It accompanied Dr. Wilhelm Hager during World War I to the southern front – to Bosnia and the Isonzo, and then to the eastern front, to Galicia, Bukovina, Bessarabia and, finally, in 1918 to South Tyrol. Also as a Romanian citizen after 1918, Dr. Hager once again had to fight, this time on the side of the Romanian army. In 1919-1920 he took part in the campaign on the Tisza River as a medical officer of the reserve (medic cǎpitan).
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.
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.
Background article

A divided city?

Around 1900, the city of Posen (now Poznań) was divided into a German Posen and a Polish Poznań. This is at least the impression given by the sources on population and spatial politics in the city. A look at everyday life and especially urban entertainment culture, however, gives us a more differentiated perspective.
series of seminars

Academia Silesia

German, Polish, Silesian, European? Identity and memory are complex, constantly changing and not always easy to put into words. So it’s just as well that they become the focus of attention for one week as part of "Academia Silesia" at the HAUS SCHLESIEN!
Cultural institute | Research institute

Adalbert Stifter Verein e.V. (Adalbert Stifter Association)

The Adalbert Stifter Association cultivates and promotes German-Czech dialogue. It keeps the German-Bohemian cultural heritage alive and contributes to a better knowledge of the common culture and its European contexts.
Series

Arbeitsberichte ("Work Reports")

Summaries and descriptions of individual holdings of the Martin Opitz Library are published in the Arbeitsberichte ("Work reports") series.
Online publication

Archive Treasure of the Month

Between 2007 and 2018, the Document Collection of the Marburg Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe (DSHI) presented each month a particularly attractive or interesting archival document of general historical or political significance, as well as personal documents or...
Archive | Collection | Museum

Art Forum East German Gallery ("Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie")

The Art Forum East German Gallery (KOG) is an art museum with an outstanding collection ranging from Romanticism to Modernism and a unique focus on art creation in Eastern Europe. Here you can discover paintings, sculptures and graphic art by German artists who lived and worked in the region...
Journal

BLICKWECHSEL

This richly illustrated magazine shows the many facets of German culture and history in Eastern Europe through essayistic and literary texts, photo spreads and popular science essays.
Publication project

Baltic Enlightenment

The project focuses on the ambivalences and asymmetries of the Enlightenment using the example of the historical Baltic States (Estonia, Livonia, Courland). In cooperation with the University of Tartu and other partners from the Baltic States and Germany, three volumes are being prepared, with the...
Research project

Bank House Georg Scheel & Co.

Do national issues and ethnicity play a role in finance, or does the financial world operate transnationally? This research project examines this question on the basis of the bank Georg Scheel & Co.
Series

Beiträge zur Geschichte der Deutschen in Polen und der deutsch-polnischen Beziehungen ("Contributions on the history of Germans in Poland and German-Polish relations")

In the "Beiträge" (contributions), the Martin Opitz Library publishes various works dealing with the history of Germans in Poland and German-Polish relations.
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