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.
Series Arbeitsberichte ("Work Reports") Summaries and descriptions of individual holdings of the Martin Opitz Library are published in the Arbeitsberichte ("Work reports") series.
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.
Publication project | Conference project Bekenntnis und Diaspora (“Creed and diaspora”) The international workshop held in 2018 and the resulting anthology deal with the history of the German-speaking Reformation and with German-speaking Protestantism in the countries of Central and Southeast Europe.
Library holdings | Archive Collections and holdings of the Institute for German Culture and History in Southeastern Europe (IKGS)
Cultural office Cultural Office for Russian Germans Who are the Russian Germans? What were their experiences in the Soviet Union? How has their integration in Germany taken shape in the past and how is it continuing to evolve today? Russian-German repatriates are one of the largest migrant groups in Germany. Nevertheless, the majority of the...
Museum Danube Swabian Museum Migration has always been an important part of European history and continues to be an issue of great significance today. The Danube Swabians are a German minority in Eastern Europe, whose ancestors emigrated to Hungary in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Danube Swabian Museum in Ulm is not only...
Digitalization project | Research project Deutsche und polnische Akteure der Neuen Ökonomischen Politik (NĖP) ("German and Polish Actors of the New Economic Policy [NĖP]") The Martin Opitz Library and the Viadrina University are currently cooperating in a project on document digitization, which is to be supplemented by an electronic thematic module on nationality policy and territorialization processes in Soviet Ukraine. Both are topics that, since the Crimean Crisis...
Documentation center Documentation Center for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation The Documentation Center offers exhibitions, a library and a testimony archive, tours, workshops and events. The Center provides information about the causes, dimensions and consequences of displacement, expulsion and forced migration in the past and present. Particular focus is on the displacement...
Oral history project | Film project Donauschwäbische Zeitzeugen erzählen ("Danube Swabian eyewitnesses tell their stories") Multiethnic coexistence, war and loss are formative experiences that affect a whole generation of people and can have a lasting impact on their children and grandchildren. The four-part film series "Donauschwäbische Zeitzeugen erzählen" ("Danube Swabian eyewitnesses tell their stories") gives...
Preservation Project Gelesen, geliebt, gesichert (“Read, Loved, Protected”) Preserving books for posterity takes time, expertise and financial resources. To this end, the third-party funded project “Gelesen, geliebt, gesichert” (“Read, Loved, Protected”) was launched at the Institute for German Culture and History in South-East Europe (IKGS): It ensures the...
Journal Halbjahresschrift für Geschichte und Zeitgeschehen in Zentral- und Südosteuropa (“Biannual Journal for History and Culture in Central and South East Europe”) Now with a new publisher, the "Halbjahresschrift" (“Biannual Journal for History and Culture in Central and South East Europe”, HJS) is back! But its purpose remains the same: The systematic and academic examination of authoritarian regimes in Central and South East Europe and their...
Holding Holdings and collections of the Danube Swabian Museum From a refugee’s suitcase to a popcorn maker, from the jacket of a forced laborer to a perennial Christmas tree: the holdings of the Danube Swabian Museum convey Danube-Swabian culture and history in a multifarious and eclectic way. An unexpected and special feature of the collection is that many...
Holding Holdings and collections of the Documentation Center for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation The scientific library of the Documentation Center for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation includes German and foreign language books, newspapers and magazines as well as digital media on the topic of forced migrations in the 20th and 21st centuries in Europe. In addition to a contemporary...
Biographical Portrait Hungarian – Communist – Jew? This article sheds light on some facets of the life of the philosopher Ernő Gáll, who as a Jew, a communist and a Hungarian was both politically persecuted and a perpetrator. A committed intellectual, he acted as a mediator between different political factions and hostile ethnic groups throughout his life. In doing so, he developed an ethic of dignity and responsibility and coined the phrase "the dignity of individual character," which also has relevance for today's debates around the issue of identity.
Series IKGS-Buchreihe (“IKGS book series”) Anyone with a deep interest in the Danube-Carpathian region and all its aspects should consider taking a look at the book series of the IKGS. Its monographies and anthologies set the stage for an international dialog about German culture and history, art, and literature in, from, and about East,...
Research institute | Archive | Library Institute for German Culture and History in South-Eastern Europe Europe – a region that is more than the sum of its parts. Migration and the constant exchange between its inhabitants have been and still are of utmost importance to the creation of a European relationship history. The Institute for German Culture and History in South-Eastern Europe (IKGS) is...
Kunst - Mensch - System ("Art - man - system") Adaptation or resistance: these were the two poles between which many artists in the Soviet Union moved. The exhibition "Kunst - Mensch - System" ("Art - man - system") uses the example of the sculptor Jakob Wedel to show the influence the totalitarian regime had on an artist's work and everyday...
Authors Reading Language spaces In these regularly held readings, the Cultural Advisor for Russian-Germans delves into the cultural heritage of the Russian-Germans in contemporary literature and their literary heritage in contemporary culture. The focus is on works by authors who deal with unique motifs from the experiential...
