Background Article A Latvian Valiant In 2018, Juris Bļodnieks donated a 1971 Plymouth Valiant to the Latvians Abroad Museum – it was spray-painted, inoperable and had been parked under a tarpaulin for two decades. The car tells the story of Latvian exile culture in North America, of protest, patriotism and the creative expressiveness of the second generation abroad.
Background Article A Little Mole and So Much More What role did children's media play in Czechoslovakia? To what extent were socialist views of the individual and society, or even political events, reflected in them? A small creature living in the soil can provide information about this.
Background Article A Region Divided into Three In the year the war ended, the division of East Prussia into areas later annexed by the Soviet Union and Poland had, in effect, already taken place. While the developments in the region shared many parallels, they also revealed key differences—differences that would prove to be defining for the decades that followed.
Background Article A Russian Aristocratic Childhood set out in Three Columns A diary discovered in the archives gives a detailed insight into the aristocratic parenting practices of 19th century Russia showing that helicopter parenting is not just a modern phenomenon.
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.
Editorial A Wounded City What was the first day of the war like in Kharkiv? How has the city changed as a result of the devastating attack on Ukraine? How do people experience the war? Kharkiv residents were asked about this in the first months after February 24, 2022.
Biographical Portrait 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.
Biographical Portrait 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.
Biographical Portrait A diary report of deportation and arrival Joanna Konopińska recounts her deportation by the Germans during World War II and her arrival in Wroclaw after the end of the war in 1945 in her moving diary “Tamten wrocławski rok”.
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 pleasure culture, however, gives us a more differentiated perspective.
Background Article A gay 'information office for the Eastern Bloc'? Since the upheavals of 1989-1991, Eastern Europe has been repeatedly stigmatized as 'backward' in relation to the politics and policies around sexuality. Historical sources, however, contradict this view and reveal that homosexual rights activism was alive and well across the Eastern Bloc in the 1980s.
Special exhibition A history of spoons This exhibition, organized by the Cultural Office for West Prussia, Poznan Land and Central Poland, is devoted to a common but very special object: the spoon. The act of sitting and eating together at the same table embodies a sense of peace and belonging. Unique, and yet ubiquitous across all...
Background Article A lost treasure trove of knowledge The Ukrainian Scientific Institute (Ukrainische Wissenschaftliche Institut or UWI) was the central research centre for the Ukrainian émigré community in Germany between 1926 and 1945. At its height, Its library was the largest collection of specialist literature on Ukraine anywhere, but its contents was scattered during the war: in retrospect it serves as an example of how the Nazi regime controlled academic institutions in order to promote its own political interests.
Object Story A toolbox with a secret compartment Many museum objects hold secrets: Not infrequently, their origin and maker, their age, or their various owners are hardly known, if at all. Often, one has to rely on assumptions and guesses. A toolbox from present-day Kazakhstan, however, is a bearer of secrets in more ways than one.
Background Article Abraham Hannibal Abraham Petrovič Hannibal (circa 1696-1781) was a central figure during the early stages of the African Diaspora in Russia. He was one of the first Russian Enlightenment thinkers and the great-grandfather of the most important poet and creator of the modern Russian language, Alexander Pushkin.
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!
Research project Acting or Re-acting. Negotiating Local, National and Transnational Dimensions of Sustainability in Poland since the 1970s The project explores the exchange and tensions between transnational and national debates on sustainability in Poland since the 1970s. The project attempts to analyze how actors from governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) participated in transnational debates on sustainability.
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.
Background Article Adam Mickiewicz Adam Mickiewicz, the Polish romantic, poet, translator and journalist, was a migrant for most of his life. He also travelled to Berlin, Rome, Constantinople and other places for pleasure, scientific purposes and on political missions. These frequent changes of location show a mobile and transnational life story.
