25 Results
Special exhibition

"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.
Webdocu

"We, too, are stepping down from our role"

Web documentary about the German Drama Theater in Temirtau and the Germans in the Soviet Union between staying and leaving.
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.
Research network

Ambivalences of Sovietness

The network explores the supposed paradox of the group collective experience of repression and everyday individual Soviet 'normalization' through the example of Russian Germans and Soviet Jews. The focus is particularly on the peripheries of the late Soviet Union. Secondly, the effects of these...
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.
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...
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...
Travelling exhibition

Forgotten civilization

In 2012 Artjom Uffelmann undertook a photographic expedition to the historic settlement area of the Volga Germans. He recorded their architectural legacy on exposed glass plates, which are now on display in an exhibition of the Cultural Office for Russian Germans.
Image database

Image catalogue of the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe – Institute of the Leibniz Association

In the online database of the Image Archive you will find the previously inventoried and digitized image materials from the collections of the Herder Institute as well as additional image sources from joint indexing and digitization projects with cooperation partners. Further analog and digital...
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.
Digitalization project

Jewish German Bukovina 1918+

"Jewish-German Bukovina 1918+" is the latest digitization project of the Digital Forum Central and Eastern Europe and offers free access to historical and contemporary documents from Bukovina or related to Bukovina. The time period ranges from the end of the First World War to the present.
Research project

Karl Stumpp (1896-1982)

Research into the culture and history of the Russian-Germans is highly relevant both from a historical perspective and today. Karl Stumpp still plays a key role in the formation of the Russian-German identity.
Special exhibition

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...
Travelling exhibition

My name is Eugen

"Thirteen young Russian Germans bear the name Eugen. They have never met each other, yet they share a striking experience: they were all formerly called Evgenij. Their stories and experiences are unique. The author Eugen Litwinow travelled with them into the past, sharing long conversations about...
Journal

Nordost-Archiv

The "Nordost-Archiv" is published in the form of annual volumes on selected topics.
Research institute

Nordost-Institut

The research of the Nordost-Institut centers around the history and culture of the countries from Poland to Russia. The focus is on the manifold interconnections of these regions with German history. Therefore, questions of relationship and regional history are pursued as well as aspects of minority...
Background article

Post-War Jewish Migration from the USSR and the refuseniki movement

The post-WW II Jewish migration from the Soviet Union (and also after its dissolution) is one of the largest in modern history. Altogether 2.75 million Soviet Jews left the USSR for Israel, the United States, Germany and elsewhere. The position of the Soviet state with respect to emigration was remarkably ambivalent: in some cases, it was allowed and even encouraged, in others, others; it was controlled and strongly limited. The Jewish emigration movement that arose in the late 1960s and continued throughout the 1970s-1980s became an example of resistance and activism within the authoritarian system, which increasingly alerted international attention. In one way or another, it affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and changed the appearance of many cities and towns within the Soviet Union and outside it.

Recommended Reading: Die heutige Ukraine und ihre sowjetischen Wurzeln (Today's Ukraine and its Soviet Roots)

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Ukraine has been in the focus of world attention. Is now the hour for experts on Ukraine to be recognized and heard? The war has made many people aware of how little they actually know about this country and its history. To fill this knowledge gap or to...
Online exhibition

Russian-Germans

The virtual exhibition "Russian-Germans", which has been created at the Martin Opitz Library, focuses on Russian German literature. By focusing on the literary works of this heterogeneous group, the exhibition doesn't just talk about the Russian-Germans, but gives them a voice and listens carefully.
Research project

Structures, strategies, methods and mechanisms of infiltration and the creation of compliancy towards the Evangelical Church of Augustan Confession in Romania under the communist state (1945-1969)

The circumstances within and around the Evangelical Church A.C. in communist Romania were often ambivalent and full of tension. Under increasing pressure from the regime, the religious community tried to defend itself against state repression and appropriation. A research project at the Institute...
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