Publications

En: History of Mutual Interactions

The publication, previously known only in German, was published in the Polish language as Historie wzajemnych oddziaływań [Historie der Beziehungsgeschichte]. The collection of texts edited by Professor Robert Traba was written by Polish and German historians, cultural theorists and writers. The texts deal with one of the most important problems of modern historical studies: the interaction phenomena occurring in regions that differ in terms of identity and culture. It is an attempt to analyse how the same historical events, which play a different role in various nations, have often simultaneously affected the history of those nations.

Published in 2015 by ENRS in cooperation with the Centre for Historical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin.

The publication describes the Freedom Express campaign which was the ENRS's major project of 2014, oganised in order to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism in Europe. It started with 20 young Europeans going on a study trip. The aim of the study trip was to make young people aware of the reality of the life behind the Iron Curtain. Time was spent in meetings and workshops, discussing and exchanging opinions, where they had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet the witnesses of history and to experience the atmosphere of late 1980s. The publication also describes the open-air exhibition Roads to 1989. East-Central Europe 1939-1989, which documents the complicated process through which our part of Europe regained its freedom from communist dictatorship.

The 4th issue – entitled “The memory of economic crisis” – focuses on depressions, recessions, shortages, and hyperinflation. These topics are not often a subject of memory studies, however memories of war and revolution often center on the economic experience of these events. Therefore, scholars look among others into Living in Warsaw under Hyperinflation in 1923 (by Izabela Mrzygłód), Parallels of Economic Business Cycles in Slovakia (by Ľudovít Hallon), Public Transportation in Budapest in 1945-46 (by Zsuzsa Frisnyák) and discuss The Possibility of Remembering Economic Crisis (by Łukasz Mańczyk).

Published by Znak and the ENRS.

The Polish translation of the book was published in 2015 in cooperation with Znak, a publishing house. With Dance Shoes in Siberian Snows, written by Sandra Kalniete, a Latvian politician and diplomat, is a memoir of the author’s family banishment from Latvia to Siberia. It tells the story of Latvia’s 20th-century history determined by a nation’s struggles with the twin plagues infecting Central and Eastern Europe: communism and Nazism. The book was a best-seller in Latvia and has been translated into several languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Arabic.

The book describes the Soviet bloc’s struggle against Radio Free Europe (RFE). It is the first book in English to use the unique documents of communist foreign intelligence operations and propaganda materials, interviews with RFE staff and collaborators as well as with Polish Communist Party and security functionaries. The English translation reflects further discoveries of documentation since the original publication in Polish in 2007. On 2 February 2015 the book was officially presented by the author and the representatives of the ENRS in the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC.

Published in 2014 by Woodrow Wilson Center Press with Stanford University Press, with ERNS as a partner.

Antology of texts on memory and memory studies.

Published in 2014 by Narodowe Centrum Kultury, in cooperation with ENRS, Zentrum fur Historische Forschung Berlin der Polnischen Akademie der Wissenchaftern.

This issue of Remembrance and Solidarity Studies is entirely dedicated to the European memory of the First World War. The authors, among others Andrzej Chwalba, Christian Wevelsiep, Jenny Wustenberg, and Mark W. Clark, take on new questions concerning the significance and long-term impact of one of the greatest conflicts in 20th-century Europe.

This third issue is devoted to the “second” anniversary being celebrated in this “extraordinary year” of European remembrance, which is the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe. The careful observer can see that the anniversary referred to above, at least in Western Europe, has been pushed into the background by the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. However, the year of 1989, while symbolizing events less dramatic, bloody and harrowing as those of 1914, would seem to be of similar significance in terms of periodization of European history. In fact, a number of historians subscribe to the belief articulated by Eric Hobsbawm that 1914 marked the beginning of “the short 20th century”, which symbolically ended in 1989. In light of recent events in the eastern part of Europe, I would like to express my wish that Hobsbawm be proven correct in his belief that “the age of extremes” has come to a close.

Issue 3(183)/2013 of Polish Sociological Review is composed of the articles presented during the first edition of the ‘Genealogies of Memory’ conference organised by the ENRS. Starting from the growing interest in social memory in Central and Eastern Europe, the authors aim at discussing possible theoretical approaches to social remembrance. The texts also pose questions of a possible use of the ‘region’ as a theoretical framework for inquiries about the divergent ways of forgetting and remembering in Central and Eastern European societies.

Published by Polskie Towarzystwo Socjologiczne [Polish Sociological Association]

The book describes phenomenon of illegal trade in PRL occurring many areas of everyday life. The researcher shows how black market activity has become common proceder in post-war social reality.

Year of publication: 2013 (for the German edition).
Publisher: Walstein Verlag.
Financed by: ENRS, Deutches Historisches Institut Warschau and Geisteswissenschaftliches Zentrum Geschichte und Kultur eV Ostmitteleuropas the University of Leipzig (GWZO).

On 14 October 2013, the University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik held an official premiere of the guide. It is an outcome of work of historians from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary who decided to create a book that would promote the rich past of the city of Košice and enhance the dialogue between new generations of historians from these countries. They decided that their work should go beyond the traditional national narratives and demonstrate that it is possible to work on a joint project and approach the topic of shared histories from different points of view. The guidebook contains many stories about Košice, but concentrates on people, not the places.

Joint publication of ENRS, Terra Recognita Foundation, Univerzita Pavla Jozefa Šafárika. Year: 2013.

The book contains the papers and lectures delivered at the International Tischner Congress “Good and Truth" in Kraków in 2011. The authors include Prof. Chantal Delsol, Prof. Nikolaus Lobkowicz, Prof. Aleksander Bobko, Prof. Tadeusz Gadacz and Prof. Zbigniew Stawrowski.

Published in 2013 by Instytut Myśli Józefa Tischnera, with ENRS as a partner.

En: Magazines of European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, Volume 7. Region, State, Europe – Regional Identities Under Dictatorship and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe.

During the 20th century borders were shifted and redrawn with far-reaching consequences for the population. This volume examines how such boundaries had impact on short and long-term memory cultures and mentalities on both sides of the newly formed borders.

Published in 2013 by European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, De Gruyter Oldenbourg.
Edited by Dr Burkhard Olschowsky.

Magazines of European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, Volume 6. Geteilte Regionen - geteilte Geschichtskulturen? Muster der Identitätsbildung im europäischen Vergleich

During the 20th century borders were shifted and redrawn with far-reaching consequences for the population. This volume examines how such boundaries had impact on short and long-term memory cultures and mentalities on both sides of the newly formed borders. From the Conference held 2-5 March 2011, Cieszyn (Poland). Political decisions made during the 20th century divided many so far consistent historical regions of Europe, which had been developing integrally for many centuries. The conference took place from 2 to 5 March in the Książnica Cieszyńska in Cieszyn. One of the subjects analysed was the short- and long-term influence of the newly defined borders on historical memory on either sides of the new borders. A post-conference volume "Geteile Regionen - geteilte Geschichtskulturen" was published in 2013 (in German).

Published in 2013 by European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, De Gruyter Oldenbourg.
Edited by Dr Burkhard Olschowsky.

The book „Lest We Forget. Memory of totalitarian regimes in Europe” is an international publication in three languages (English, German and French) dedicated to the youth. Publication consists of 30 stories from 16 countries, each of them dedicated to one man whos life was changed by totalitarianism. The goal of the book is to show to the younger generation, that the totalitarian regimes in Europe were tragic events that affected in many different ways most of the European population of their times in a way that irreversibly changed their lives, lives of their relatives and children, way that changed the face of Europe. The reader must confront himself with his notions about these times and with a question: what does the totalitarian regimes mean for him. The publication is a result of collaboration of 26 institutions from throughout Europe initialized by the Platform of European Memory and Conscience and the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes in Prague. European Network Remembrance and Solidarity has joined the project in spring 2013 and is responsible for the final production of the German and French version of the book. Project has been awarded a support from both Visegrad Fund and European Comission. Platform of European Memory and Conscience together with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung published the Czech language version of “Lest We Forget. Memory of Totalitarianism in Europe” in September 2013.

Publisher: Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag. Co-Financed by the ENRS and the Commission of the Federal Government for Culture and the Media

The monthly magazine focuses on analysis of politics, culture, economics and society in Eastern Europe as part of a globalised world. It is published in cooperation with osteuropa małyGermany’s Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien) and the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity. The publication, with an introduction by Prof. Jan Rydel and Dr Burkhard Olschowski, ties in with the theme of ‘What was Communism?’, a conference held on 30-31 May in Berlin.

The volume includes a variety of sources and recognize different aspects of the issue. The basic relationship: entity – community, entity – nation, entity – homeland, is examined from the very foundation, from its ontologicalanthropological basics and biological-sociological roots.

Published in 2012 by Instytut Myśli Józefa Tischnera, with ENRS as a partner.
Edited by Maria Karolczak.

Polish-English edition. The war, the ghetto and the extermination constitute the darkest and most tragic chapter in the history of Otwock, Poland, and its inhabitants. This publication attempts to show the reality of those days as seen through the eyes of witnesses.

Published by Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Otwacka, with ENRS as a partner.