Von Chruschtschow bis Putin: Russlands Wissenschaftler und Wissenschaftlerinnen zwischen gesellschaftlichem Engagement und staatlicher Verfolgung

Die Kinderstube der Nation. Deutsch-polnische Spielräume im Kaiserreich (1871-1914)

Gewalt, Geschlecht, Gewehr - Das Zarenreich 1904 bis 1918

rezeda.lyykorpi@uni-greifswald.de

A Place with a Powerful Past: Representations of Königsberg’s Memory in Kaliningrad 

My PhD project is focused on the memory of German Königsberg in today’s Kaliningrad – Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea. The main aim of this research is to explore how memory of Königsberg is represented and interpreted by Kaliningraders, who are mostly ethnic Russians. After the end of World War II, the territory of Königsberg and the adjacent areas were transferred to the Soviet Union. This was followed by the expulsion of the German population, which was replaced by settlers from the different parts of the Soviet Union. The Soviet administration tried to control the interest in remains of German culture and pre-war history of the region among Soviet settlers of Kaliningrad Oblast. With rare exceptions, open expression of interest in memory of Königsberg and East Prussia became possible only after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Today, interest in Königsberg’s memory is visible among the local residents of Kaliningrad. I am going to approach Kaliningraders’ interest and attitude towards pre-war memory of the region through examination of representations of German culture in urban space and museum exhibitions. Also, I am going to collect and analyze oral stories about material objects related to Königsberg. In the latest conceptualization of this research, memory of Königsberg is characterized as cultural memory. Thus, memory of Königsberg is transmitted to Kaliningraders predominantly through such media as texts and images, instead of communications with the residents of Königsberg.

thomas.rettig@uni-greifswald.de

Die Russische Freiwillige Westarmee. Eine Geschichte imperialer Verflechtung in Europa nach dem Zerfall der Imperien (1917–1923)

Am 8. Oktober 1919 eröffnete die Russische Freiwillige Westarmee unter ihrem Oberbefehlshaber Pavel Bermondt-Avalov einen Angriff auf Riga, die Hauptstadt der jungen Republik Lettland, und sorgte mit diesem Vorgehen für einen europaweiten Aufschrei in der demokratisch orientierten Presse. Die Armee selbst mutete schon Zeitgenossen sonderbar an – schließlich war sie erst mit dem Übertritt deutscher Freikorps unter russischen Oberbefehl zustande gekommen. Doch hatten sich die vormaligen Kriegsgegner nicht nur in militärischer Hinsicht zu einer vermeintlichen Einheit verbunden. Auch auf politischer Ebene hatten hier alte und neue Eliten aus Politik, Militär und Wirtschaft zusammengefunden. Konsens dieser recht bunten Zweckgemeinschaft bestand in der ablehnenden Haltung zur Neuordnung Europas nach nationalstaatlichen Prinzipien.

Das Dissertationsvorhaben ordnet dieses Geschehen in den Kontext imperialer Zerfallsprozesse ein und sieht es exemplarisch für einen letzten Rettungsversuch imperialer Herrschaft. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit gilt den Lebenswegen und Weltwahrnehmungen der Akteure nach den Revolutionen in Russland und Deutschland, dem gescheiterten Versuch, ein alternatives Staatsmodell in Lettland zu etablieren sowie den Nachwirkungen des Konfliktes in den neuen Staatsformen im östlichen Europa und in Deutschland. Die übergeordneten Fragestellungen lauten: Was bedeutet Imperialität ohne die Imperien? Wer agiert auch nach dem Zerfall der Imperien in deren Namen und zu welchem Zweck? Und inwiefern können imperiale Strategien gesellschaftlich mobilisierend wirken in einer Zeit, die heute allgemein mit Nationalisierung und Demokratisierung verbunden wird?

Looking at Peasants: Hybridized Visions of Rural Life in Latvia 1860s-1910s

tatsiana.varabei@uni-greifswald.de

The Baroque Architectural Heritage of the Former Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Persistence, Transformation, and Demolition, 1772–1918

The PhD project explores the fate of Baroque heritage in the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the long 19th century, when these lands were part of the Russian Empire. During this period, the Baroque style fell out of fashion across Europe, displaced by Classicism and subsequent styles, and was considered in bad taste for decades until it was revisited and even experienced some revival in the late 19th century. The rich and diverse Baroque architecture in the present-day Belarus and Lithuania faced even bigger challenges at the time, and the political factor played a principal role here. In the aftermath of the November Uprising of 1830–1831 and January Uprising of 1863–1864 against the Russian rule, the imperial authorities intensified their Russification policies in this region. This included the so-called “church-building reforms”, which involved transforming former Catholic and Greek-Catholic churches into Orthodox ones, mainly in Classicism or pseudo-Byzantine/Russian styles, with a focus on removing or replacing “Latin” elements, often associated with “Polish influence”. As a result, the Baroque monuments, being the most numerous, relatively recent, and extremely “Latin” ones, suffered the most from these policies.

My research aims to explore the peripeties of this heritage in connection with aesthetic changes, colonial policies of the Russian Empire, emerging art history and preservation, and national self-determination in the region. I plan to study how various groups and individuals such as government authorities, art scholars and enthusiasts, private patrons, clergy, and local communities, perceived the Baroque heritage and what role they played in the preservation or destruction of these monuments. Additionally, I intend to consider various social, religious, political, economic, and other factors behind these attitudes and processes, as well as their consequences.