{"title":"The Power of Song: Nonviolent National Culture in the Baltic Singing Revolution by Guntis Šmidchens (review)","authors":"L. Kürti","doi":"10.1353/REG.2017.0019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/REG.2017.0019","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":307724,"journal":{"name":"Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121329654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire by Agnia Grigas (review)","authors":"K. Hevey","doi":"10.1353/reg.2017.0021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/reg.2017.0021","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":307724,"journal":{"name":"Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129774281","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract: This article examines Russia’s involvement in the Kosovo question. It shows that the Russian leadership has generally favored the Serbian authorities, but more importantly for its own influence, that it felt the urge to oppose the 1999 NATO intervention and the post-interventionist Western rhetoric. The argument that Russia has been primarily concerned with strengthening its own position and that involvement in the Kosovo question was expected to serve such an ambition can also be better understood by looking at some recent discrepancies. Namely, the fact that Russia has strongly insisted on the principle of territorial integrity in the case of Serbia but then completely ignored it in the case of Ukraine shows that its loud advocacy of Serbian territorial integrity was merely a strategic instrument to be deployed in European official debates, especially when the post-1999 discussions about Kosovo’s final status took place.
{"title":"Russia’s Involvement in the Kosovo Case: Defending Serbian Interests or Securing Its Own Influence in Europe?","authors":"B. Radeljić","doi":"10.1353/REG.2017.0017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/REG.2017.0017","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: This article examines Russia’s involvement in the Kosovo question. It shows that the Russian leadership has generally favored the Serbian authorities, but more importantly for its own influence, that it felt the urge to oppose the 1999 NATO intervention and the post-interventionist Western rhetoric. The argument that Russia has been primarily concerned with strengthening its own position and that involvement in the Kosovo question was expected to serve such an ambition can also be better understood by looking at some recent discrepancies. Namely, the fact that Russia has strongly insisted on the principle of territorial integrity in the case of Serbia but then completely ignored it in the case of Ukraine shows that its loud advocacy of Serbian territorial integrity was merely a strategic instrument to be deployed in European official debates, especially when the post-1999 discussions about Kosovo’s final status took place.","PeriodicalId":307724,"journal":{"name":"Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122636597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract: In 1946, the Polish authorities settled about 28,000 Polish-Jewish repatriates from the Soviet Union in Szczecin (Stettin). Situated on the Baltic Sea northeast of Berlin, Szczecin had been a German city until the end of the Second World War and then became Polish in July 1945 as a result of the Potsdam Agreement. The Polish government settled Jews in the “regained territories” for a range of opportunistic reasons. In the summer of 1946, Jewish life started to flourish in the city and a wide range of Jewish political and social organizations were established. However, the attempt to keep Jews in Szczecin failed. Anti-Semitism and harsh living conditions encouraged many Szczecin Jews to emigrate. The city became a hot spot of Jewish postwar emigration from Poland. The remaining Jews went through a process of “red assimilation” during the Stalinization of Poland. Most of them left the country later on, due to anti-Semitic government campaigns in 1956–57 and 1968–69.
{"title":"Jews in Szczecin, 1945–50: At the Crossroad between Emigration and Assimilation","authors":"A. Wörn","doi":"10.1353/REG.2017.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/REG.2017.0003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: In 1946, the Polish authorities settled about 28,000 Polish-Jewish repatriates from the Soviet Union in Szczecin (Stettin). Situated on the Baltic Sea northeast of Berlin, Szczecin had been a German city until the end of the Second World War and then became Polish in July 1945 as a result of the Potsdam Agreement. The Polish government settled Jews in the “regained territories” for a range of opportunistic reasons. In the summer of 1946, Jewish life started to flourish in the city and a wide range of Jewish political and social organizations were established. However, the attempt to keep Jews in Szczecin failed. Anti-Semitism and harsh living conditions encouraged many Szczecin Jews to emigrate. The city became a hot spot of Jewish postwar emigration from Poland. The remaining Jews went through a process of “red assimilation” during the Stalinization of Poland. Most of them left the country later on, due to anti-Semitic government campaigns in 1956–57 and 1968–69.","PeriodicalId":307724,"journal":{"name":"Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia","volume":"90 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126661606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract: After the end of the war, the overall impression of large-scale destruction in Poland led many people to believe that much of the economy had to be rebuilt from scratch, even though economic growth was relatively high. This growth was not uniform across the country, though: Poland consisted of two economically different regions, one of which was former German territory which experienced very slow economic growth and from which 95 percent of the native inhabitants—ethnic Germans—had been forcibly removed. This paper argues that the massive border changes and the expulsion of the Germans from this region negatively affected productivity, contributed to the region’s slow economic growth, and exacerbated Poland’s economic problems. Only after the expulsion of the Germans from this territory was it realized that their knowledge, skills, and experience were key factors in economic reconstruction, and that rebuilding the economy “from scratch” was not necessary. Ultimately, this realization had a profound impact on Poland’s policy towards the German minority.
{"title":"The German Minority in Poland between 1945 and 1960: A Key Element of Poland’s Postwar Economy","authors":"Yaman Kouli","doi":"10.1353/REG.2017.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/REG.2017.0002","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: After the end of the war, the overall impression of large-scale destruction in Poland led many people to believe that much of the economy had to be rebuilt from scratch, even though economic growth was relatively high. This growth was not uniform across the country, though: Poland consisted of two economically different regions, one of which was former German territory which experienced very slow economic growth and from which 95 percent of the native inhabitants—ethnic Germans—had been forcibly removed. This paper argues that the massive border changes and the expulsion of the Germans from this region negatively affected productivity, contributed to the region’s slow economic growth, and exacerbated Poland’s economic problems. Only after the expulsion of the Germans from this territory was it realized that their knowledge, skills, and experience were key factors in economic reconstruction, and that rebuilding the economy “from scratch” was not necessary. Ultimately, this realization had a profound impact on Poland’s policy towards the German minority.","PeriodicalId":307724,"journal":{"name":"Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127599259","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The development of ethnicity and nationality as key concepts of local identities in East-Central Europe has been thoroughly explored in regional studies. Yet, these studies have largely focused on the 19th and early 20th century. This focus can easily create the impression that the region’s ethnic groups and nationalities had developed into stable and well-established entities by the time of the Second World War. It is only in recent research that the formation of ethnic and national groups is understood as an ongoing process which continued even during the Second World War and into the postwar Eastern bloc. The circumstances were considerably different from those of the prewar years. Soviet annexations of territory in eastern Poland, the Baltic states, and Romania as well as Poland’s “westward shift” had created new border regions. Meanwhile, the war and the horrors of the German occupation had led to a radicalization of nationality policy. Forced population exchanges and the displacement of ethnic and religious groups, especially during the 1930s and 1940s, were not only a feature of Soviet nationality policy but were also accepted by the West as a means of shaping the postwar order in East-Central Europe.1 However, policy
{"title":"National Minorities in the Soviet Bloc after 1945: New Historical Research in Micro- and Regional Studies","authors":"David Feest, Heidi Hein-Kircher","doi":"10.1353/REG.2017.0000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/REG.2017.0000","url":null,"abstract":"The development of ethnicity and nationality as key concepts of local identities in East-Central Europe has been thoroughly explored in regional studies. Yet, these studies have largely focused on the 19th and early 20th century. This focus can easily create the impression that the region’s ethnic groups and nationalities had developed into stable and well-established entities by the time of the Second World War. It is only in recent research that the formation of ethnic and national groups is understood as an ongoing process which continued even during the Second World War and into the postwar Eastern bloc. The circumstances were considerably different from those of the prewar years. Soviet annexations of territory in eastern Poland, the Baltic states, and Romania as well as Poland’s “westward shift” had created new border regions. Meanwhile, the war and the horrors of the German occupation had led to a radicalization of nationality policy. Forced population exchanges and the displacement of ethnic and religious groups, especially during the 1930s and 1940s, were not only a feature of Soviet nationality policy but were also accepted by the West as a means of shaping the postwar order in East-Central Europe.1 However, policy","PeriodicalId":307724,"journal":{"name":"Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115183893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Nowa Huta: Generations of Change in a Model Socialist Town by Kinga Pozniak (review)","authors":"Natalie Misteravich-Carroll","doi":"10.1353/reg.2017.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/reg.2017.0010","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":307724,"journal":{"name":"Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115103948","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract: In the 1960s, Soviet Lithuania witnessed the rise of an intensified interest in paganism. Aiming to diminish the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, the Communist Party promoted Lithuanian pre-Christian customs and rituals that, in turn, not only became a successful instrument against Catholicism but also an effective stimulus of nationalism. Arising within the framework of academic touristic clubs, this interest turned into a deep study of the proto-Balts, their mythology, and their way of life, soon becoming the basis for an entire system of values based upon the superiority of Lithuanian ancestors. The biography and works of Vilhelmas Storostas (German: Wilhelm Storost), a.k.a. Vydūnas, a writer, theosophist, and nationalistic activist in the late 19th and early 20th century in Eastern Prussia, played a central role in the development of their world views. The newfound popularity of Vydūnas’s thinking as well as the influential writings on the proto-Balts and their Indo-European links by the American scholar Marija Gimbutas (Lithuanian: Gimbutienė) were essential in the creation of a new, primordialist concept of Lithuanianhood. The influence of their work was felt not only in the self-reflection of the movement but also in the construction of their religious neo-pagan practices.
{"title":"The Cult of the Balts: Mythological Impulses and Neo-Pagan Practices in the Touristic Clubs of the Lithuanian SSR of the 1960s and 1970s","authors":"Odeta Rudling","doi":"10.1353/REG.2017.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/REG.2017.0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: In the 1960s, Soviet Lithuania witnessed the rise of an intensified interest in paganism. Aiming to diminish the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, the Communist Party promoted Lithuanian pre-Christian customs and rituals that, in turn, not only became a successful instrument against Catholicism but also an effective stimulus of nationalism. Arising within the framework of academic touristic clubs, this interest turned into a deep study of the proto-Balts, their mythology, and their way of life, soon becoming the basis for an entire system of values based upon the superiority of Lithuanian ancestors. The biography and works of Vilhelmas Storostas (German: Wilhelm Storost), a.k.a. Vydūnas, a writer, theosophist, and nationalistic activist in the late 19th and early 20th century in Eastern Prussia, played a central role in the development of their world views. The newfound popularity of Vydūnas’s thinking as well as the influential writings on the proto-Balts and their Indo-European links by the American scholar Marija Gimbutas (Lithuanian: Gimbutienė) were essential in the creation of a new, primordialist concept of Lithuanianhood. The influence of their work was felt not only in the self-reflection of the movement but also in the construction of their religious neo-pagan practices.","PeriodicalId":307724,"journal":{"name":"Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117330464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
With the introduction of new definitions of religion and religious actors, defining the relationship of Islam to national identity has been essential for the post-Soviet Central Asian states. This work, based on qualitative field research, examines how two particular groups of public figures, the Muslim authorities and the intelligentsia, attempt to define how religion should relate to the ethnic identity of the Kyrgyz in Kyrgyzstan. By analyzing the identity-building process as it plays out in a public debate over funeral practices between Muslim authorities and the intelligentsia, this article illuminates the context in which the idea of ethnicity is enacted and reproduced in definitions of post-Soviet identities in Kyrgyzstan. It argues that both the Muslim authorities and the intelligentsia are still informed by Soviet ideas on ethnicity and religion, but they enlarge the definition of Kyrgyz Muslimness in an authentic way without Soviet constraints, enriched with post-Soviet concerns, opportunities, and constraints.
{"title":"Religion and the Construction of Ethnic Identity in Kyrgyzstan","authors":"Baris Isci Pembeci","doi":"10.1353/REG.2017.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/REG.2017.0006","url":null,"abstract":"With the introduction of new definitions of religion and religious actors, defining the relationship of Islam to national identity has been essential for the post-Soviet Central Asian states. This work, based on qualitative field research, examines how two particular groups of public figures, the Muslim authorities and the intelligentsia, attempt to define how religion should relate to the ethnic identity of the Kyrgyz in Kyrgyzstan. By analyzing the identity-building process as it plays out in a public debate over funeral practices between Muslim authorities and the intelligentsia, this article illuminates the context in which the idea of ethnicity is enacted and reproduced in definitions of post-Soviet identities in Kyrgyzstan. It argues that both the Muslim authorities and the intelligentsia are still informed by Soviet ideas on ethnicity and religion, but they enlarge the definition of Kyrgyz Muslimness in an authentic way without Soviet constraints, enriched with post-Soviet concerns, opportunities, and constraints.","PeriodicalId":307724,"journal":{"name":"Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia","volume":"125 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122726559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Stalinist City Planning: Professionals, Performance, and Power by Heather DeHaan (review)","authors":"N. Levy","doi":"10.1353/REG.2017.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/REG.2017.0008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":307724,"journal":{"name":"Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121956611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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