{"title":"Liberation, Resettlement, and Looting in Postwar Memoirs from Poland","authors":"Jakub Isański","doi":"10.30965/18763308-51010003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/18763308-51010003","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The postwar months and years in Central and Eastern Europe were marked by mass migrations caused by border changes, the return of many refugees and former prisoners to their homes, and many peoples’ search for new places to settle down in the wake of war. Population movements were often marked by a kind of social vacuum that was frequently characterized by lawlessness, plunder, and violence to which civilians were exposed. This article explores the historical and social processes at play in one case of postwar resettlement through an analysis of over one thousand memoirs written during the first three postwar decades in Poland. The memoirs were collected as part of three competitions held between 1956 and 1970. The analysis focuses on the experiences of migrants settling in western Poland in order to examine the phenomenon of mass robbery in its various forms. From both from an individual and institutional perspective, an exploration of the dynamics of looting reveals the complexity of settlement against the chaotic backdrop of the postwar period. As such, this analysis contributes to the postwar history of Poland and the scholarship on looting that accompanies armed conflicts.</p>","PeriodicalId":40651,"journal":{"name":"East Central Europe","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140322955","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":"The Postsocialist Contemporary: The Institutionalization of Artistic Practice in Eastern Europe after 1989, written by Octavian, Esanu","authors":"Kristóf Nagy","doi":"10.30965/18763308-50020011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/18763308-50020011","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40651,"journal":{"name":"East Central Europe","volume":"59 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136253976","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":"Unmaking Détente: Yugoslavia, the United States, and the Global Cold War, 1968–1980, written by Lazic, Milorad","authors":"Helena Stolnik Trenkić","doi":"10.30965/18763308-50020012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/18763308-50020012","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40651,"journal":{"name":"East Central Europe","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136253975","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":"Empty Signs, Historical Imaginaries: The Entangled Nationalization of Names and Naming in a Late Habsburg Borderland, written by Ágoston, Berecz","authors":"Gábor Egry","doi":"10.30965/18763308-50020013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/18763308-50020013","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40651,"journal":{"name":"East Central Europe","volume":"115 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136253977","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":"The Fiume Crisis: Life in the Wake of the Habsburg Empire, written by Dominique Kirchner, Reill","authors":"Máté Rigó","doi":"10.30965/18763308-50020010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/18763308-50020010","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40651,"journal":{"name":"East Central Europe","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136253979","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":"List of Peer-Reviewers of Volume 47 (2020)","authors":"","doi":"10.30965/18763308-50020015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/18763308-50020015","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40651,"journal":{"name":"East Central Europe","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136253978","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":"Introduction: The Sokol Movement between State and Society in Interwar East Central and Southeastern Europe","authors":"Lucija Balikić, John Paul Newman, Vojtěch Pojar","doi":"10.30965/18763308-50020001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/18763308-50020001","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This special issue is the result of the three year-long collaboration between the contributors and a larger group of scholars on the topic of Sokol and analogous organizations and phenomena mainly in East Central Europe in the modern era. Our goal was to examine such organizations from multiple perspectives, including the history of political thought, the history of knowledge production, military history, art history, youth history, urban history, the history of religion, history of sports, as well as the history of medicine and eugenics. To that end, we organized three events whereby we identified key themes and workshopped the contributions to the prospective special issue, as well as situated our findings within broader disciplinary and theoretical frameworks.","PeriodicalId":40651,"journal":{"name":"East Central Europe","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135148717","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":"Making Gymnastics Catholic: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of the Croatian Orao in Interwar Yugoslavia","authors":"Fabio Giomi","doi":"10.30965/18763308-50020014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/18763308-50020014","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article focuses on the Croatian Orao, a gymnastic organization that became hegemonic among the Croatian Catholic population of interwar Yugoslavia. The first section examines the genesis of the Croatian Orao within the changing Catholic landscape of Croatia, Yugoslavia, and Europe more broadly, with particular emphasis on Orao’s relationships with Orel – a gymnastic movement very similar to Orao that was popular among Slovenes – and the Holy See, as well as Orao’s role in conflicts in the Croatian Catholic sphere. Part 2 will situate the Croatian Orao in the complex ecosystem of youth and gymnastic organizations present in the first Yugoslav state, especially with respect to the different Sokol organizations. Focusing on the actual sport activities practiced in Orao, the aim is to tackle the specific place of gymnastics in the associational culture of the Croatian Orao. The third and final part will explore the dismantling of Orao’s associational network by the state in 1929, and the association’s reorganization in other, more radical guises in 1930.","PeriodicalId":40651,"journal":{"name":"East Central Europe","volume":"24 2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135148715","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 “The Power of the Powerless”: the Political Thought and Polemics of the Czechoslovak Opposition, 1977–1980","authors":"Milan Hanyš","doi":"10.30965/18763308-50020006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/18763308-50020006","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The article focuses on the political thought of the Czechoslovak opposition during the brief period from the creation of Charter 77 to 1980. It analyzes the themes of Václav Havel’s essay “The Power of the Powerless” within the context of the political thought of Czechoslovak dissidents. In doing so, it reveals various positions that were highly critical of Havel’s formulation of dissent. It is argued that the intellectual discourse of the opposition can be structured according to contentious themes such as the relationship to the impersonal institutions of modern society, the nature of politics and party politics in particular, the meaning and importance of “living in truth,” the interpretation of “small-scale work,” and the nature of responsibility (moral versus political). This article reveals mutually incompatible intellectual positions which, although unrealized in practice, are not intellectually inferior to canonical texts like Havel’s.","PeriodicalId":40651,"journal":{"name":"East Central Europe","volume":"54 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135149084","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":"Yunak Gymnastic Societies in Interwar Bulgaria","authors":"Ivaylo Nachev","doi":"10.30965/18763308-50020003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30965/18763308-50020003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article explores the history of the Yunak Union’s gymnastic societies in Bulgaria during the turbulent interwar period. It discusses the evolution of one the largest civil society organizations in the country, shedding light on this heretofore understudied topic. It examines Yunak societies as a complex and distinct social phenomenon that combined physical training with moral education and the patriotic mobilization of the youth, though it also teases out comparisons between Yunak societies and similar gymnastic organizations in Central and Southeastern Europe. The article also analyzes the changing relations between the interwar Bulgarian state and Yunak societies, emphasizing their ties to schools and the increasingly more authoritarian governments that ruled in Bulgaria starting in the late 1930s.","PeriodicalId":40651,"journal":{"name":"East Central Europe","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135148718","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}