Pruzzenland as a Region of Broken Memories. Reconstruction and Representation of European Historical Space in Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Russia since 1900

Object

East Prussia - Warmia and Mazury - Oblast Kalinigrad - Mazoji Lietuva: The variety of names indicates how peculiar the position of this region in north-eastern Europe is. First, it existed as an exclave over several historical periods, a status which still determines the relationship between the European Union and Russia today. Second, in the aftermath of the Second World War, not only did the borders of nation-states change, for at the same time there occurred an almost complete exchange of population which caused far-reaching breaches in memory. Although initial attempts have been made to overcome distorted images, nationalist interpretations of the region and its history still confront each other. This is clearly evident in textbooks, since researchers ascribe a specific identity-building function to this one-time ‘mass medium’ in all nation-states.

By using textbooks as sources, this project examines how the Pruzzenland, with its extremely varied and fragmented history, has been constructed, perceived and represented via various cultural memory narratives from 1900 onwards.

International comparative textbook analysis is the first step towards breaking down nationalist representations in textbooks, and is therefore designed to explore the different ways in which border crossings and integrative elements are represented. This focus is more effective than attempts to denationalise history lessons and offers access to transnational historical approaches, which are currently being discussed in Europe. A further goal of this project is to set up a multilingual internet platform presenting sources which examine historical aspects of multiculturalism in this area anew, and thereby strive to foster a dialogical approach to European history in the classroom.

Aims

1) Cultural memories are predominantly nationally constructed and have hitherto been analysed in national contexts. By focusing on the region, with its changing relation to the state and its multiethnic, historically dynamic character, and by carrying out an international and symmetrical comparison of the region from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day, this project will explore the way in which cultural memories evolve and are represented in textbooks.

2) Analysis of textbooks in the past and the present relates to the historical and educational contexts of participating countries including Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Russia respectively the former Soviet Union. This analysis should take account of popular perceptions, for whereas scholars in western Europe critically reflect on national master narratives and gradually dissolve them, those in eastern Europe generally still adhere to a national understanding of collective memory.

3) The project should yield three results.The first is a monography containing the comparative analysis of textbooks and new concepts for the teaching of history of a European region beyond the context of nationally determined memories. The second aim of the project is to ensure that its theoretically well-founded, multilingual selection of teaching materials is available on Edumeres, the information and communication platform for international educational media research developed by the Georg Eckert Institute which has been sponsored by the German Research Foundation since 2009. Finally, the results of the project and its implications for historiography and didactics will be discussed at a final international research conference.

Methodology

The project combines qualitative, context-oriented school textbook analysis with the research of memory cultures and memory politics and with the historiographical history of ‘Pruzzenland’. By selecting textbooks as sources and by considering numerous historical and political turning points in the region, textual analysis should follow the lines of structural history and help to define central topoi. Supplemented by an introduction, short comment and relevant sources, these topoi will be also adapted for the Multilingual Open Access Internet Edition.
The study therefore provides an original contribution to the international development of applied research in didactics, responding to an ongoing need for universal learning material designed for this European region.

Project leaders

Simone Lässig, Robert Maier

Duration

September 2010 to August 2012

Cooperation Partner

The Institute of History and International Relations at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn