Federal Institute for Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe
| Federal Institute for Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe (BKGE) | |
|---|---|
 Federal Institute for Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe |
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| Category: | Departmental research |
| Consist: | since 1989 |
| Membership: | Working group of departmental research institutions |
| Facility location: | Oldenburg |
| Type of research: | Research and documentation in the service of policy advice |
| Subjects: | Humanities |
| Areas of expertise: | History, cultural studies, linguistics and literary studies (German, Slavonic), art history, European ethnology / folklore |
| Management: | Matthias Weber (Director) |
| Employee: | 17th |
| Homepage: | bkge.de |
The Federal Institute for Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe ( BKGE , until 2000 Federal Institute for East German Culture and History ) is a federal authority subordinate to the Minister of State for Culture . It was founded in 1989 in Oldenburg and has been an affiliate of the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg since 2000 . The historian Matthias Weber has been head of the institute since 2004 . The institute has 17 employees, including ten scientists (as of autumn 2014).
Tasks and work areas
At the interface between science and policy advice, the BKGE supports the federal government in all questions of research, presentation, communication, further development and promotion of German culture and history in Eastern Europe in its interdependence with the culture and history of neighboring ethnic groups. Geographically, this area includes the historical provinces of East Prussia , West Prussia , Pomerania , Silesia and East Brandenburg as well as settlement areas for Germans in the Baltic States , Bohemia , Moravia , Transylvania and Russia . The institute is multidisciplinary. The scholars represent the disciplines of history , literature and linguistics ( German , Slavonic ), art history and European ethnology / folklore . You are involved in academic teaching at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg .
The BKGE is the office of the Immanuel Kant scholarship, which is awarded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM). On behalf of the BKM, the BKGE coordinates the multilateral European network Remembrance and Solidarity on the German side.
history
The institute was founded on January 27, 1989 by the Federal Minister of the Interior. The original name "Federal Institute for East German Culture and History" was changed on January 1, 2001.
- Directors
- Werner Broll (1989–1997)
- Michael Garleff (1997-2004)
- Matthias Weber (since 2004)
Legal basis
Section 96 of the Federal Expellees Act forms the legal basis for the Federal Government's commitment and for the activities of the BKGE . According to this, the federal and state governments have to “preserve the cultural assets of the displaced areas in the awareness of the displaced and refugees, the entire German people and abroad”. Archive, museum and library holdings are to be secured, supplemented and evaluated. The promotion of science and research should contribute to the further development and modernization of the examination of this field of activity. Since 1998, the implementation of this mandate has been the responsibility of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
Since the BVFG was passed in 1953, the interpretation of Section 96 has been adapted several times to the changed political and social framework. The working basis is currently the concept developed in 2000 to research and present German culture and history in Eastern Europe, which takes into account the upheavals in Eastern Central Europe of 1989/90. The central concern is "to expand the network of good neighborly cooperation and to continue on the path of understanding and reconciliation" by strengthening cooperation with scientific institutions and social initiatives, especially in Eastern Europe.
Research and Documentation
The research and documentation projects of the BKGE focus on regional history studies, studies on the culture of memory and remembrance as well as on contemporary historical questions on the subjects of dictatorship experience , (forced) migrations and minority issues .
Publications
The institute publishes two series in de Gruyter Verlag (until 2013: R. Oldenbourg Verlag ), Munich:
- Yearbook of the Federal Institute for Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe (up to Vol. 8/2000: Reports and Research. Yearbook of the Federal Institute for East German Culture and History )
- Writings of the Federal Institute for Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe (until 2000: Writings of the Federal Institute for East German Culture and History )
Furthermore, published in cooperation with the Institute of History of the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Publisher Peter Lang , Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien, series, Frankfurt / M. Eastern Europe - Central Europe. Oldenburg contributions to the culture and history of East Central Europe.
The online lexicon on the culture and history of Germans in Eastern Europe is a cooperation project with the Institute for German Studies at the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg.
Library
The BKGE has a publicly accessible library with around 100,000 media units, which can be researched online via regional (ORBISplus) and supra-regional (Joint Library Association, GBV) library association catalogs.