Northeast Institute

The Northeast Institute - Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Northeast Europe eV , (abbr .: IKGN ) is an affiliated institute of the University of Hamburg in Lüneburg in the legal form of a registered association .

Profile and history

The Nordost-Institut emerged in 2002 from two institutions that had previously worked independently of one another. The foundation was part of the conception for researching and presenting German culture and history in Eastern Europe , which the federal government had decided in September 2000.

As a research institution, the Nordost-Institut works on the basis of a cooperation agreement (affiliated institute) primarily with the University of Hamburg, but also with other universities.

The institute carries out research projects and conferences, initiates and supervises scientific publications, and publishes the “Northeast Archive. Zeitschrift für Regionalgeschichte ” in self-publishing and its own series of publications “ Publications of the Northeast Institute ” in Harrassowitz Verlag Wiesbaden and runs the“ Northeast Library ”as a special collection of scientific literature on Northeast European history.

The institute is financed by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM). There are also third-party funds for individual projects. The statutes of the IKGN eV form its legal, organizational and content-related basis, which is guaranteed by the work of the committees (board of directors, board of trustees, general assembly).

Research and Teaching

The focus of historical and cultural research is on the history and culture of Northeastern and Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, with the regional focus on Poland , the Baltic States and Russia mentioned in the statutes . The thematic focus is on the diverse interdependencies between these regions and their inhabitants and German history. The eight scientists are guided by five key terms that describe the framework of research and publication activities:

Regional history
Relationship history
Minority history
Cultural history
Historiography history

In the three regional work areas (Poland, Baltic States, Russia) and an interdisciplinary work area (comparative social and mental history), the scientists work together on a larger research project (2011-2016: "Individuals and Society in Eastern and Northeastern Europe" ) and on individual projects as part of their own research focus.

At the same time, the scientists hold teaching positions primarily at the partner university in Hamburg, as well as at other German universities and universities in the Baltic Sea region.

Publications

The institute publishes the magazine “Nordost-Archiv. Journal for Regional History ” as well as the series of publications “ Publications of the Northeast Institute ” .

The thematic volumes of the Nordost-Archiv, which is published once a year . Zeitschrift für Regionalgeschichte has been dealing with the history and cultural history of northeastern Europe since 1992, especially the regions in which Germans and other ethnic groups lived alongside and with one another as a majority or minority. They are based on regional and relational history as well as cultural studies that open up the specifically multi-ethnic area of tension in Northeastern Europe.

The scientific series of publications of the Nordost-Institut has been published by Harrassowitz Verlag Wiesbaden since 2006. The series focuses on monographs on aspects of the history of Northeast Europe. The time frame of the publications of the Nordost-Institut ranges from the late Middle Ages to questions of contemporary history. In terms of content, the topics correspond to the research focus of the institute.

Northeast Library

The Northeast Library is a specialized academic library on the regional history of northern East Central Europe and the history of the Germans from Russia . The total inventory comprises around 160,000 media units. The holdings include the following special collections:

Kaegbein Collection: around 12,000 volumes on the history and culture of the Baltic Germans
Undritz Collection: around 1,400 volumes with materials on Baltic and Russian history and on cultural history and regional studies
Heise Collection: around 12,000 volumes with literature on Poland, the provinces of Posen and West Prussia , the Germans in Poland and German-Polish relations
Postcards and vedutas: around 42,000 postcards and around 3,000 sheets of graphic prints
Maps: around 12,000 sheets. The map collection contains old maps, the digitization of which began in 2008 in cooperation with the Martin Opitz Library in Herne .

The book and magazine holdings can be researched online using the search engines of the Hamburg State and University Library and (up to and including acquisition year 2016) in the Union Catalog Eastern Europe.

Forum

The Northeast Institute makes its research on Northeast Europe available to a wider public and puts it up for discussion. It regularly organizes conferences on special topics as well as lecture series:

2011: Tourism in the Baltic region
2012: Deportations to Stalin's Soviet Union
2013: Change and adaptation in the history of Estonia 16.-20. century