Essays

Essays are selected scholarly articles published without prior peer-review process.

the Cartographical Transition of the Former Soviet Union

In the Soviet Union, maps of reality as it should be were published, and with no information about sensitive data. The manipulation of maps did not, however, disappear with the fall of Communism.

Essay by Michael Gentile March 24, 2010

Arrow Cross Women and Female Informants

In Hungary, there were several active women fascists. In the People’s Tribunals after World War II, however, few of the women were convicted. There was an unwillingness to think of women as capable of such evil deeds.

Essay by Andrea Petö February 16, 2010

The Communist Past. Party Formation and Elites in the Baltic States

Political development in the three Baltic countries has not been equal. The development of democracy and the degree of corruption depends, among other things – it is argued here – on how the resistance against the Soviet Union was organized.

Essay by Li Bennich-Björkman February 12, 2010

A Process of No Return. Responses within the European Community to the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Prospect of German Reunification

World leaders discussed things behind the scenes. Thatcher but also Mitterrand were against German reunification. An analysis of documents shows how Kohl managed to get the EU’s acceptance.

Essay by Karl Magnus Johansson February 12, 2010

Garrisons Towns. in the Baltic Sea Area

The geopolitical situation shaped life on the islands of Gotland, Rügen, and Saaremaa. They became garrison islands and the presence of the military transformed daily life. After the Cold War, the military left the islands.

Essay by Beate Feldmann February 12, 2010

Flirt with a Holocaust Crime. Stephen Daldry’s and David Hare’s Film the Reader

An analysis of the film The Reader, based on the book of the same name. The film’s perspective on individuals’ behavior during the Holocaust makes coming to terms with acts of the past impossible – which itself invalidates the entire film.

Essay by Antje Wischmann February 12, 2010

Preparing for the Revolution. Hungarian Dissident Intellectuals before 1989

In the 1960s Hungarian intellectuals listened to jazz as a protest against the system. Symbols united them in the fight. In 1989 they returned to lead the revolution.

Essay by András Bozóki February 11, 2010

The Cybernetics Scare and the Origins of the Internet

Cybernetics was created in the Soviet Union in the ’50s; it celebrated technical progress as the future of mankind. Cybernetics proceeded from the encounter between human and machine.

Essay by Slava Gerovitch February 11, 2010

Brücke nach Europa. Schwedisch-Pommern 1630-1815

Pomerania flew the Swedish flag during the years 1630–1815. The province became a coveted badge in the great political power game of Northern Europe.

Essay by Jens E. Olesen February 11, 2010

The Valuable Body. Organ trafficking in Eastern Europe

The altruistic act of donating organs is increasingly a financial transaction with the body as a commodity. Poor people are persuaded, tricked, into selling one of their kidneys without receiving adequate care afterwards.

Essay by Susanne Lundin February 11, 2010