Features

Features offer in-depth accounts of issues related to the region without prior peer-review process.

the years of fear the kgb building in riga

The purpose of this paper is to focus attention on the Stūra Māja [Corner House] of Riga and how the building was used. I have also conducted interviews, with both the former Latvian KGB Chief Edmunds Johanson, as well as the former Latvian dissident Leo Hiršsons.

By Rosario Napolitano November 10, 2017

Archiving the past, defining the present open society archives, Budapest

Although the primary interest of the OSA was the heritage of the Cold War and communism, it soon extended its interests to include human rights archives. The first was an archive on the Yugoslav wars, including documents of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Initially, interest in this archive was based on its relation to the aftermath of communism, but later it was realized that “it was a document of human rights”, and this subject was accepted as a part of the OSA’s key activity.

By Anna Kharkina November 10, 2017

CEU’s fate a symbol of what went wrong

In Hungary, the amount of protest to follow the announcement of Lex CEU was probably underestimated by the government, yet one relatively unexpected feature was that even a number of influential conservative public figures went against the prime minister and showed their support for CEU.

By Péter Balogh June 13, 2017

The Blue and White pin that matters

The founders of CEU, politicians, including PM Orban, had a common dream back then. That dream was that we would build a free and successful country where not party apparatchiks, but academics decide who can study at a university, and what institution can call itself a university.

By Andrea Petö June 13, 2017

“Sweden is stepping out of the colonial closet”

Sweden’s indigenous people, the Sami, have struggled for years to get more attention. With little result. But now something is happening.

By Påhl Ruin June 13, 2017

The forest brothers – heroes & villains of the partisan war in Lithuania

A new geopolitical situation in Lithuania has led to a growing need to focus on the purely heroic nature of the partisan war. The ideal picture of the heroic partisan is now in the forefront, while the more problematic aspects of their actions are downplayed. Among the darker side is that at least 9,000 civilians were designated as collaborators and executed by the Forest Brothers.

By Påhl Ruin October 25, 2016

Social dumping in the Baltic Sea region THE LAVAL CONFLICT AND THE QUESTION OF Solidarity

Social dumping is a concept with negative connotations that appeared in public debate shortly after the 2004 accession.

By Mats Lindqvist June 23, 2016

Mission Siberia Young Lithuanians meet the deportees

Each year Mission Siberia sends 15 young Lithuanians to Siberia and other areas in the former Soviet Union where Lithuanians were deported. They search for traces that Lithuanians left behind and tidy up cemeteries where Lithuanians are buried. But most of all they go to meet Lithuanians — and their children and grandchildren — who decided to stay even after it was possible to return in the 1950s.

By Påhl Ruin November 19, 2015

Papusza The story of a Polish Roma poet

While the film Papusza certainly represents part of a growing interest in and awareness of Romani matters among the Polish and international public, one should not overestimate its value as an eye-opener to Romani history. Rather, it constitutes a fascinating and beautiful story of a lifetime on the margins.

By Piotr Wawrzeniuk May 12, 2015

KALININGRAD exclave in the borderland

In 1996, a Special Economic Zone was created that made it favorable for both Russian and foreign companies to relocate production to Kaliningrad. Once the intentions were to make Kaliningrad known for more than just its military bases. But this is no longer the case. Kaliningrad, once again, is gliding away from being an economic zone to becoming a military zone.

By Påhl Ruin January 21, 2015