Features offer in-depth accounts of issues related to the region without prior peer-review process.
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
Survivors actually created manifold historical sources on the Holocaust and even completed a broad array of relevant publications before the end of 1940s; these sources were largely neglected afterwards and have remained underexplored to this day.
By
Ferenc L. Laczó
January 21, 2015
When it comes to art museums in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, ownership is an especially loaded issue that continues to bring out new skeletons from its closeted past. Ludwig’s gigantic art collection, consisting of some 50,000 artworks, came into being because of his goal of inscribing himself into the future of art history.
By
Margaret Tali
October 20, 2014
The nationally organized camp Seliger All-Russia Youth Forum gathers tens of thousands of young Russians every year. Here a report from the inside of the camp, observations in contemporary nation-building.
By
Kristiina Silvan
October 18, 2014
The author argues that the history of the Holocaust is the history of Europe; "as Europeans, we all continue to live it".
"It is not wise to appropriate to ourselves the story of suffering, because even in the short term such a course will lead to isolation and a rise in anti-Semitism."
By
Andrea Petö
October 18, 2014
Many postcommunist countries have large numbers of stray dogs. In several localitites in Russia poisoned meat has been put out to keep the number of strays down. Before major events, such as the Winter olympics in Sochi, mass culling has been announced. Dog rights activists rather suggest sterilization programs and animal shelters.
By
Ninna Mörner
April 30, 2014
The author shows how one small region, Stettin/Szczecin, because of its strategic place became involved in important events throughout history.
By
Thomas Lundén
February 4, 2014
A growing number of architects, artists and academics have been protesting against the rapid transformation of the Old Town in Tbilisi, claiming that World Heritage is demolished. But there is a dilemma: many of the Old Town inhabitants welcome the changes.
By
Sara Bergfors
January 24, 2014
Many who migrate are forced to leave their children in their home country. Children being left behind in this way has become a problem in the EU, as Påhl Ruin relates in a report from Lithuania. The children don’t thrive, and there is a risk that they will become social outsiders.
By
Påhl Ruin
January 22, 2014
Literary scholar David Williams analyzes Ulrich Seidl’s film Import/Export and criticizes Seidl for using and humiliating amateur actors with the aim of telling a story that ultimately only underscores a stereotypical image of the East: as precisely an object of pleasure for the West.
By
David Williams
January 21, 2014