Ostforschung (German: [ˈɔstˌfɔʁʃʊŋ]; "research on the east") is a German term dating from the 18th century for the study of the areas to the east of the core German-speaking region. At its core, Ostforschung postulated that Germans and Germany were superior to Poles and Poland, and aimed to prove this thesis.[1] The idea of German superiority and Prussian stereotypes about Poles were the core beliefs of this field of research.[2]
Traditional Ostforschung has fallen into disrepute with modern German historians as it often reflected Western European prejudices of the time towards Poles.[3] The term Ostforschung itself remained in use in the names of some journals and institutes throughout the Cold War, but was replaced by more specific terms by the 1990s (e.g., the journal Zeitschrift für Ostforschung, established in 1952, was renamed Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung in 1994).
Since the 1990s, Ostforschung itself has become a subject of historical research. The tradition of Ostforschung is now considered discredited by German historians.[3]
Ostforschung was also the name of a multidisciplinary organization set up before World War II by Nazi German chief propagandist Albert Brackmann supporting Nazi genocidal policies, ethnic cleansing and anti-semitism.[citation needed] Brackmann and several other Nazi and nationalist historians and anthropologists co-ordinated Nazi German research on Eastern Europe, mainly the Second Polish Republic. The research conducted by this organisation, as well as the Ahnenerbe, was instrumental in the planning of ethnic cleansing and genocide of local non-German populations in the Generalplan Ost.[4]