Research Centre for East European Studies

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The Research Centre for East European Studies (Forschungsstelle Osteuropa) at the University of Bremen was founded in 1982. Under the directorship of Professor Wolfgang Eichwede, it has since then carved its own distinctive niche within the German academic community through an intensive study of recent developments in the culture and society of Central and East European countries.

Following the collapse of Communist rule, the institute's research concentrated both on the cultural and socio-political continuities across the period of upheaval, and on the newly emerging potential for innovation in political and economic culture and cultural identity. In contrast to the predominantly economic approach to the transformation taking place in Eastern and Central Eastern Europe, the Research Centre places the traditions and potential of the region at the centre of attention. The institute endeavors to enable an understanding of the countries from the inside, and in this way make a genuine contribution to the drawing together of Europe.

Even before the radical political changes this was one of the tasks of the Research Centre: during the 1980s, it gave attention above all to the appearance of independent artistic and intellectual creativity. The focus on dissident culture was intertwined with the aspiration to track informal tendencies and intellectual approaches which could give an insight into the societies of the region. Alongside its research, the institute was able to build up a comprehensive and internationally renowned archive of Samizdat literature. It contains banned or unofficial artistic, literary and academic writings from Poland, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and the GDR (East Germany). The Russian collection also includes the private archives of leading Russian figures. A third branch of the institute's activity is public work in the form of cultural and political consultancy in Germany and abroad.