Central European Studies

Slovakia’s relations with the states of Eastern Europe not only have a bilateral impact, but contain geopolitical, security and economic dimensions as well. This article analyzes the domestic, bilateral and multilateral aspects of relations between Slovakia and Russia before and after the parliamentary elections of 1998, when Slovakia adopted a pro-Western course aimed at EU and NATO membership. The article also focuses on bilateral relations with Ukraine, where Slovakia is among the most active supporters of Ukraine’s future EU membership. The final sections analyze the Eastern policy of Slovakia – particularly within the framework of the EU’s Eastern Partnership and the Visegrad Group – as well as Slovakia’s relations with the new Eastern European partners, such as Belarus, Moldova and Georgia, as target countries of Slovakia’s “soft power.”

China and the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have been engaged recently in dynamic diplomatic exchanges under the umbrella of 16+1 platform and the Belt and Road Initiative. The article offers an explanation of why the massive Chinese diplomatic effort did not lead to an improved image of China in the CEE region. We adopt the approach of cultural sociology and focus on how the two sides’ ‘meaning structures’ relate to each other. It is argued that main China’s discourse frame of ‘traditional friendship’ based on the shared socialist past is not well received in most of the CEE region which has quite problematic view of Communism due to own historic experience. The dissonance between the Chinese friendly rhetoric and the CEE lukewarm reception imply some deep-cutting differences when it comes to views of history which have significant political implications for current and future relations between the two sides.

Although the first world, as seen through the lens of academia, seems to be prospering, and the third world has found its own place in the postcolonial intellectual order, the post-cold war world of semi-peripheries in East and Central Europe (ECE) has largely disappeared from the discourse of Comparative Literature. It sometimes appears as a convenient intellectual counterpoint or is included in postmodernist or postcolonial narratives; in both cases, however, it doesn’t convey regional specificity or allow local voices to speak. Both strategies – core and postcolonial – expropriate the semi-peripheral realm of second-world non-places.

The  challenges  that  official  migration  statistics face in the 21st century are manifold. In line with intensifying globalisation processes, and new patterns  and  types  of  migration,  new  routes  and new  migrant  identities  have  been  emerging. However,  the new trends also  offer  new, potentially usable data sources, tools, and methods for
the measurement of this changing phenomenon. Attempting to  provide  an  overview  of  the Hungarian migration statistical system, the aim of this paper  is  to  promote  interdisciplinary  scientific dialogue  on
migration  and share  some  of  the most  important  figures  and  trends  of  international  migration  in  Hungary,  highlighting  its  remarkable  geographical  aspects  in  the  European context,  and  the  peculiarities,  challenges,  and opportunities of its measurement.

The paper focuses on the one of the most significant Slovak politician and statesman of the 20 th century – Milan Hodža (1878 – 1944). The main aim of this paper is to introduce Hodža's conception of Slavonic cultural cooperation that is propagated in 1920s and 1930s by his lectures and articles and which is based on two mainstays – distinctive nationalism of Central European men and agrarian character of Central European men.

LACKO, Miroslav. Robotnícke kolónie na Železníku - zabudnutý industriálny skvost [Workers' Lodgings in Železník - A Forgotten Industrial Jewel]. In: Z dějin hutnictví 42 - Rozpravy Národního technického muzea v Praze 219 (2012), pp. 119-150. ISSN 0139-9810. ISBN 978-80-7037-212-8.

Public houses-inns, taverns, and alehouses-during the Jagiellonian Dynasty (1385-1572) in Cracow functioned as important establishments in the diplomatic services of kings, city officials, and the nobility. Not only did these locales offer drink, food, and accommodations to emissaries for their travels and work, but they provided much more. For the diplomats, the inns, taverns, and alehouses were sites to learn the latest news, gossip, and public opinion. They provided a place to fraternize and they were also trusted locations for sensitive diplomatic negotiations. Public houses likewise served as "post offices" where envoys could receive their letters. Although scholars have studied these establishments, the diplomacy, and urban history throughout Europe in various epochs , they have neglected to analyze the role of the Cracovian public houses in diplomatic services in the Jagiellonian era. This article provides a comprehensive examination of sources, including royal and municipal accounting and personal correspondence, to reveal the role of public houses in the diplomatic practices of the Jagiellonian dynasty.

Wybór Stefana Batorego na tron Rzeczypospolitej utorował drogę do kariery także członkom jego rodziny. Po niespodziewanej śmierci króla jego ambitne plany usiłowało zrealizować czterech bratanków, przede wszystkim zaś Andrzej, uważany za duchowego spadkobiercę stryja. Jako kardynał musiał wypełniać zadania stawiane przed nim przez Kościół, jednocześnie za pomocą zawiłych rozgrywek usiłował bronić interesów Batorych i jedności rodu, mając przeciw sobie Habsburgów, Szwecję i Moskwę.

Der vorliegende Aufsatz untersucht Kriegstagebücher als besondere Form von Ego-Dokumenten. Was bewirkt die besondere Situation der Abfassung bei der Selbstreflexion, welche Themen werden entscheidend? Wie hoch liegt der Quellenwert von Kriegstagebüchern? Somit geben Kriegstagebücher einen Einblick in das individuelle und kollektive Erleben.

Najobszerniejszy jak dotąd wybór twórczości eseistycznej Krzysztofa Czyżewskiego umiejscawia Europę Środkową w samym środku najważniejszych dla współczesnego świata pytań i problemów: kryzysu wspólnotowości, pogłębiających się podziałów i coraz ostrzejszych wojen kulturowych.
Dla współtwórcy ośrodka „Pogranicze” Europa Środkowa nie jest tylko geopolityką i nie ma – jak chciał Peter Handke – znaczenia „wyłącznie meteorologicznego”. Jawi się bardziej jako etos i postawa, która wykorzenieniu przeciwstawia przynależność, kompleksowi prowincjonalizmu – siłę prowincji, a ostro zarysowanym granicom – przestrzeń przenikania i współistnienia.
Czyżewski zawzięcie poszukuje żywej i wychylonej ku przyszłości, scalającej narracji, zdolnej stworzyć przeciwwagę narodowych mitów, tak silnie określających naszą rzeczywistość w ostatnich dwóch stuleciach. W leksykonie najważniejszych dla niego pojęć znajdują się zapomniane słowa, takie jak „agora”, „pogranicze”, „obcowanie”, „tkanka łączna” czy magiczny „neimar” – budowniczy mostów.
W swoich eseistycznych peregrynacjach podąża po mapie wyznaczonej przez outsiderów, wygnańców i kontestatorów, wędrownych artystów czy niesfornych intelektualistów, dla których Europa pozostawała i pozostaje ciągle niezrealizowanym w pełni projektem. Często przywołuje Mickiewicza, Vincenza, Rotha, Stempowskiego, Giedroycia, Kołakowskiego, Tischnera, Barańczaka, Venclovę, a nade wszystko Miłosza, którego jest wyjątkowym i wnikliwym czytelnikiem.

"Aus den Alltagsproblemen der Bevölkerung von Nikolai in den 80er Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts" Der Beitrag versucht die Geschichte der Stadt Nikolai als auch das Alltagsleben der Stadtbewohner in den letzten zehn Jahren der kommunistischen Herrschaft zu ordnen und zusammenzufassen. Der Text, dem nur wenigen verfügbaren Archivquellen und Pressemitteilungen zugrunde liegen, stellt die wichtigsten Probleme dar, mit denen sich die Bewohner von Nikolai während der Krise der 80er Jahre herumgeschlagen haben: ökologische Katastrophe der Stadt und der Region sowie die damit verbundene Zerstörung der Umwelt, permanenter Trinkwassermangel, das Wohlergehen der Stadtbewohner und schließlich die Aktivitäten sowie die Probleme des Gesundheitswesens. Des Weiteren wird aufgezeigt, welche Versuche unternommen wurden, um das Wohnproblem zu lösen; so wird aber auch u.a. die unvollendete Wohnsiedlung Nikolai-Reta als ein typisches Beispiel des „sozialistischen Größenwahns“ demonstriert. Als ein weiteres Problem werden die Maßnahmen des öffentlichen Verkehrs im Hinblick auf die Treibstoffknappheit und den Mangel an Ersatzteilen offenbart. Der Hauptteil des Beitrages beschäftigt sich jedoch mit den Schwierigkeiten des täglichen Lebens. Diese entstanden infolge der ausgelösten wirtschaftlichen Krise, die das ganze Land für fast zehn Jahre erfasst und damit das tägliche Leben der Einwohner von Nikolai grundlegend verändert hatte. Der Mangel an grundsätzlichen Waren in den Geschäften, lange Warteschlangen, Lebensmittelmarken sowie das stundenlange Suchen nach Lebensmitteln waren Erfahrungen, die das Gros der Nikolaier Bevölkerung gemeinsam teilte. Die Darstellung jenes Alltags in dieser Krisenzeit ist die Intention des Autors. Der Beitrag endet mit einem kurzen Ausblick auf die Stadt zu Beginn der 90er Jahre, als die Planwirtschaft zusammenbrach, die Mechanismen des freien Marktes griffen und die Transformation sukzessiv ihren Lauf nahm.

This paper discusses the ambivalences with which National Socialist authorities, especially courts, treated women and men who were classified with the racialising label of "Zigeunerin"/"Zigeuner". The analysis of cases from the district of Styria (parts of todays provinces of Styria and Burgenland) renders visible how the persecution of these people by regular courts for 'offences' such as "unauthorised change of workplace" or "unauthorised border crossing" shows no clearly distinguishable pattern, and can by no means be classified only as racist policy. For instance, codes such as "herumzigeunern" (to wander around, literally "to gypsy around") where only applied in these cases to stigmatise so called "asocials" who have been 'racially' classified as "indolent" or "workshy" 'Aryans'.
The routes into mass murder were multiple and complex, rather than linear and transparent. Although the National Socialist state had proclaimed racist ideology as its state doctrine, concrete policies especially on a local level where  neither identical nor homogeneous.

Márai Sándor sikere a nemzetközi könyvpiacon az ezredforduló éveitől hatásos cáfolatát jelenti az író várakozásainak, hiszen az emigrációban is magyarul alkotó szerző nem hitt saját műveinek fordíthatóságában. A külföldi Márai-olvasás középpontjában A gyertyák csonkig égnek című regény áll, melyet a hazai irodalmár szakma nem sorol a szerző legambiciózusabb művei közé. A siker kulcsát a Monarchia letűnt világa iránti nosztalgiahullám jelentheti. Hogyan lehetne eljutni az aktuális sikertől a Márai-életmű világirodalommal való dialógusáig? A választ a Márai-művek világ-, illetve regionális irodalmi kontextusainak feltárása adhatja meg. Ennek példájaként a tanulmány célja, hogy A gyertyák csonkig égnek nyelv-és identitásszemléletét, írásmódját az osztrák (illetve tágabban a közép-európai) modernséghez kapcsoló mélyebb összefüggésekre mutasson rá.

Over the last two decades, the "new international order" of 1919 has grown into an expansive new area of research across multiple disciplines. With the League of Nations at its heart, the interwar settlement's innovations in international organizations, international law, and many other areas shaped the world we know today. This book presents the first study of the relationship between this new international order and the new regional order in Central and Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Habsburg empire. An analysis of the co-implication of these two orders is grounded in four key scholarly interventions: understanding the legacies of empire in international organizations; examining regionalism in the work of interwar international institutions; creating an integrated history of the interwar order in Europe; and testing recent claims of the conceptual connection between nationalism and internationalism. With chapters covering international health, international financial oversight, human trafficking, minority rights, scientific networks, technical expertise, passports, commercial treaties, borders and citizenship, and international policing, this book pioneers a regional approach to international order, and explores the origins of today's global governance in the wake of imperial collapse.

Pożegnanie z imperium. Ukraińskie dyskusje o tożsamości to książka poświęcona debatom toczonym u progu niepodległości i w pierwszym dziesięcioleciu przez ukraińskich intelektualistów, głównie literatów. Analizie poddano najważniejsze koncepty, zarówno te mające oparcie w tradycji, jak i nowe idee.  Do tych pierwszych należy idea Ukrainy między Wschodem a Zachodem i rozmaitego jej pojmowania, do drugich natomiast idea przynależności Ukrainy (a przynajmniej Galicji) do Europy Środkowej. Uwagę skupiono na projektach modernizacyjnych, a zarazem odżegnujących się od spuścizny imperialnej. Sporo miejsca poświęcono też odrodzonemu tradycjonalizmowi i sporom natywistów z okcydentalistami.

During the development of the traditional schools of international relations (IR) after the Second World War, a wide range of tools were invented to analyze the foreign policy of
small states.Nonetheless, small state theory has not been frequently applied within Central European states, partly because of the regional tendency to place more emphasis on empirical than on theoretical research. However, the application of the advances made within small state studies (SSS) to Central European countries – in order to learn whether the theoretical predictions observations are met with in reality – promises important and fruitful results both at the theoretical and practical levels. In this paper we seek to put this in practice, comparing some of the most general expectations of SSS with the actual foreign policy of Hungary after the regime change.

Přestože Jindřich (Heinrich) Kulka vynalezl analytický pojem raumplan, kterým se snažil vystihnout prostorové kvality a způsob navrhování architektury Adolfa Loose, můžeme se ptát, nakolik byl dogmatický pro architektonické výkony samotného Kulky a nakolik Kulka loosovské školení ve třicátých letech přizpůsobil postupující racionalizaci bydlení. V příspěvku se pokouším kriticky zhodnotit použití raumplanu pro Kulkovy obytné stavby ve srovnání s po-loosovskou tvorbou ostatních žáků a pokračovatelů Adolfa Loose. Ve srovnání s jinými architekty vídeňského školení navrhuji pro Kulkovy východočeské návrhy daleko přiléhavější pojem raumform, zaužívaný kritikem Maxem Eislerem.

This e-book is a collection of papers focussing on the discursive dimension of the 'eastern enlargement' of the European Union, relying on lessons from post-colonial scholarship, world-systems analysis and critical race studies. The empirical material comes from discourse of 'eastern enlargement' process in the late 1990s-early 2000s .

The Visegrad Group, consisting of Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, is a subregional cooperation that is in the Central Europe. Its goal is to create a region where these countries can easily work together in the fields of common interests, above all the main objective of EU membership. Since 2004, all the four Visegrad countries have gained a full membership status of European Union and the question remains what political function, role and influence the Visegrad Group has in the larger context of European Integration after achieving this goal.

LACKO, Miroslav et al. Montánno-historický výskum na Slovensku a v strednej Európe [Mining-Historical Research in Slovakia and in Central Europe]. Montánna história/The Mining History 10. Bratislava : Slovenská spoločnosť pre sociálne a hospodárske dejiny, 2019, 429 p. ISBN 978-80-970973-7-0. ISSN 1338-5984.

This Chronicle is an attempt to represent a chronologically ordered picture of the life of the city and its inhabitants during the decade-long period between 1971 and 1981. The first part of the book is a short synthesis of the significant events and occurrences of this decade. The particular focus here is on investments and changes in the arrangement of urban space, on social relations, on problems of trade, gastronomy, the local market, communications, cultural life, schooling, industry and environmental pollution. Separately analyzed are matters tied to the functioning of the political system and government apparatus, including the functioning of the state systems of propaganda and coercion, which are broadly treated here. The synthetic section ends with a description of the specific unfolding of the socio-political crisis of 1980–1981 in Gliwice, as well as the atmosphere during the period of the first “Solidarity” between August 1980 and December of 1981. This section and the texts following end with the first days of Martial Law. In taking into account various points of view and expanding on these perspectives, the introductory text is a general introduction to the lecture of the more detailed chronicle that follows. The second main part of the publication constitutes the chronicle, which utilizes the source material. The latter includes aspects of documents drafted during the period under study by municipal administrative authorities, the Polish United Worker’s Party (PZPR), and the secret political police. The source materials also include selected articles from the local press. The texts often discuss places and occurrences often forgotten today. To draw readers closer to the climate of the epoch and to introduce them to certain events, the narrative often follows from the general to the particular. It begins from a general Polish context, studies the regional unfolding of a given events, and then ends at a strictly local and municipal level. Through this approach events are analyzed from a broader background. This allows the social, political, economic and cultural events that occur at the municipal level to be more transparent and understandable, even to the non-professional historian. The last part of the book is an annex made up of two informative sections. The first is on “People with state authority” and is a chronological account of Communist Party local leaders, of people leading the municipal section of the National Council, and of the presidents of cities as well as members of the leading cadres of the secret political police. In the second section, titled “selected addresses”, one can find out the location of institutions and socio-political organizations – including banks, pubs, diners, restaurants, cafés, hotels, cinemas and the most renowned stores – that no longer exist today, including their street addresses and numbers. The form and shape of the chronicle allows the reader to trace changes in the city “from day to day”, which allow her/him to grasp a completely different point of view than monographic syntheses would allow. The text contains an array of information for which there would not be enough space if it were written or structured in another way, i.e. if it aimed towards a scholarly synthesis or to treat only one selected fragment of reality. One can grasp the information from any point in the text without fear of having one’s understanding hampered by having missed out on the previously discussed issues. The rest of the materials in this volume include an index of abbreviations, a bibliography, as well as an index of family names and pseudonyms. The source materials that form the basis of this volume include documents from the Katowice section of Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), the State Archive in Katowice, and its section in Gliwice. The rich illustrative material stems from the collection of the State Archive in Katowice, the Museum in Gliwice, as well as from the collections of private individuals.

Utjecaj češke na hrvatsku arhitekturu 20. stoljeća izuzetno je velik, djelom zahvaljujući djelovanju čeških arhitekata u Hrvatskoj (na primjer u izgradnji kompleksa Batine tvornice u Borovu), no još više stoga što je cijeli niz hrvatskih i jugoslavenskih arhitekata završio školovanje na njemačkoj ili češkoj politehnici u Pragu. Među najvažnije od njih spada Marko Vidaković (Golubinci, 18. 7. 1890. – Zagreb, 5. 1. 1976.). Nakon jedne godine studiranja na Visokoj tehničkoj školi u Beču (1909. – 1910.), na Česká vysoká škola technická u Pragu studirao je s prekidima između 1910. i 1919. Vidaković je odigrao ključnu ulogu u pojavi moderne u arhitekturi Hrvatske organiziranjem izložbe Čehoslovačke savremene arhitekture u Zagrebu (17. 3. – 1. 4. 1928.) koju je priredio uz pomoć Zdenĕka Wirtha iz Čehoslovačkog ministarstva za školstvo i narodnu prosvjetu. Nedugo poslije izložbe projektirao je i podigao jednu od prvih građevina internacionalnog stila u Zagrebu, vilu Ljudevita Pfeffermanna (Jurjevska 27a, 1928. – 1929.). I u ovome i u kasnijim njegovim projektima (poput nerealiziranog projekta paviljona za Zagrebački zbor iz 1931.) osjeća se utjecaj radova čeških arhitekata. Iako nakon vile Pfeffermann Vidaković neće imati prilike realizirati važnije građevine, iz projekata koje je izrađivao (tramvajska stajališta, 1930. ; umjetnički dom, 1930. ; klinika za otorinolaringologiju, 1940., sve u Zagrebu) očito je kako se radilo o vrlo talentiranom arhitektu koji je potpuno prihvatio leksik moderne arhitekture. U širenju internacionalnog stila u Hrvatskoj i Jugoslaviji odigrao je važnu ulogu i putem svojih brojnih tekstova publiciranih u časopisu Arhitektura iz Ljubljane, te u zagrebačkim i beogradskim dnevnim novinama. Tijekom Drugog svjetskog rata aktivno je sudjelovao u spašavanju srpske djece u profašističkoj Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj.

A dolgozat középpontjában a Magyarország, Lengyelország, Csehország és Szlovákia által alkotott Visegrádi Együttműködés áll. A kutatás fő vizsgálati területe a négy ország közös érdekérvényesítési lehetőségei az Európai Unióban, valamint a V4 kooperáció prioritásai a jelenlegi európai politikai erőtérben.
A tanulmány legfontosabb célkitűzése, hogy átfogó képet adjon a V4 országok EU-n belül betöltött szerepéről, valós politikai erejéről és államközi kapcsolatairól, miközben feltérképezi, hogy az európai döntéshozókat jelenleg leginkább foglalkoztató kérdésekben mi a visegrádi álláspont, milyen érdekek húzódnak meg a szorosabb kooperáció hátterében, nem utolsó sorban pedig milyen szövetségesekkel formálhatják az európai politikát.

LACKO, Miroslav. Baníctvo a hutníctvo na Spiši v rokoch 1526 – 1918 (Mining and Metallurgy in Scepusia in 1526 – 1918). In HOMZA, Martin – SROKA, Stanisław A. et al. Historia Scepusii. Vol. II. Bratislava; Kraków : Katedra slovenských dejín Filozofickej fakulty Univerzity Komenského – Instytut Historii Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, 2016, pp. 958–1005. ISBN 978-80-223-4210-0.