Forum für osteuropäische Ideen- und Zeitgeschichte

Der lange Abschied vom totalitären Erbe







Das Modell der bundesrepublikanischen Vergangenheitsbewältigung gilt als Vorbild für viele postautoritäre bzw. posttotalitäre Transformationsstaaten in Ost und West, ungeachtet mancher Schattenseiten des langwierigen Prozesses der deutschen Vergangenheits-bewältigung nach der "Stunde Null".



Das aktuelle FORUM-Heft vergleicht in seinem thematischen Schwerpunkt die Spezifika der deutschen Erinnerungskultur mit denjenigen der osteruopäischen Länder, vor allem Polens und Russlands, seit dem Beginn der Entstalinisierungsdebatten.



Since 1997, FORUM is an integral part of the journal landscape of European Studies. In addition to facts of contemporary history, it offers deep insights into the history of ideas, reflects current discussions, and provides reviews of books on Central and Eastern European history. Especially on the history of ideas and contemporary history it offers more than ›just‹ history-e.g. interdisciplinary discussions by political scientists, literary, legal, and economic scholars and philosophers. FORUM sees itself as a bridge between East and West. Through the translation and publication of documents and contributions from Russian, Polish, and Czech researchers it offers the Western reader insight into the scientific discourse within Eastern Europe.







Volume 18, Issue 1: The way the Federal Republic of Germany dealt with its past is seen by some as a role model for many post-authoritarian and post-totalitarian transition countries in East and West, despite some downsides of the long process of coping with the past after the German ›zero hour‹. The current FORUM issue focuses on the comparison of the specifics of German memory culture with those of the Eastern European countries, especially Poland and Russia, since the beginning of their de-Stalinization debates.