On Trying To Be a Historian of Eastern Europe”: A Migratory Interim Balance. Part 2

Abstract

This autobiographic (and thus highly subjective) text asks what motived a non-Eastern European, born in 1955 in West Germany, to become a historian of Eastern Europe. The answers are, on the one hand, an interest in (Slavic) languages and (Cold War) politics, and, to a lesser extent, family background, and, on the other, coincidence and the opportunities for fellowship. Part 1 of the article traced the author’s biography from his high-school years to his first modest academic achievements. Part 2 covers his professional path till retirement in 2021 – leading not only to universities like Uppsala, Hamburg, and finally Leipzig, but also into international institutions outside academia, such as the Slavic Unit of the British Military Government of Berlin, the CSCE / OSCE missions of long-duration in Macedonia and Moldova (in particular in the Dnestr region and Gagauzia), and – as founding director – to the Danish-German European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) in Flensburg.

Keywords

• eastern europe
• east-central europe
• south-eastern europe
• matthias bernath
• günther stökl
• hans-joachim torke
• klaus zernack
• artur attman
• i. p. shaskol’skii
• free university of berlin
• university of uppsala
• slavic unit of the british military government of berlin
• csce spillover monitoring mission to the former yugoslav republic of macedonia
• csce / osce mission to moldova
• european centre for minority issues
• leipzig university
• leibniz institute for the history and culture of eastern europa (gwzo)