Zeitgeschichte im Kontext. - Band 015
The volume focuses on emerging “rooms for manoeuvre” in the socialist societies of Central and Eastern Europe after the Second World War. Unlike in other works, these areas of activity are not viewed as isolated spheres where citizens could act independently from political and societal constraints. They are rather conceptualized here as geographical, social or institutional spaces whose existence was either outside of political control or more or less intentionally allowed by authorities and other decision-makers. The contributions investigate how East Germans, Poles, Romanians, Slovaks and Czechs coped with the limitations of socialist reality. How did they adopt and successfully adapt given norms to their own specific interests? To what extent were the resulting “rooms for manoeuvre” not only essential aspects of the state socialist system, but even necessary to stabilize it?
Dr. Jerzy Kochanowski is a Professor at the Faculty of Culture and Art Sciences, Chair for History of Culture, Warsaw University, Poland. He specializes in the social history of Central and Eastern Europe, especially during World War II and after 1945.
Dr. Claudia Kraft is a Professor at the Institute for Contemporary History at the University of Vienna, Austria. She specializes in 20th century comparative European and particularly Central and Eastern European History.
