Research Centre for East European Studies
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. Structure The Research Centre has charitable status and is registered in the federal states of Bremen, Hamburg and North Rhine-Westphalia. It was initially funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, but since 1986/7 it has received subsidies from the joint committee of the educational ministries of the German federal republics. The institute is closely connected with the University of Bremen, not only in that it is situated on the site of the university, but also in that its director holds a professorial chair at the university, and through concrete agreements and cooperation. The Research Centre has three subdivisions: research, the archive and library and public work in the form of cultural and political consultancy. Current projects Contemporary and cultural history Using its extensive archive, which contains well in excess of 150,000 Samizdat documents and more than 300 private archives, the Research Centre organised a series of large-scale exhibitions titled Samizdat. Alternative Culture in Central and Eastern Europe from the 1960s to the 1980s. The exhibition in Berlin was opened by the mayor of Budapest and former human rights activist Gábor Demszky, that in Prague by the presidents of Germany and Czechoslovakia Johannes Rau and Václav Havel, in Brussels by the EU commissioner Günter Verheugen and in Budapest by the German