Suchergebnisse

Seit der Epochenwende von 1989 hat Alexis de Tocquevilles Beobachtung, dass die Vereinskultur einen zentralen Stellenwert in demokratischen Gesellschaften habe, neue Aktualität gewonnen. Nicht nur in den ehemals staatssozialistischen Gesellschaften, sondern in der gesamten Ostseeregion verbindet sich die Betrachtung des Vereinswesens, das seit langem in je eigenen nationalen Traditionen präsent ist, mit der Debatte über die Rolle von ­zivilgesellschaftlichem Engagement in der Gegenwart. Die Beiträge dieses Buches führen nord-, ost- und mitteleuropäische Entwicklungen seit dem ausgehenden 18. Jahrhundert zusammen und werfen auch einen Blick auf Prägungen seit dem Mittelalter. Zum Vergleich sowie zur Erörterung transnationaler Verflechtungen werden Großbritannien, Deutschland, Polen, Russland und die Habsburger Monarchie einbezogen. Die Aufsätze zeigen das breite Spektrum von Vereinskultur in der Ostseeregion auf und geben neue Impulse für die Diskussion über »Einheit in der Vielfalt« in der europäischen Geschichte.

German minority politics in the Baltic states during the inter-war period has regained significant scholarly attention since the 1990s, when the Estonian concept of cultural autonomy from 1925 was rediscovered as a strategy for solving post 1989 minority conflicts as well as addressing issues of multiculturality. The case of the Baltic German politician Werner Hasselblatt, who is in the focus of this text, however, reveals a Janus-faced political approach: On the one hand, he had a significant share in the implementation of the law on cultural autonomy in Estonia, and he was also a major actor within the Congress of European Nationalities. On the other hand, from 1933 onwards Hasselblatt turned into an expert of Nazi resettlement and population politics, contrary to his earlier positions. Here, a critical analysis of his approach towards loyalty is undertaken, in order to discuss the tilting point in his political activities. My argument is that his attitude towards loyalty was based on the assumption of an irreconcilable conflict of dual loyalty to the 'host' state and the 'kin' nation. Whereas Hasselblatt regarded loyalty to German Volkstum not as a matter of individual choice for Baltic Germans and thus as not negotiable, he saw loyalty towards the Estonian state as connected to the fulfilment of the German minority's political claims. Such an instrumental approach towards loyalty together with Hasselblatt's primordial understanding of nationality in contrast to citizenship may be identified as crucial issues that led his concept of constructive minority politics tilt towards the destructive notion of 'dissimilation'.

The public appearance of national movements in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is closely connected to Gorbachev's attempt to reform the Soviet Union through the politics of perestroika and glasnost. The evident similarities of these mass movements in their agendas and trajectories result from the parallel political history of the Baltic nations with the Soviet annexation in 1940 and the renewal of their independence in August 1991. Apart from this general framework the single movements show path dependencies, which are based on different social and cultural developments and shaped by the diverging scale of Russian-speaking immigrants during the Soviet period. In fact, after August 1991, the term 'Baltic' may serve only as a regional term for analytical purpose, as it does not mark an essentialist coherence within these movements.
This paper focusses on the origins and trajectories of the Baltic national movements between 1986 and 1992, when they ceased to exist as social movements after their success in restoring political independence. The origins of the 'popular fronts' (Rahvarinne in Estonia, Tautas fronte in Latvia) or 'movement' (Sąjūdis in Lithuania) are connected first with the support of perestroika, second with public historical debates about the Molotov-Ribbentrop-Pact and Stalinist repressions, and third with the restoration of national symbols of the pre-war republics. Music performances and festivals, and in particular the 'Baltic chain' on 23 August 1989 mobilized large parts of the population of the three then Soviet republics and shaped the image of the peaceful 'singing revolution'.
Since spring 1990 divisions appeared within the independence movements between the rather reform-oriented popular movements and more radical nationalist groups striving for immediate full independence and the restoration of the pre-war nation states. These cleavages deepened after the restoration of national independence in August 1991, first of all on issues of legal restoration, language laws and de-Sovietization and largely shaped political debates in the three Baltic states in the following decades.

Cover -- Titelseiten -- Inhalt -- Vorwort -- I. Einleitung -- Fokus und Methodologie -- Quellenbasis -- Forschungslage -- Zum Aufbau und zur Form der Darstellung -- II. Geselligkeit -- Rekonstruktionen von Zeit und Raum -- Archäologie der Zeitgeschichte -- Vereinsgeschichte als erinnerte Geschichte -- Verein als konstitutives Geschichtselement nordosteuropäischer Geschichte -- Baltische Geschichte als postnationale Kulturgeschichte -- Nation und Region als konkurrierende Deutungsmuster nordosteuropäischer Geschichte -- Verein und Zivilgesellschaft -- Definitionen von Verein -- Zur sprachlichen Ausdifferenzierung des Vereinsbegriffs -- Zivilgesellschaft -- Rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen für freiwillige Assoziationen -- Grundzüge der Vereinsgesetzgebung in Europa und Nordamerika -- Vereinsgesetzgebung im Zarenreich -- Vereinsgesetzgebung in Estland und Lettland seit 1917 -- Vereinsgesetzgebung in der Sowjetunion -- Baltische Vereinskultur: Wahrnehmungen -- III. Verein -- Strukturmerkmale und Entwicklungslinien -- Vereinsräume -- Gesellige Vereinigungen -- Gemeinnützige und gelehrte Gesellschaften -- Musik- und Theatervereine -- Praktische Vereinszwecke: Landwirtschaft, Gewerbe, Feuerwehr -- Sportvereine -- Mäßigkeits- und Abstinenzvereine -- Bildungsvereine -- Studentische Vereinigungen -- Vereinstopografien -- Reval -- Dorpat -- Riga -- Mitau -- Stadt und Land -- Baltische Vereinskultur: Versuch einer Zusammenschau -- Umfang und Zwecke der Vergesellschaftung -- Baltische Vereinsstrukturen im Kontext des Zarenreichs -- Vereinsstrukturen in Estland und Lettland, 1914-1980 -- IV. Zivilgesellschaft -- Vereinskultur und Zivilgesellschaft: Bedingungen und Wirkungen -- Vereinspraktiken im Zarenreich -- Materielle Interessen und Zivilgesellschaft -- Konfigurationen der Gesellschaft -- Exklusion und Inklusion -- Protagonisten der Vereinssphäre.

This article analyses the role of the Baltic in Polish historiography. It is argued that the wide spread opinion that there was no Polish interest in the sea arose when Poland was cut off from the Baltic during the Partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century. In particular, during the inter-war period and once again after 1945, there was lively Polish historiography on Baltic topics. Shaped by the impact of the political issue of the Polish state's "access to the sea", national aspects initially played an important role in Polish historiography on the Baltic. There have, however, also been important Polish contributions to a transnational debate. They may be identified first in the notion of the Baltic catchment area as an integral part of Baltic history, second in the development of economic and cultural history related to the Baltic and third in a broad approach towards regional history of Southern Baltic shore.