The project "Legacies of Communism? Post-Communist Europe from Stagnation to Reform and between Autocracy and Revolution", which is financed by The Leibniz Association and which is located at the Centre for Contemporary History (ZZF) Potsdam, began his work in April 2019. In order to strengthen the research network and present the individual projects, a kick-off workshop was held at the ZZF in Potsdam on 24 and 25 May 2019. The project involves historians from Germany, Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, Estonia and Poland. The following topics will be dealt with in the course of the project:
Balázs Apor, Trinity College, examines techniques and representations of Hungarian rule from the late socialist period to the present day.
Olena Betlii, Kyiev Mohyla Academy, examines the role of Polish and Ukrainian elites since the 1980s. Sofia Dyak and Natalia Otrishchenko from the Center for Urban History of East Centeral Europe in Lviv are dedicated to urban history topics. Both the legacies of the Soviet city (Dyak) and the Urban Experts since the 1970s are analysed.
Karsten Brüggemann and Uku Lember from the University of Tallinn will deal with the pre-communist heritage in Estonia and interviews with Estonian elites from the 1990s.
Dobrochna Kałwa from the University of Warsaw deals with the different legacies of the Polish women's movement from 1980 to 2016 and the resulting conflicts.
The contributions by Giorgi Maisuradze and Ia Erdaze, Ilia State University, Tblissi, focus on Georgian economic history. While Maisuradze examines cultural and financial elites from late socialism to post-communism, Erdaze focuses on the role of shadow economy in shaping the Georgian state.
Corinna Kuhr-Korolev of ZZF Potsdam investigates the networks of Russian museum professionals from late socialism to the Putin era.
Within this framework, two PhD projects will be developed at ZZF Potsdam. Maren Francke examines the origins of the Hungarian Fidesz Party and investigates the University Colleges from late socialism to post-communism. Kateryna Chernii deals with the role of football in post-communist Ukraine.