Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung / Journal of East Central European Studies (ZfO)
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Europe as Argument, Value, and Promise? Western European Perspectives on the History of Ukraine in History Curricula and Textbooks
Full text linkThis article takes a comparative perspective on the question of how the history of Ukraine is represented in recent history textbooks of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK in a categorical relation to Europe. It analyzes which themes, concepts, and narratives of European history are formative for the representations of Ukraine and how the representations have changed since the 1990s. The article asks to what extent Europe is articulated as a historical-political argument, which values characterized as European are invoked, and to what extent Europe has ultimately become a genuine promise for Ukraine. It focuses on the following questions: What significance is ascribed to Ukraine’s European past? With what specific values is such a European past of Ukraine associated, and to what extent does the reference to Europe function as a discursive resource? Which topics are associated with which value attributions, and which epochs are focused on? Finally, which spatial patterns and temporal narratives are used overall for the “European-ness” of Ukraine?This article takes a comparative perspective on the question of how the history of Ukraine is represented in recent history textbooks of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK in a categorical relation to Europe. It analyzes which themes, concepts, and narratives of European history are formative for the representations of Ukraine and how the representations have changed since the 1990s. The article asks to what extent Europe is articulated as a historical-political argument, which values characterized as European are invoked, and to what extent Europe has ultimately become a genuine promise for Ukraine. It focuses on the following questions: What significance is ascribed to Ukraine’s European past? With what specific values is such a European past of Ukraine associated, and to what extent does the reference to Europe function as a discursive resource? Which topics are associated with which value attributions, and which epochs are focused on? Finally, which spatial patterns and temporal narratives are used overall for the “European-ness” of Ukraine
An Unknown Land? The Making of a European History of Ukraine in German, British, and Polish Print Media after 24 February 2022
Full text linkFollowing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the perception of Ukraine in Western Europe changed dramatically. With increased media coverage and public awareness, the previously unknown country was widely perceived as European, and it was historical references and arguments with history that underpinned this change. This article analyses how Western journalists, historians, and politicians related Ukraine to Europe and presented its European history by studying newspaper coverage in Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom between 1 January 2022 and 1 March 2023. Shortly after the full-scale invasion, the war in Ukraine came to be seen as a return of history, with a geopolitical bloc confrontation between Russia and the West emerging once more. Furthermore, when presenting Ukrainian history from a European perspective, Western media outlets focused on specific events, such as mass violence in the twentieth century, often relating Ukraine to respective national histories. In both of these discursive nodes, Ukraine was depicted as a setting for European history without contributing to Europe itself. In contrast, Ukraine’s recent twenty-first-century history revealed its ambition to adopt European values and join the European Union. Polish and German commentators, but also Ukrainian voices, viewed the Euromaidan protests particularly as an addition to the history of European integration. The article holds that after 24 February 2022, the Europeanization of Ukrainian history provided a way to make sense of unexpected events and legitimize Western support for Ukraine. However, it did not contribute to reflections on European or Ukrainian history.Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the perception of Ukraine in Western Europe changed dramatically. With increased media coverage and public awareness, the previously unknown country was widely perceived as European, and it was historical references and arguments with history that underpinned this change. This article analyses how Western journalists, historians, and politicians related Ukraine to Europe and presented its European history by studying newspaper coverage in Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom between 1 January 2022 and 1 March 2023. Shortly after the full-scale invasion, the war in Ukraine came to be seen as a return of history, with a geopolitical bloc confrontation between Russia and the West emerging once more. Furthermore, when presenting Ukrainian history from a European perspective, Western media outlets focused on specific events, such as mass violence in the twentieth century, often relating Ukraine to respective national histories. In both of these discursive nodes, Ukraine was depicted as a setting for European history without contributing to Europe itself. In contrast, Ukraine’s recent twenty-first-century history revealed its ambition to adopt European values and join the European Union. Polish and German commentators, but also Ukrainian voices, viewed the Euromaidan protests particularly as an addition to the history of European integration. The article holds that after 24 February 2022, the Europeanization of Ukrainian history provided a way to make sense of unexpected events and legitimize Western support for Ukraine. However, it did not contribute to reflections on European or Ukrainian history
Reformation als Kommunikationsprozess. Böhmische Kronländer und Sachsen. Hrsg. von Petr Hrachovec, Gerd Schwerhoff, Winfried Müller und Martina Schattkowsky
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Nicole Eaton: German Blood, Slavic Soil. How Nazi Königsberg became Soviet Kaliningrad. Cornell University Press. Ithaca 2023
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Migrationsgeschichte Oberschlesiens. Von 1800 bis zur Gegenwart. Hrsg. von Andrzej Michalczyk und David Skrabania
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Anne-Christine Hamel: Die Deutsche Jugend des Ostens. Interessenpolitik junger Vertriebener im Spannungsfeld von Heimat, kultureller Identität und Integration.
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Rezeption und Memoria der Reformation im östlichen Europa. Hrsg. von Henning P. Jürgens und Ulrich A. Wien.
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Diana Siebert: Die Territorialisierung der Belarus als BSSR 1918-1941. Politische Willkür, Geografismus oder Ethnizismus?
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