Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung / Journal of East Central European Studies (ZfO)
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The Shaken Lands: Violence and the Crisis of Governance in East Central Europe, 1914-1923. Hrsg. von Tomas Balkelis and Andrea Griffante
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Die Russische Freiwillige Westarmee in Kurland 1919. Regionale Besatzungspraxis im Spannungsfeld zwischen Imperialismus und Selbstbestimmung
No full textThe terms “self-determination,” “democracy,” and “national autonomy” were omnipresentafter the end of World War I. Yet it was not only actors with revolutionary or nation-stateagendas who used these popular slogans. Representatives of the just-collapsed Empires inEastern Europe also explained their actions in the violent phase of negotiating future stateorder with these terms and thus—intentionally or unintentionally—contributed to the estab-lishment of the corresponding vocabulary. Often, however, it remained unclear which con-crete political objectives were concealed behind the buzzwords.The article explores this question using the example of the West Russian Volunteer Armyand its commander-in-chief Pavel Bermondt-Avalov. This army appeared for a short periodin 1919 as an occupying force in Courland and in the north of Lithuania and represents aspecial example of an imperialist military enterprise in the civil wars of Central and EasternEurope. The personnel composition of this army and the political circles associated with itcombined objectives that included the restoration of the Tsarist empire, the retention of re-gional self-government by the Baltic German elites, and the safeguarding of German waraims in Eastern Europe.Since the competition for regional state reorganization was fought not least with propa-gandistic means, the actors tried to communicate their own understanding of a right tonational self-determination to the population of the occupied territory as well as to the inter-ested world public. The article examines both this communicative strategy and the way inwhich the political promises were institutionalized on the ground
Municipalization vs. Private Entrepreneurship: Deutsche Continental-Gas-Gesellschaft Gasworks in Warsaw, Kraków, and Lviv and their Role in the Modernization of Emerging Cities in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century (S. 401–429)
No full textThe article discusses the mid-nineteenth-century introduction of gas production technology by the Deutsche Continental-Gas-Gesellschaft to the emerging cities in the area of the former Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, namely Warsaw, Lviv, and Kraków. During the 1870s and 1880s, the local governments of Kraków and Lviv, dominated by Polish influences, sought to portray themselves as agents of modernization. Consequently, the arrival of a German investor implementing unfamiliar gas production technology was unwelcome. This resulted in the takeover (in Lviv) or buyout (in Kraków) of the gasworks in operation. In contrast, Warsaw, under the administration of Russia, reached an agreement with the concessionaire. Modernization of the gas industry in these cities commenced in the late nineteenth century, with management falling under both municipal (Kraków and Lviv) and private (Warsaw) entities. This allowed for the expansion of the gasworks and a subsequent increase in gas consumption, as facilitated by the reduction in the product’s price. However, Kraków and Lviv managed to present themselves as the architects of this favorable situation. Meanwhile, the authorities in Warsaw permitted the Dessau company to operate within the city, which engendered discontent among the Polish intelligentsia in the early twentieth century. In Germany and the Habsburg monarchy, it was customary for cities to municipalize their gasworks, with the profits channeled back into city budgets. This aspect of urban modernity, as it was perceived at the time, was absent in Warsaw.The article discusses the mid-nineteenth-century introduction of gas production technology by the Deutsche Continental-Gas-Gesellschaft to the emerging cities in the area of the former Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, namely Warsaw, Lviv, and Kraków. During the 1870s and 1880s, the local governments of Kraków and Lviv, dominated by Polish influences, sought to portray themselves as agents of modernization. Consequently, the arrival of a German investor implementing unfamiliar gas production technology was unwelcome. This resulted in the takeover (in Lviv) or buyout (in Kraków) of the gasworks in operation. In contrast, Warsaw, under the administration of Russia, reached an agreement with the concessionaire. Modernization of the gas industry in these cities commenced in the late nineteenth century, with management falling under both municipal (Kraków and Lviv) and private (Warsaw) entities. This allowed for the expansion of the gasworks and a subsequent increase in gas consumption, as facilitated by the reduction in the product’s price. However, Kraków and Lviv managed to present themselves as the architects of this favorable situation. Meanwhile, the authorities in Warsaw permitted the Dessau company to operate within the city, which engendered discontent among the Polish intelligentsia in the early twentieth century. In Germany and the Habsburg monarchy, it was customary for cities to municipalize their gasworks, with the profits channeled back into city budgets. This aspect of urban modernity, as it was perceived at the time, was absent in Warsaw
Einen neuen Staat bauen. Die Entwicklung des polnischen Schienennetzes in der Zwischenkriegszeit (S. 431–464)
No full textThis article deals with the development of the Polish railway network in the interwar period. The then Polish state, the Second Polish Republic, had to face two challenges in particular: Firstly, the railway network, built before World War I, had been constructed by the partitioning powers Russia, Prussia, and Austria-Hungary according to their own needs. Secondly, the network had sustained extensive damage as a result of combat actions during the war. Accordingly, the paper analyzes, on the one hand, how the decisive actors of the Second Polish Republic attempted to repair this damage to the railway network. On the other hand, their endeavors to adapt the railway network to the infrastructural demands of the new state are explored, with a focus on the construction of new railway lines. Starting with an overview of the development of the Polish railway network in the interwar period in both temporal and spatial regard, the paper proceeds with an in-depth analysis of selected case studies. To sum up, the study shows that while many new railway lines were built in the interwar period, an adaption of the railway network to the needs of the new state was achieved merely in part. This article deals with the development of the Polish railway network in the interwar period. The then Polish state, the Second Polish Republic, had to face two challenges in particular: Firstly, the railway network, built before World War I, had been constructed by the partitioning powers Russia, Prussia, and Austria-Hungary according to their own needs. Secondly, the network had sustained extensive damage as a result of combat actions during the war. Accordingly, the paper analyzes, on the one hand, how the decisive actors of the Second Polish Republic attempted to repair this damage to the railway network. On the other hand, their endeavors to adapt the railway network to the infrastructural demands of the new state are explored, with a focus on the construction of new railway lines. Starting with an overview of the development of the Polish railway network in the interwar period in both temporal and spatial regard, the paper proceeds with an in-depth analysis of selected case studies. To sum up, the study shows that while many new railway lines were built in the interwar period, an adaption of the railway network to the needs of the new state was achieved merely in part.
