Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung / Journal of East Central European Studies (ZfO)
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Methodological Issues Concerning the Study of Armigerous Burghers: The Example of Brno in the Network of the Lands of the Crown of Bohemia in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period
No full textUsing the example of Brno, one of the leading royal cities in Moravia (as one of the lands of the Czech Crown), the author outlines methodological issues related to the study of the so-called heraldic burghers. In towns located on the territory of Bohemia, Moravia and Bohemian Silesia, they constituted a kind of transitional group between the townspeople and nobility, based on a royal privilege granting them a coat of arms, occasionally supplemented with an actual ennoblement. However, admission to lower nobility was conditioned by acceptance from the relevant noble community. Most of the privileged burghers thus preferred to live in the city, making their living by practicing occupations typical of the urban environment. For her study, the author uses sources of Brno provenance for the early modern period, when this class of burghers was created in connection with the so-called closing of the noble estates, as well as sources of provincial provenance previously processed in thor-ough editions and monographs. The urban sources include not only written materials, but also preserved burgher epitaphs and possibly also burgher seals. The author pays particular attention to the social and professional composition of the armorial burghers, their share in the city administration and, last but not least, to the creation and inheritance of their coats of arms.Methodological Issues Concerning the Study of Armigerous Burghers: The Example of Brno in the Network of the Lands of the Crown of Bohemia in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Perio
Im Sog interner Ermittlungen: „Geliebte von Banditen“ und die fehlende Wachsamkeit eines Offiziers des Sicherheitsamtes im stalinistischen Polen
No full textThis essay examines the investigation of high-ranking Security Office officer Jan Tataj during increasing numbers of internal purges in Stalinist Poland. Although the starting point for the investigation was provided by “inconsistencies” in Tataj’s curriculum vitae, the investigating officers of the Security Office soon declared his acquaintance with two young women to be the main subject of the entire proceedings. Since both women had previous ties to the anti-communist resistance, it was insinuated that they had used their acquaintance with Tataj for espionage purposes, and thus the Security Office accused Tataj of a lack of vigilance toward these women. Both Tataj and the two women were eventually sentenced to several years of imprisonment by the Military Tribunal in Warsaw after a year-long investigation. The paper primarily analyzes the extent to which the investigating officers considered the two women dangerous because of their gender in the context of contemporary images of women (co-)created by the Stalinist regime, and how incriminating evidence of Tataj’s lack of “vigilance” was generated in this context.Im Sog interner Ermittlungen: „Geliebte von Banditen“ und die fehlende Wachsamkeit eines Offiziers des Sicherheitsamtes im stalinistischen Pole
The Russian Central Government and Serf Relations in the Baltic Provinces before the Reign of Catherine II
No full textEarly Baltic historiography was rather emotional in its presentation of manor-peasant relations in the Baltic provinces during the first decades under Russian rule. No doubt it was influenced by the case of the so-called Rosen Declaration of 1739, an exceptionally well-known document in which the Livonian nobility justified their harsh and repressive rights over the local peasantry. The article argues that, without a careful contextualization and detailed examination of materials from the archives of central institutions, it is not possible to critically assess or characterize either Livonian serfdom or the Rosen Declaration. The central St Petersburg institution responsible for overseeing the issue of serfdom in the Baltic province was the Justice College for Livland and Estland Affairs. Its archives have survived mainly in Moscow, partly in Tartu and in Helsinki, but have never received the attention they deserve. They show that, up until the reign of Catherine II, the Russian administration showed little interest in serfdom in its provinces of Livland and Estland. During the 1730s and 1740s the rights of the peasants were discussed several times in the Justice College, although only in the context of a concrete complaint or a case. Compared to Otto Fabian Rosen’s statement with other similar explanations sent to the capital, Rosen’s view was considered quite routine in St Petersburg. All such statements regarding serfdom made by the Baltic provinces were taken seriously by the Justice College for Livland and Estland Affairs. However, this does not mean that Rosen’s memorial had any wider legal consequences. The local nobility saw their power over their peasants as something very absolute; but this was not unique to Livonia, being a quite typical attitude for landlords in the East Elbian region.Early Baltic historiography was rather emotional in its presentation of manor-peasant relations in the Baltic provinces during the first decades under Russian rule. No doubt it was influenced by the case of the so-called Rosen Declaration of 1739, an exceptionally well-known document in which the Livonian nobility justified their harsh and repressive rights over the local peasantry. The article argues that, without a careful contextualization and detailed examination of materials from the archives of central institutions, it is not possible to critically assess or characterize either Livonian serfdom or the Rosen Declaration. The central St Petersburg institution responsible for overseeing the issue of serfdom in the Baltic province was the Justice College for Livland and Estland Affairs. Its archives have survived mainly in Moscow, partly in Tartu and in Helsinki, but have never received the attention they deserve. They show that, up until the reign of Catherine II, the Russian administration showed little interest in serfdom in its provinces of Livland and Estland. During the 1730s and 1740s the rights of the peasants were discussed several times in the Justice College, although only in the context of a concrete complaint or a case. Compared to Otto Fabian Rosen’s statement with other similar explanations sent to the capital, Rosen’s view was considered quite routine in St Petersburg. All such statements regarding serfdom made by the Baltic provinces were taken seriously by the Justice College for Livland and Estland Affairs. However, this does not mean that Rosen’s memorial had any wider legal consequences. The local nobility saw their power over their peasants as something very absolute; but this was not unique to Livonia, being a quite typical attitude for landlords in the East Elbian region
Bernhart Jähnig: Preußenland, Kirche und Reformation. Geplantes Zusammenspiel von geistlicher Macht und weltlicher Herrschaft
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Ulrike Mascher: Stadttexte und Selbstbilder der Prager Moderne(n). Literarische Identitätsdiskurse im urbanen Raum
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Handbook of Polish, Czech, and Slovak Holocaust Fiction. Works and Contexts. Hrsg. von Elisa-Maria Hiemer, Jiří Holý, Agata Firlej und Hana Nichtburgerová.
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Yitskhok Rudashevski: Tagebuch aus dem Ghetto von Wilna. Juni 1941 – April 1943. Hrsg. und übers. von Wolf Kaiser.
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