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Gregor Thum: “Dreamland East. German Images of Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century”
Brief description
Apparently nothing fired the German imagination in the twentieth century more strongly than Eastern Europe. Whether admirers of Dostoevsky in search of spiritual renewal or the many sympathizers of the Soviet Union, they all saw the East as a place onto which hopes and desires could be projected. To the same degree, however, the East served as a projection screen for German fears and phobias. Again and again, “Asiatic hordes” swept through nightmares.
The contributions collected by Gregor Thum examine this complex German relationship with Eastern Europe. They confront a perception that repeatedly swung between exaggerated hopes and exaggerated fears and only rarely produced a sober view of Eastern European realities.
Press
“After reading ‘Dreamland East,’ everything becomes sharper and more clearly outlined!” — Steffen Höhne, Bohemia: Journal of the History and Culture of the Czech Lands
“[…] The richly illustrated and very attractive anthology disentangles the network of relations that for so long was overlaid by the East–West conflict. […] The essays collected in the volume […] offer an excellent and easily accessible introduction to a complex subject.” — Bernhard Chiari, Neue Politische Literatur
“Taken as a whole, the volume offers a broad, gripping and at times disturbing panorama of this German ‘Dreamland East.’” — Thomas Serrier, Nordost-Archiv
About the author
Gregor Thum was born in Munich in 1967 and studied history and Slavic studies in Berlin and Moscow. From 1995 to 2001 he was a scholar and staff member at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). He now teaches history at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States.
© Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
