Modern Studies in German History

ABOUT THE “CENTER OF UKRAINIAN-GERMAN HISTORICAL RESEARCHES”

The history of the Center creation (former the “Institute of Ukrainian-German Researches”) is directly connected with the history of Dnipro National University`s World History Department, the 50th rebirth anniversary of which was celebrated in 2017. In the 1970s – 1980s, the department became a well-known center of Germanic studies in the USSR. The problems of Kaiser Germany, workers’ movement, Weimar Republic history, the issues of militarism and revanchism, religious history, the socialist Germany development were studied and the analysis of West German historians’ works were conducted there. It was all carried out under the guidance of a talented organizer and an active person, who was able to create constructive atmosphere and healthy competition within the department – Professor A. Zavialov. The digest of scientific papers “German History Questions”, which had been published until 2017, was also created thanks to his efforts. In 2018 it was given the new name – “Modern researches in German history”.

New states arose in the 1990s, as well as new occasions that affected circumstances far beyond the borders of the former USSR. The issues of population migration, constraint of interethnic relations, which were followed by international conflicts, became important problems for many countries. Under new political conditions and on the initiative of Professor Serhii Plokhii, the faculty received new scientific direction, which started researches in the history of interethnic relations and German-speaking groups in the Russian Empire, the USSR and Ukraine. The “Institute of Ukrainian-German Researches” was founded to implement research tasks of this complex topic. Professor S. Bobylieva managed the institute for a long time.

The “Institute of Ukrainian-German Researches” creation allowed employees to grow professionally within a perspective problem. The history of Ukrainian ethnic Germans was studied from the point of view of pan-European history and worldwide processes, taking into account both internal peculiarities of states (the Russian Empire, the USSR, Ukraine) development. S. Bobylieva, N. Ostasheva-Venger, O. Khodchenko, O. Beznosov, O. Beznosova, V. Klets, T. Petrova, I. Tolstykh participated in the development of interethnic relations problems for a long time. These researchers were pioneers both in their topics and in relevant Ukrainian archival funds discovering and presenting. They disturbed the historians’ silence around ethnical issues in soviet historiography.

During the years of Center’s work, the candidates and doctoral dissertations were defended by S. Atamanenko, M. Ismailov, N. Venger, O. Beznosov, O. Beznosova, T. Malynovska, B. Malynovskyi, Yu. Malytska, A. Kadol. The employees published 6 monographs, prepared annual issues of the digest “German History Questions” (the editor’s duties were performed by S. Bobylieva). The scholars, who were affiliated with the Centre, participated in conferences, which took part both in Ukraine and abroad (Germany, Canada, Russia, USA, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands).

On the basis of the Institute/Center (since 2011) the following international projects were implemented and continue to be implemented:

1) the “Institute of Ukrainian-German Researches” employees have been working on the project “Small Motherland” since 1997 together with the Gottingen Research Center (Germany) with the support of the German Embassy in Ukraine. Four historical and ethnographic expeditions were conducted during that time. The household items, discovered during those expeditions, were passed to the museum named after D.Yavornytsky;

2) the Institute employees participated in creation of the four-volume encyclopedia “Russian Germans” together with the “Russian Germans Academy of Sciences”, “International Association of Germans History Researchers” (Russian Federation) and “Institute of Culture and History of Germans in the North-Eastern Europe” (Luneburg, Germany). It should be noted that the Institute was a coordinator for 59 Ukrainian researchers, who participated in this publication preparation;

3) the project “Reconciliation” was carried out together with the “Research Center of Mennonite History in the Russian Empire and the USSR” (University of Toronto, Canada), within which there was conducted a study of Ukrainian Mennonite colonies quota during the Civil War;

4) the project on Ukrainian Swedish population history and culture studying (with participation of S. Bobylieva, O. Beznosov, O. Beznosova, Yu. Malytska) was promoted along with the scientists of Sorednenska High School (Stockholm, Sweden);

5) the researchers participated in the EU program “Welcome to the Mennonite Europe” in 2012 – 2014 (http://www.eumen.net/en/);

6) an agreement on cooperation with the “Institute of Culture and History of Germans in the North-Eastern Europe” was signed in 2017 (Luneburg, Germany);

7) the Center is an agent and participater in international students program Memory-Wiki in 2018 – 2019 – Following the Memory about Forgotten Nazi Victims in Ukraine, Russia and Germany” (Dnipro – Bremen – Berlin). The program organizer is the association “KONTAKTE-CONTACTS” (Germany, Berlin).