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This article attempts to analyze and evaluate the achievements of research on cultural diplomacy in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the last years. The present review does not claim to a complete coverage of recent literature but concentrates on characterizing the basic tendencies and conceptual innovations in the chosen field of study. Our analysis allows to identify several current tendencies. Thus, historians are expanding their understanding of cultural diplomacy and integrating new objects of research. One of the most important trends is the study of agency within cultural diplomacy, e. g. of private-state networks or individual and collective actors of cultural diplomacy with their dynamically changing motivations and complicated interdependence with party-state structures and their own cultural practices. These were communicated by the transnational networks and at the same time kept very stable. The analysis of the phenomenon of cultural diplomacy was extended to intercultural communication in the realm of consumer and mass culture and the media landscape. This landscape was transforming in the post-war period and offered new possibilities to communicate cultural messages and to create new channels for cultural transfer One of the achievements of recent scholarly research on the subject can certainly be seen in the acknowledgment of the paradigm of plural modernity which expands the conventional frames of the "bipolar system" allegedly shaped by the insurmountable discrepancies between capitalism and socialism and allows to approach the world order of the Cold War in a more balanced and diverse way emphasizing not only antagonisms but also similarities. Socialist cultures in a national 'cover' contradicting ideology and speaking the language of Enlightenment find a place in this paradigm, as do fragmented identities. Therefore the study of Soviet cultural diplomacy in Eastern Europe contributes to the recent interdisciplinary discussion on pluralistic modernity, to the cultural diversity of the Cold War, to the dynamics of global trends within consumer culture, and to media and transnational communication in general. In the future, it would be desirable to see more studies that define the criteria of the efficiency of cultural diplomacy more precisely and formulate descriptive models and scenarios of cultural diplomacy for individual regions and countries. New topics will complement this so far only fragmentarily analyzed research landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various presentations made at a conference on the legacy of multinational empires and nation-building in eastern Europe during 1917-1923, held at the Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt an der Oder university in Frankfurt, Germany. Topics discussed at the conference included the struggle for political power between Jewish and non-Jewish people in Poland and Lithuania during 1917-1921; and the state-building processes in East Central Europe.

The article presents a report from a July 11, 2014 conference in Berlin, Germany on 20th-century migration to Eastern Central Europe hosted by the Geisteswissenschaftliches Zentrum Geschichte und Kultur Ostmitteleuropas Leipzig historical society, the Herder-Institut für historische Ostmitteleuropaforschung – Institut der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft Marburg historical institutes, and the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin college, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde Eastern European historical society. Topics of presentations delivered included return immigration to East-Central Europe, Russian emigration to East-Central Europe after the Russian revolution, and the emigration of Spaniards to East-Central Europe.

The article reports on a conference on the history of Eastern Europe, held in Freudenstadt, Germany, from May 2-3, 2013. Topics of discussion included Russian tourists in Davos, Switzerland, in the late 19th century, industrial photography in Russia before the 1917 revolution, and the German occupation of Eastern Europe during World War I.

The article presents a literary criticism of the novel "Banket u Blitvi" by Croatian writer Miroslav Krleža. Based on a close reading of the character Oktavijan Deziderije Kronberg, the author suggests possible literary and artistic influences on Krleža of Hungarian author Desző Kosztolányi. The reflection of the political and historical context of 20th-century Eastern Europe in the novel is also discussed.

The article introduces this special issue of the journal, which is dedicated to social and institutional change and legal history in Eastern Europe in the twentieth century.

A report is presented from an April 18-20, 2012 conference in Berlin, Germany on the history of regional identities in Central and Eastern Europe. Topics of discussion included the destruction of Eastern European cultures by Nazis seeking German expansion, Soviet resettlement of Slovaks, and the history curricula of schools in Polish-German borderlands.

The article presents the author's opinions about the terminology used in discussions of southern and eastern areas of Europe, including Southeastern Europe and East Central Europe. Comparisons are drawn between the geographic, political, and cultural connotations of the descriptions. The terms' origins are traced to national socialist and Soviet regimes, where, the author argues, they were used as political constructs and impositions on territories the regimes wished to acquire. Suggestions are included for alternative terminology and research perspectives more inclusive of lifestyle, ethnic identity, and terrain.

The article reports on a conference on the history of natural resources management in Eastern Central Europe, held in Marburg, Germany, from April 18-19, 2013. Topics of discussion included the mining industry in Hungary in the early 19th century, the exploitation of raw materials in Estonia in the 20th century, and the nuclear energy industry in the Soviet Union.

A report is presented from an April 19-20, 2012 conference on the history of Eastern European political borders in the 20th century in Tübingen, Germany. Topics of discussion included the effects of natural geography on the formation of national borders, spatial perception, and the aesthetics of cartography.