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Im Sommer 1940 kam es in Moskau zu einer denkwürdigen Begegnung. Stalin hatte erfahren, dass sein Jugendfreund, Sergei Kawtaradze, verhaftet und in ein Lager gebracht worden war. Als er davon hörte, erteilte er die Anweisung, den Freund zu entlassen und ihm eine Wohnung in Moskau zu verschaffen. Eines Abends überkam Stalin das Bedürfnis, ihn zu besuchen. Er befahl seinen Geheimdienstchef zu sich, den Georgier Lawrentij Berija, und gemeinsam fuhren sie zu Kawtaradze. Sie klingelten an der Wohnungstür, und eine Frau, die sich mit den Kawtaradzes die Behausung teilte, öffnete die Tür. Als sie den Diktator und seinen Gehilfen im Hausflur stehen sah, geriet sie außer Fassung. Sie stolperte und fiel rückwärts in den Flur. Berija fing sie auf und sagte: »Warum haben Sie denn Angst vor dem Vater der Völker?« Die Frau antwortete: »Ich dachte, dass das Portrait Stalins auf mich zukommt.«

2.1 EINLEITUNG Die theoretische Auseinandersetzung mit dem Totalitarismus als Phänomen und mit dem allgemeinen Begriff dieses Phänomens hat verschiedene Stadien durchlaufen: vom ursprünglichen Aufkommen des Wortes ›totalitär‹ als Ausdruck für einen neuen politischen Begriff, über die Anfänge der Theoriebildung bis hin zu den unterschiedlichen Totalitarismus-Konzepten vor und nach 1945 sowie der Kritik und den Differenzierungen, die diese Konzepte während des Kaltes Krieges und danach provozie...

Die Arbeit stellt die Hauptlinien der im 20. Jahrhundert in West- und Osteuropa geführten Totalitarismus-Debatten dar, um die besonderen Merkmale von Cassirers Auseinandersetzung mit demselben Phänomen des Totalitarismus zu zeigen. Der Autor konzentriert sich auf Cassirers Kulturphilosophie und politischer Philosophie im Verhältnis zu den dargestellten Debatten. So wird geklärt, welchen Gewinn Cassirers kulturanthropologisch angelegte Deutung totalitärer Herrschaft aus heutiger Sicht abwirft.

1.1 EINLEITUNG Die Rolle des Einzelnen in der menschlichen Gesellschaft ist in der Geschichte immer wieder und zu verschiedenen Zeiten sehr unterschiedlich thematisiert worden. Von den Staatsformen der Antike über die durch die christliche Religion geprägten mittelalterlichen Staaten, den Anthropozentrismus der Renaissance, das Zeitalter der Aufklärung, das 19. Jahrhundert, die Verwerfungen des 1. und 2. Weltkriegs sowie die faschistischen und kommunistischen Diktaturen bis zur heutigen Situa...

3.1 EINLEITUNG Versucht man heute, den Stellenwert der politischen Philosophie Cassirers einzuschätzen, kann man ganz allgemein sagen, dass sein Hauptbestreben war, die ethische Dimension in der Philosophie, Kultur und Politik zu bewahren und zu betonen. In der Davoser Debatte 1929 zwischen Cassirer und Heidegger stießen zwei prominente Paradigmen der deutschen Philosophie des 20. Jahrhunderts aufeinander: einerseits Cassirers Kulturphilosophie, sein Humanismus und Optimismus, sein Glaube an ...

5.1 EINLEITUNG Im i. Teil habe ich die Anfangsphase der Totalitarismusdebatte und die sozusagen »klassischen« Deutungen des Totalitarismus vorgestellt. Diese fanden später natürlich auch, weil im Laufe der Zeit etwa das totalitäre Regime in der Sowjetunion immer neue Facetten offenbarte, die in den »klassischen« Deutungen noch nicht hinreichend berücksichtigt schienen. Mit Blick auf 50er Jahre kann man zwar von einer gewissen Liberalisierung des Regimes in der UdSSR sprechen. Denn der Tod Sta...

4.1 EINLEITUNG Im Zentrum von Cassirers politischer Philosophie steht sein letztes größeres Werk The Myth of the State, das, 1944 konzipiert, erst im Jahr 1946 postum veröffentlicht wurde. Cassirers Deutung des Totalitarismus, die er im Exil erarbeitet hatte, steht in einer Reihe mit Helmut Plessners Die verspätete Nation (1935), Ernst Blochs Erbschaft dieser Zeit (1935), Max Horkheimers und Theodor W. Adornos Dialektik der Aufklärung (1944) und Hannah Arendts Elemente und Ursprünge des Total...

This introductory article presents the study of the state artist in the context of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the USSR through several case studies. This introduction places the analyses gathered here of the relationship between artists and the state in different phases of the communist regimes, and in different artistic expressions, as well as in several countries. While the focus is on Romanian cases of study, the articles bring forward possible comparisons with neighboring communist regimes. Some of the articles included in this special issue deal with visual arts, literature, photography, amateur rural comedy brigades, and specific cases of artists (Ion Irimescu and Ion Grigorescu), while other articles discuss the specific institutional contradictions of the Soviet cultural framework. This issue advances thus a little bit further in the comparative institutional archive-based study of cultural institutions during communism.

Although many institutions were involved in the cultural diplomacy of the Romanian communist regime, a very consistent part of the artistic exchanges with the East and the West were mediated by the Union of Artists. This paper would like to highlight the important role the Union played in framing the artistic exchanges with several "capitalist countries" and "popular democracies", by looking at several agreements of collaboration between Unions or similar institutions. More precisely, we will look at the variations regarding the form and the quantity of exchanges that were established through such official documents and which referred mainly to exchanges of persons, informations or exhibitions. We will also look at the way these were organized in practice: the study of the travel reports, informative notes or daily programs that were produced on such occasions shows that these exchanges were systematically surveilled and politically motivated. A preliminary analysis of these allows us to observe the Union’s interests regarding the East and the West and suggests that the Romanian Union of Artists contributed to the expansion, the regulation and at the same time the control of the cultural contacts with foreign countries.

The article discusses the evolution of theories of social revolution from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth centuries. The author analyzes the basic concepts of theorists and practitioners of the armed revolutionary struggle - from the founder of the classical Communist theory of Karl Marx to the Mexican guerrilla leader Subcomandante Marcos. The author focuses on the analysis of changes in the understanding of the subject ("driving forces") of the left political revolution, as well as the strategy of armed revolutionary struggle. The author comes to the conclusion about the historical evolution of the subject of the revolutionary struggle from major sustainable macro-groups ("classes"), targeted at the armed struggle, to self-born (by the network principle) unstructured protest groups, situational leaders, mild forms of the revolutionary struggle, which minimize the armed violence, though do not eliminate it completely. The author substantiates the conclusion about the absence in the modern protest movement of social forces, able to become the subject of revolution socialist orientation. This increases the danger of dominance of the social protest of extremist nationalist and religious political spectra. The author offers two models of response to this threat: the growing influence of the reigning centre-right conservative parties of Russia; return to center-left positions of the social democratic movement of the countries of the European Union., В статье рассматривается эволюция теорий социальной революции с середины XIX - до конца XX века. Автор анализирует основные концепции теоретиков и практиков вооруженной революционной борьбы - от основоположника классической коммунистической теории Карла Маркса до лидера мексиканских партизан Субкоманданте Маркоса. В центре внимания автора статьи - анализ изменений в понимании субъекта ("движущих сил") революции левой политической направленности, а также стратегии вооруженной революционной борьбы. Автор приходит к выводу об исторической эволюции субъекта революционной борьбы от крупных устойчивых макросоциальных групп ("классов"), нацеленных на вооруженную борьбу, к самозарождающимся по сетевому принципу неструктурированным группам протеста, ситуативным лидерам, смягченным формам революционной борьбы, при которых функции вооруженного насилия сведены к минимуму, хотя и не исключены полностью. Обосновывается вывод об отсутствии в современном протестном движении социальных сил, способных стать субъектом революции социалистической направленности. Это повышает опасность прихода во главу социального протеста экстремистов националистического и религиозного политического спектров. Автор предлагает две модели реакции на данную угрозу: рост влияния правоцентристских державно- консервативных партий для России; возвращение на левоцентристские позиции социал-демократических партий для стран Европейского союза.

During the communist regime, photography was a popular activity due to the existence of the Association of Photographic Artists. Its members weren't professional artists, but mostly people with technical backgrounds, and who transformed their hobby into a job. The lack of interest of Romanian artists in photography (except for a few particular cases such as Ion Grigorescu or Ștefan Bertalan) can be explained by the fact that there were no photo-video departments within the art universities and the Romanian Artists' Union (UAP), the only form of institutional organization of the Romanian artists, had no special photography department. Therefore, the photographic practice in communist Romania was linked to the Association of Photographic Artists and not to the Romanian Artists' Union. The evolution of its activity in the period between 1968 and 1978, and the impact that politics had on it transpire very well from the evolution of the Fotografia magazine, the only photo periodical of that era. This article shows that even in a creative field, which was overlooked by the Communist Party, the echoes of the official political discourse were felt, mainly after 1975. We have outlined two aesthetic trends in the mid-1970s. One was the photograph obtained by laboratory procedures, supported by a depoliticized discourse and the second was a pseudo reportage photography, namely the communist propaganda photography.

Starting from the case of Ion Irimescu, this article discusses the issue of continuity among Romanian visual artists before and after 1944. In this study, I argue that it was essential for the visual artists' survival and establishment as artists during the communist regime to enter into a clientpatron relationship. The existence of this relationship meant access for the artists to financial funds, promotion within the UAP, and protection from the measures, which the Securitate could have taken against them. This article is divided into four sections. Every section examines an episode from the life of Ion Irimescu. His interwar biography is presented in the first section, and his adaptation to the communist regime is the subject of the second part of this study. The last two parts analyse the factors which facilitated his confirmation and promotion as a state artist after 1944 and the relation of the artist with the Securitate.

Looking back at the important action from 23 August 1944, when Romania left the war on the side of Germany and ceased the fight with the Soviet Union, an action who contributed to the shortening considerably of the war and to the demise of Fascism and Holocaust in Europe, we have to acknowledge the important role played by King Mihai and democratic political forces from Romania like the leaders Iuliu Maniu, Gheorghe Bratianu (leaders of the Peasants' Party and of the Liberal Party) in the democratization of Romania and liberation from fascist experience. Unfortunately, the transformation of the state in communist state could not be prevented by these liberal and democratic forces, neither by monarchy in the context of lack of international support for the maintenance of capitalist, western-oriented state.

In this article we want to question the role of Moscow in the international history of Eastern European popular democracies. In comparison with studies about the relationships to the West, to the South or to other popular democracies, the current historiography underestimates the variety of exchanges between USSR and the socialist countries. We consider here the benefits of provincializing Moscow in the study of communism, in order to reintegrate Soviet presence in the history of the region.

Erziehung war für die DDR immer ein Thema, "kommunistische Erziehung" dagegen wird erst nach 1975 von Margot Honecker als Erwartung formuliert und dann intensiv bearbeitet: erziehungstheoretisch und pädagogisch, in der Erziehungsforschung und in ihren leitenden Institutionen, wie der Akademie der Pädagogischen Wissenschaften der DDR (APW), und praktisch im Erziehungsalltag. Konzentriert auf Prozesse und Praktiken der Erziehungsforschung untersucht der Beitrag, wie das Problem an Brisanz gewann, weil einerseits ungeklärt war, was "kommunistische Erziehung" sein kann und wie sie zu realisieren ist, andererseits die dabei eingeleiteten umfassenden Forschungen zwar zu einer breiten Theoretisierung und Methodisierung der Erziehungsforschung der DDR führten, aber zugleich politisch unerwünschte und theoretisch nicht mehr integrierbare Ergebnisse erzeugten. Dieses Dilemma führte zum Konflikt mit der Politik, aber noch hier folgte die pädagogische Wissenschaft der DDR eher der Logik von Forschung und Theoretisierung als politischen Erwartungen. Simple Codierungen von Wissenschaft unter Bedingungen der Diktatur, z.B. als Staatspädagogik, unkritische Praxis oder pure Legitimationswissenschaft, verdecken diese ambivalenten Relationen von Wissenschaft und Politik. (DIPF/Orig.), Education had always been an issue in the GDR but "communist education" had not been an issue until Margot Honecker formulated it in 1975. It then became intensively elaborated in educational and pedagogical theory, in "pedagogical research (Erziehungsforschung)", in the leading institutes such as the "Akademie der Pädagogischen Wissenschaften der DDR (APW)" and in everyday educational interaction. Focusing on processes and practices of "Erziehungsforschung" (educational research), the article examines how 'communist education' developed into a controversial topic. On the one hand, clarifications were needed on what "communist education" should be and how it could be realised. On the other hand, while extensive research work led to the production of broad theoretical and methodical knowledge that contributed to "Erziehungsforschung", it also led to politically unwanted and theoretically inconvenient outcomes. This dilemma led to political conflicts. Nevertheless, educational research in the GDR followed the logic of research and theory rather than political expectations. The simplistic conceptualisation of research that takes place under the conditions of dictatorship as, for example, "Staatspädagogik (state pedagogy)", "unkritische Praxis (uncritical practice)", or "Legitimationswissenschaft (legitimation research)", obscures the ambiguities in the relationship between research and politics. (DIPF/Orig.)

Created in 1934, the Union of Soviet Writers facilitated the instrumentalisation of literature by the Soviet authorities: it was its main goal, explicitly proclaimed at the first Congress of this Union, and repeated until the 1980s. The Union of Soviet Writers was supposed to create and educate a "New Person" who would build and embody communism. Furthermore, the Union of Soviet Writers was the model of other creative unions in the USSR and in the Soviet bloc. For more than fifty years, it selected, guided and controlled writers; it participated to the censorship process, as well as to the purges and repression of dissidents. In exchange, the Union of Soviet Writers received very important material rewards, of which its leaders were the main beneficiaries. The Union of Writers developed as a pyramidal structure: it had organizations in every Soviet republic (in Russia, only since 1958) and in many towns, and they collaborated at all levels with the corresponding CPSU structures. During the Stagnation, it also reactivated functional links with the army, the Ministry of the Interior and the Komsomol, with kolkhozes and factories. The Union of Soviet Writers was infiltrated by the KGB, which contributed to spreading fear and sterilizing an official literature of which few works are still read nowadays.

This article analyzes initial results concerning the links between Romanian and Russian ballets during the Cold War. Cooperative relations are held, sometimes challenged by defectors who prefer the West to develop their international career. This brings Romania to be considered as a suitable ground for research on ballet, torn between East and West, in the training of dancers, repertoire or ballet tours.

This article reviews the political history of Czechoslovakia as a vital part of the Soviet-dominated “Communist bloc” and its repercussions for the journalist associations based in the country. Following an eventful history since 1918, Czechoslovakia changed in 1948 from a liberal democracy into a Communist regime. This had significant consequences for journalists and their national union and also for the International Organization of Journalists (IOJ), which had just established its headquarters in Prague. The second historical event to shake the political system was the “Prague Spring” of 1968 and its aftermath among journalists and their unions. The third landmark was the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989, which played a significant part in the fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe and led to the closing of the old Union of Journalists in 1990, followed by the founding of a new Syndicate which refused to serve as the host of the IOJ. This led to a gradual disintegration and the closing down of what in the 1980s was the world’s largest non-governmental organization in the media field.

By the late 1980s many East German authors had for years called for expanding what could be said publicly about the ruling regime. The ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) was quick to suppress such rhetoric, however, and many fellow writers condemned outspoken colleagues for providing ammunition to the West. Yet after years of struggle, the year 1987 witnessed an eruption of public criticism during the Tenth Writers Congress, hosted by the East German Writers Union, the governmentdominated organization to which all authors had to belong. These congresses were typically propaganda events, but in 1987, inspired by Mikhail Gorbachev's calls for greater openness in the USSR, several authors, in front of the media, interrogated many aspects of the dictatorship, stunning the SED elite and secret police in the process. This article explores the congress, tracing the Writers Union's role in shaping debates about freedom of expression. Changes in the preceding years meant that by 1987, critical views had become more widespread, including among those who had once condemned nonconformists. Consequently, at the congress a critical mass of writers succeeded in expanding the limits of speech, joining a wider call for liberalization across the communist world.

The article examines postmodern as the crisis in the being of human and society in terms of the unity of theory and practice. There is compares postmodern society with the communist and information. There is analysis some variants of development, especially European society in terms of a new source of passionate impulse: new ethno genesis in connection with the increase in the number of migrants, passionate impetus from the US, China, Russia, emergence of a new syncretic religion. The conclusion is that the difference between the post-modern and the freedom not to have an ontological character are only apparent. Postmodern tolerance is a consequence of the absence of ontological foundation of postmodern existence.

This article is a case study of the Romanian Artists' Union during the Thaw as an institution potentially capable of renewal by creatively applying the rules imposed in the totalitarian communist State. The methodology used is that of archival research through the use of the concepts of Repressive State Apparatus, Ideological State Apparatus (Althusser), dispositif (Foucault), and habitus (Bourdieu). The text shows that from 1953 until 1957, in the context of similar changes in the Soviet Union, the Union of Romanian Fine Artists underwent a gradual transformation, which culminated with the change of the Management Board and a professionalization on specific criteria of the structure. The characteristics of the modern foucauldian dispositif, that the Union acquired in the period of the Thaw, remained valid in the next period, of reideologisation (1958-1963). The conclusions are that even in conditions of totalitarianism, subjects and structures can introduce creative elements into the process of reproduction of a given order, by modifying this order.

t Der vorliegende Beitrag setzt sich mit dem in den Sozialwissenschaften recht umstrittenen Konzept der Identität auseinander. Dabei wird versucht, durch eine Analyse die sich auf ein flüssiges, zeit- und geschichtsimmanentes Verständnis von Identität baut, auf eine Morphologie von Identitätskonstruktionen zu stoßen. Als Beispiel und Objekt der vorliegenden Analyse dienen die Beziehung und das Zusammenleben der Minderheiten in Rumänien, vor allem während des kommunistischen Regimes.

Ein Denkmal in Gursuf, einem Schwarzmeerküstenort auf der Krim – man könnte es betiteln mit »Lenin spannt aus«. Statt der gewohnten Lenin-Statuen aus sowjetischer Zeit, die aufrecht stehend mit großer Geste den Weg in eine »strahlende Zukunft« (so auch ein weiterer Romantitel Sinowjews) weisen, finden wir in Gursuf einen ebenso überlebensgroßen, erhabenen Lenin vor; er sitzt mit übereinander geschlagenen Beinen, fast in Urlaubshaltung auf einer Bank vor einer prunkvollen Villa, die in der UdSSR dem Sanatorium des Verteidigungsministeriums zugeordnet war. Bereits in der frühen Sowjetunion – in den 1920er-Jahren – hatte Lenin dekretiert, die Kurorte der Krim seien für die Arbeiter und Bauern zu nutzen sowie die Villen und Besitztümer der Adligen in entsprechende Sanatorien umzuwandeln. Die gesamte Schwarzmeerküste der Sowjetunion wurde als Kurregion entwickelt. So ließ Stalin einst Sotschi – 2014 die Stadt Putins subtropischer Winterolympiade – als Modell-Kurstadt und Prestigeprojekt ausbauen. Die Krim, deren Badeorte bereits auf das 19. Jahrhundert zurückgingen, und vor allem die Gegend um Jalta – auch russische Riviera genannt – wurde zur wichtigsten Erholungs- und Sanatorienregion der UdSSR.

Different political elite groups of post-communist Lithuania offer different accounts of the Soviet past. Even twenty years later, after the collapse of communism Lithuanian politicians (with the exception of certain conservative anti-nostalgic leaders allied with some populists) still do not have a unified and coherent view on the Soviet political and social practices, truths, and methods. However, conservatives are very consistent in their restrictive views about the past and are willing to engage in propagating decision-making that prevents them from repeating the actions of the past. Social democrats, liberals, and populists are much more internally divided and tend to display lukewarm attitudes towards the Soviet past and its political reconsideration. Yet, the present analysis of the adopted laws and public policies, alongside a study on the attitudes of political elites make it possible to conclude that anti-nostalgia, the negative assessment of the Soviet life-style, criticism of it and attempts to keep the former Soviet decision makers out of Lithuania’s public administration are key ways of treating the past in Lithuania. All efforts to accommodate a more permissive attitude towards the Soviet past and civil servants whose career began under the Soviets do not find much support within the Lithuanian elite.

As a striking phenomenon of Soviet consumption, Beriozka stores appeared in the late 1950s and existed until the end of the 1980s. This chain of stores was a state trade organization selling goods that were otherwise in short supply (cars, fashionable clothes, household appliances, etc.) for special ‘checks’ used as equivalents of foreign currency by special groups of Soviet citizens. Similar stores existed in other socialist countries. The article shows that these stores on the one hand became an element of the existing system of state-granted entitlements. The customers were Soviet citizens who earned money abroad as well as people who did not go abroad but received remittances from foreign sources. On the other hand, the development of the black market (barely persecuted by the state) made it possible to purchase Beriozka checks for roubles; so it granted access to sought-after goods (among them even goods from the West) to a wide range of consumers. Paradoxically, Beriozka was criticized and much frequented at the same time., Seit den späten 1950er-Jahren waren die so genannten Beriozka-Geschäfte ein auffälliges Phänomen des Konsums in der UdSSR. Getragen vom Ministerium für Außenhandel, verkauften sie begehrte Konsumgüter wie Autos, modische Kleidung und Haushaltsgeräte gegen Devisen bzw. spezielle Schecks. Ähnliche Geschäfte gab es auch in anderen sozialistischen Ländern. Der Aufsatz zeigt, dass solche Läden auf der einen Seite zum sowjetischen Privilegiensystem gehörten. Die Kunden waren Sowjetbürger, die entweder selbst im Ausland arbeiteten oder aber von dort Einkünfte bezogen. Auf der anderen Seite konnten Beriozka-Schecks auf dem (vom Staat kaum sanktionierten) Schwarzmarkt gekauft werden, was den Zugang zu diesen Geschäften und den dortigen (auch westlichen) Waren stark erweiterte. Paradoxerweise wurde das Beriozka-System von den Konsumenten ebenso kritisiert wie häufig genutzt.

Welches Maß an Gleichheit muss eine sozialistische Gesellschaft garantieren, und wie viel Ungleichheit benötigt sie, um nicht in Stagnation zu versinken? Solche Fragen beschäftigten die sowjetischen Bürger nicht erst seit der perestrojka, aber in dieser Phase wurde der von der Kommunistischen Partei vorgegebene Diskursrahmen erweitert und schließlich gesprengt. Die Privilegien der Nomenklatura boten das Feld, auf dem über Ungleichheit und Verteilungsgerechtigkeit gestritten wurde. Briefe von Bürgern an die Deputierten des Obersten Sowjets aus den Jahren 1989/90, die in diesem Aufsatz erstmals näher erschlossen werden, geben Einblick in unterschiedliche Positionen. Deutlich wird, dass nicht die Prinzipien der Verteilung als ungerecht galten (Leistungen für Staat und Gesellschaft als primäres Kriterium), aber ihre Ergebnisse. Ausgehend von Fragen sozialer Gerechtigkeit erweiterte sich die Debatte um Fragen politischer Gerechtigkeit; sie mündete in eine grundlegende Kritik an der Parteiherrschaft und beschleunigte den Zusammenbruch der bisherigen Ordnung., Does a socialist society have to guarantee equality and, if so, to what degree? Or does it also require inequality to some extent in order to avoid stagnation? Already before perestrojka, Soviet citizens were very preoccupied with these questions. However, since then the frame within which the Communist Party defined the discourse steadily expanded and, finally, exploded. The privileges of the nomenclatura were the crux that sparked discussions of inequality and distributive justice in the Soviet Union. Citizens’ letters to the deputies of the Supreme Soviet dating from 1989/90, which are analysed here for the first time, illustrate the different positions. It becomes clear that the results of distribution were considered unjust – rather than its very principles (benefits for state and society as the primary criterion). Initially only concerned with questions of social justice, the debate soon also came to encompass questions of political justice. Eventually it turned into a fundamental critique of one-party rule and thus accelerated the collapse of the existing order.

Der untergegangene Staatssozialismus war eine Gesellschaft der Gleichen. Mit ihrer Gleichheit war es aber so eine Sache. Wie es in Orwells „Farm der Tiere“ heißt: „Alle Tiere sind gleich. Aber manche sind gleicher.“ Trotz dieses Einwandes erscheint manchem die Unterscheidung zwischen vergangener Gleichheit und heutiger Ungleichheit plausibel, weil es seit 1989/90 eine rasante soziale Ausdifferenzierung gab. Sie hat den Staatssozialismus nachträglich in ein milderes Licht getaucht. Der vorliegende Essay wird sich mit dem sozialen Wandel und der Entstehung der gegenwärtigen Ungleichheit in Osteuropa beschäftigen – die einigen als gerecht, anderen aber als ungerecht erscheint. Um genauer verstehen zu können, was die Ungleichheit für die Politik und den Alltag in diesen Gesellschaften bedeutet, soll gefragt werden: Wie stand es mit Gleichheit und Ungleichheit im Spätsozialismus? Welche Art von sozialer Ungleichheit bildete sich nach 1989 heraus, und welche Aufgaben für deren politikwissenschaftliche und zeitgeschichtliche Analyse lassen sich identifizieren?

What keeps cultural studies in motion and, more difficult still, what hold them together? They are continuously animated through so-called ‚turns‘ that in regular intervals open up new perspectives and transform the leading issues and concepts. Such regular innovations are not only due to internal readjustments in terms of methodological changes but are also connected to cultural and social changes. In this way, cultural studies have become an integral part of the transformation of the world as we see and construct it. They are not only a lense through which we observe the transformation of the world, but also a tool with which it is produced. In this active engagement and entanglement with the real world, cultural studies have lost a sense of their professional boundaries. They are constantly extending their realm of research, incorporating avidly new territory. To the extent that cultural studies have embraced the project of cultural self-thematization and self-transformation, they have become as fluid and volatile as culture itself.

Der Beitrag berichtet über die persönlichen Erfahrungen der Autorin mit der Disziplinierung öffentlicher Meinungsäußerungen durch die polnische Regierung aus einer subjektiven Perspektive. The paper reports about the personal experiences of the author with disciplining the freedom of expression by Polish governments from a subjective perspective.

The article examines the discourse of «decommunisation» in a public plane of the modern Ukrainian information space. Its rhetorical dominant is represented by the communication strategies of the supporters and opponents of the package of «historical» laws adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on April 9, 2015.The author of the article has reproduced the chronical development of discourse «decommunisation» within the national concept of «historical memory».European practice of condemnation of communist crimes was analyzed; factual material representing the international dialogue discussion Ukrainian decommunisation process was involved. Special attention is given to the issue of decommunisation of the media sector, it was emphasised on the controversial aspects of interpretation of legislation «purification» from the Soviet Communist symbols. Functional explications of discourse «decommunisation» in the media were studied, in particular within the event content, social content of the problem, subject-content argumentation and contextualization in international, legal, moral and ethical plane, mythologizing the narrative. On the basis of factual material the basic meaning of the public topics of the analyzed discourse flow was revealed, it was indicated on its dependence of the communication purpose of the speeches. Infographic representation of the component «decommunisation» in the media has been analyzed, including the frequency of use of official symbols and their substantive relevance. It was revealed that the information occasion and the intensity of publications within the discourse is caused not only by the event content, but also by the methodological source (Calendar of decommunisation), developed by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory. The reasoning patterns of the texts were analyzed and it was found that the strategy of «responsible contextualization» contributes to the formation of the constructive dialogue. It was indicated on the necessity of attraction of qualitative component of communicative media strategies, including the use of critical narratives. The author has focused on the ambivalent influence of the discourse on the design of public opinion, the set of public representations which, depending on the purpose of communication, contributes to the formation conventional meanings, the effect of «normalization» and manipulation.

The present study presents a few from the most well known Jewish memoirs written by Jewish intellectuals, active in the life of Jewish Community from Romania during the Holocaust years and in its aftermath, after the setting of communism in Romania. The books come with a personal note, an inner vision about the condition of Jews in fascist and early years of communism, about the ideal of "liberty" in a world of storm, of military confrontation, racism and anti-Semmitism. From these memoirs, it emerges the particular spirit of Jewish Community with his fight for survival, between adaptation to the politics of spheres of influence and emigration.

Basierend auf den Voraussetzungen und dem terminologischen Instrumentarium der Totalitarismustheorie legt der Verfasser eine systematische, vergleichende Analyse der Grundstruktur des Sowjetkommunismus und des Nationalsozialismus vor. Er fragt nach den Entstehungsbedingungen beider totalitären Systeme und nimmt dann einen systematischen Strukturvergleich vor, der die Herrschaftsapparate in den Mittelpunkt stellt. Abschließend werden die Terrorsysteme beider Diktaturen detailliert verglichen, deren ideologischer Krieg gegeneinander eine Radikalisierung des nationalsozialistischen Terrors bewirkte. Der Verfasser wertet das 20. Jahrhundert als das Zeitalter des Totalitarismus. (ICEÜbers), 'Orientated at the premises and the terminological tools of totalitarianism theory, the essay develops a systematic, comparative analysis of basic structural features of Soviet Communism and National Socialism. After having reflected on the conditions of its development, by a second step there is attempting a systematic structural comparison of the two totalitarian systems which focuses on their apparatuses of rule. Finally by a third part, the systems of terror of the two dicatorships are compared to each other in very much detail and it is shown which role the ideologic war of the two dictatorships against each other played most of all for the radicalization of National Socialist terror. The concluding remarks interprete the 20th century as the age of totalitarianism.' (author's abstract)

Cet article analyse la manière dont la propagande en Union soviétique a été intériorisée dans les années 1930 par les intellectuels d'Europe de l'Ouest. A travers les textes de Romain Rolland et de Lion Feuchtwanger, nous montrerons comment l'interaction entre le langage stalinien et l'auto-illusion de ces intellectuels, nourrie par l'idéologie, engendra une perception de la réalité où la distinction entre la réalité et la fiction n’existait plus. Der Beitrag geht der Frage nach, wie die Propaganda des Sowjetregimes in den 1930er Jahren von westeuropäischen Intellektuellen internalisiert wurde. Am Beispiel von Romain Rolland und Lion Feuchtwanger wird nachgezeichnet, auf welche Weise das Zusammenspiel des stalinistischen Sprachgebrauchs und einer ideologisch motivierten Selbsttäuschung eine Realitätswahrnehmung bedingte, in der die Trennung zwischen Tatsachen und Fiktion nicht mehr existierte.

In this study, we investigate morality in relation to the public good in post-socialist Europe. Public good morality is defined as the (non)acceptance of behaviour that contravenes the law and harms society and the greater good of the collective, such as cheating on taxes if one has the chance, paying cash to avoid taxes, not paying one’s fare in public transport, and claiming state benefits one is not entitled to. Using data from the European Values Study in 2008 on more than 30,000 respondents in 23 post-socialist states, we find that on average the level of public good morality is quite high: 8.4 on a ten-point scale. However, there are marked differences between individuals and between countries, which we attempt to explain by looking at the legacy of communist rule, processes of democratization and compliance attitudes. We find that individuals living in former Soviet states are more ‘lenient’ when it comes to actions that harm the collective. However, those who lived under communist rule for a longer time display higher (and not lower) levels of public good morality. The level of democracy in a country does not seem to add any explanatory power, but individuals who hold more democratic values appear to be morally less strict. Finally, compliance attitudes such as interpersonal trust and confidence in government do not seem to mediate the observed relationships between communist rule and democracy on the one hand and public good morality on the other hand., Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 7, No 1 (2015)

'Das Zeitalter des Totalitarismus prägt das politische Denken Eric Voegelins (1901-1985). Angesichts der gefährdeten westlichen Welt sucht er nach den Fundamenten der politischen Ordnung, die er nicht in der liberalen, sondern in der christlichen Tradition diagnostiziert. Kommunismus, Faschismus und sogar der Liberalismus als vorherrschende Ideologien der Moderne wurzeln nämlich gemeinsam in einer weit herkommenden Tradition des Gnostizismus, der die unveränderlichen menschlichen Wesensmerkmale aufzulösen trachtet. Demgegenüber propagiert Voegelin einen starken Staat, der sich nicht von den Illusionen einer Medienwelt blenden lässt, der vielmehr das Böse noch zu identifizieren vermag. Dem Ideologieverdacht sucht Voegelin dagegen im Rückgriff auf die platonisch-augustinische Tradition zu entgehen. Ein originär christliches Denken braucht dann auch keine explizite Ethik, die es wie im scholastischen Denken automatisch enthält.' (Autorenreferat), 'The totalitarian age impresses on the political philosophy of Eric Voegelin. In face of the danger which threatens the western world Eric Voegelin looks for the basis of political order, which he finds in the Christian tradition, not in the liberal tradition. Communism, fascism and also liberalism as the predominant ideologies of modern times have their common source in gnosticism, which tries to change the eternal character of man. In spite Voegelin demands a strong state, which does not follow the illusions of the mass media, which rather can still identify the good and the evil. Voegelin tries to escape from the suspicion that this concept could be ideological by means of the occidental tradition of Platonism and Augustinism. In that way an original Christian philosophy does not need an own concept of ethics, because like in the scholastic philosophy it is ethics by itself.' (author's abstract)

This article shows that corruption in socialist Yugoslavia was a specific phenomenon when compared to the inter-war period or to post-socialism. In contrast to liberalism, communist ideology did not support an understanding of corruption as a problem of its own but tended to see political and material “deviations” as originating from the same root – i.e. from a lack of political morale. The League of Communists failed to live up to its role as an educator of society, since it was trapped between declarative moral rigorism and the fact that material need and greed could be satisfied best by becoming a party member. Corruption practices often did not involve bribes but still fit into Transparency International’s broad definition of corruption as the “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”, in particular for obtaining rare goods such as apartments, jobs or raw materials. While the anticorruption discourse in socialist Yugoslavia was often linked to anti-bureaucratic, anti-elitist and sometimes to dogmatic communist stances, liberal remedies such as transparent and regular procedures were also discussed and applied, though less frequently. The article is based on archival sources from the League of Communists and other Yugoslav institutions. Since the research was centered on Serbia, the majority of concrete examples come from this republic.