The course is intended to give a short introduction to the origins and the transformations in the ethnic composition of the population in Central and Eastern Europe. It also analyzes the emergence of modern national identities (and the ensuing political aspirations). This is followed by a study of the religious denominations of the peoples living in the region with a special emphasis on the political and social role of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. The chronological discussion will start with 1848, the ‘spring of the peoples’. Key questions to be discussed include the ethnic and national conflicts which contributed to the rise and dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, as well as the ’Jewish Question’. Due attention will be paid to the ethnic and national tensions during the interwar years (1919-1939), with special reference to the roots of anti-Semitism, the idea of ‘scapegoating’ in the region and the Holocaust during World War II. This section will be followed by the discussion of the national problems in the Soviet bloc countries, with special regard to the events in 1956, 1968, and 1981. At the same time, the question of religion in the Communist countries will be covered at some length as well. The revival of national, religious, and ethnic identities following the introduction of ‘glasnost’ and ‘perestroika’ in the Soviet Union will be addressed through the analysis of three case studies: the disintegration of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, and the situation of the Hungarian minorities in the region. Finally, the position and the treatment of the Roma people in the region will be discussed.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course, students should be familiar with the geographic, political, economic, cultural notions of Central and Eastern Europe. They should know the theoretical aspects of such terms as ’nations’, ’ethnic groups’, etc.
Method of presentation:
lectures and group discussions
Required work and form of assessment:
regular attendance; a written mid-term exam; a written final exam; a home essay on a freely chosen topic (10-12 double-spaced pages).
Grading:
Mid-term exam: 40%
Final exam: 40%
Home essay: 20%
Grades: 0-60% = F
61-70% = D
71-80% = C
81-90% = B
91-100% = A
content:
Session 1
Regions in Europe. Geographical, cultural, and economic interpretations, political implications. Center and periphery in Europe.
(Davies: 1-46; Rupnik: 3-23; Johnson: 3-12)
Session 2
The interpretations of Central, East-Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe.
(Wolff: 1-16; Schöpflin: 7-29; O’Loughlin: 1-22)
Session 3
The ethnic composition of the population of Eastern and Central Europe. Slavs, Germans, Rumanians, Hungarians.
(Brubaker: 1-16; Hutchinson-Smith: 3-13; 5-16; 171-177)
Session 4
Ethnic and national identities. The formation of Eastern and Central European nations as compared to other regions.
(Hobsbawm: 1-13; Crampton: 1-27)
Session 5
The religious denominations of the population of Central and Eastern Europe. Reformation and counter-reformation. The ideological, social, political, and cultural role of the churches.
(Walters: 112-115; 146-164; 177-189; 251-266; 276-286; 294-304)
Session 6
The turning point of 1848. National awakening in multinational empires: national movements in the Habsburg and Russian empires. The ethnic composition of the population of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
(Glatz: 33-43; Pearson: 44-118)
Session 7
The dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy: new states, new majorities, new minorities. The principle of national self-determination.
(Horak: 13-239)
Session 8
Jews as a national and religious minority in Eastern and Central Europe, 1848-1945. Migration patterns, demographic changes, assimilation.
(McCagg: 1-8; 15-24; Hanák: 44-62)
Session 9
Scapegoating in History.
(Pók: 15-32)
Session 10
The religious, social, and economic roots of Anti-Semitism in Central and Eastern Europe.
(McCagg: 1-8; 15-24; Hanák: 44-62)
Session 11
Revision.
Session 12
Mid-term test
Session 13
The Holocaust I.
(Braham-Pók: 285-304; Mendelsohn: 1-8; Yahil: 34-52)
Session 14
The Holocaust debate in the post-war period. The consequences of the Holocaust on the position of the Jewish people in Central and Eastern Europe.
Session 15
The problems of Central and Eastern European national minorities among the causes of World War II.
(Horak: 13-239; Schöpflin: 242-249; Frank 79-119)
Session 16
The consequences of World War II with special regard to the ethnic minorities. National minorities in the Soviet Bloc. Old and new borders.
(Horak: 13-239)
Session 17
Crises in the Soviet Bloc: 1956, 1968, and 1981. Religion in the Communist countries.
(Opocensky: 5-17; Horak: 13-239)
Session 18
The collapse of Communism in Eastern and Central Europe. The revival of national, religious, and ethnic identities. Border changes, population movements, and the collapse of articial federations.
(Feffer: 1-8; Kupchan: 1-14; Brunner: 5-38)
Session 19
Ethnic and national factors in the European integration of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
(Schöpflin: 37-65; Schöpflin: 151-168; Kupfenberg: 69-97)
Session 20
The Roma. Their origins; the various groups within the Roma community; their social, political, economic, and cultural position in present-day Central and Eastern Europe.
(Cahn et al. 71-95)
Session 21
Revision.
Session 22
Final test
Required readings:
A Reader available in the Library including the texts identified above.
Brubaker, Rogers. Nationalism Reframed. Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe. New York: Cambridge UP, 1996.
Brunner, Georg. Nation-States and Minorities in the Eastern Part of Europe. Budapest: Régió, 1994.
Crampton, R. J. Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century. London-New York: Routledge, 1994.
Crowe, David M. A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia. New York: St. Martin’s, 1994. Davies, Norman. Europe: A History. New York: Oxford UP, 1996.
Frank, Tibor. Double Exile: Migrations of Jewish-Hungarian Professionals through Germany to the United States 1919-1945 (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2009).
Fraser, August. The Gypsies. Oxford: Blackwell & New York: Cambridge UP, 1992.
Gellner, Ernst. Nations and Nationalism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1983.
Hobsbawm, E. J. Nations and Nationalism since 1780. Cambridge UP, 1992.
Horak, Stephan M. and Richard Blanke, et. al. eds. Eastern European National Minorities 1919-1980. Littleton, Col.: Libraries Unlimited, 1985.
Johnson Lonnie R. Central Europe. New York: Oxford UP, 1996.
Kupchan, Charles A. ed. Nationalism and Nationalities in the New Europe. New York: Oxford UP, 1996. McCagg, William O. Jr. A History of Habsburg Jews. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1992.
Mendelssohn, Eva. The Jews of Central Europe between the World Wars. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1983.
Pók, Attila. The Politics of Hatred in the Middle of Europe. Savaria University Press, 2009.
Ramet, Sabrina P. ed. Eastern Europe. Politics, Culture and Society since 1939. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1998.
Rupnik, Jacques. The Other Europe. New York: Pantheon Books, 1988.
Sugar, Peter F. ed. Eastern European Nationalism in the 20th Century. Washington: The American UP, 1995.
Yahil, Leni. The Holocaust. The Fate of European Jewry. New York: Oxford UP, 1991.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Tamas Magyarics earned his Ph. D. in Modern History from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1996. He is currently Associate Professor at the School of English and American Studies, where since 1987 he has taught seminars and lectures on the history of the United States, the transatlantic relations, the U.S.-Central and East European relations, and the Cold War. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, Budapest, the Editor-in-Chief of the Foreign Policy Review, and the Executive Vice-President at the International Center for Democratic Transition (ICDT), Budapest. His current research areas focus on the U.S.-European relations with special reference to the position of the Central and East European countries in the Atlantic community. Among his most recent publications are ‘The Roller Coaster of the Transatlantic Relations since the War in Iraq’ (2009’); Hungary and the ESDP’ (2008); Hungary’s Image in the U.S., 1956-1989’ (2008); ‘The Postwar Settlement and the Central European Policy of Great Britain in the 1920s’ (2008).
The course is intended to give a short introduction to the origins and the transformations in the ethnic composition of the population in Central and Eastern Europe. It also analyzes the emergence of modern national identities (and the ensuing political aspirations). This is followed by a study of the religious denominations of the peoples living in the region with a special emphasis on the political and social role of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. The chronological discussion will start with 1848, the ‘spring of the peoples’. Key questions to be discussed include the ethnic and national conflicts which contributed to the rise and dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, as well as the ’Jewish Question’. Due attention will be paid to the ethnic and national tensions during the interwar years (1919-1939), with special reference to the roots of anti-Semitism, the idea of ‘scapegoating’ in the region and the Holocaust during World War II. This section will be followed by the discussion of the national problems in the Soviet bloc countries, with special regard to the events in 1956, 1968, and 1981. At the same time, the question of religion in the Communist countries will be covered at some length as well. The revival of national, religious, and ethnic identities following the introduction of ‘glasnost’ and ‘perestroika’ in the Soviet Union will be addressed through the analysis of three case studies: the disintegration of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, and the situation of the Hungarian minorities in the region. Finally, the position and the treatment of the Roma people in the region will be discussed.
By the end of the course, students should be familiar with the geographic, political, economic, cultural notions of Central and Eastern Europe. They should know the theoretical aspects of such terms as ’nations’, ’ethnic groups’, etc.
lectures and group discussions
regular attendance; a written mid-term exam; a written final exam; a home essay on a freely chosen topic (10-12 double-spaced pages).
Grading:
Mid-term exam: 40%
Final exam: 40%
Home essay: 20%
Grades: 0-60% = F
61-70% = D
71-80% = C
81-90% = B
91-100% = A
Session 1
Regions in Europe. Geographical, cultural, and economic interpretations, political implications. Center and periphery in Europe.
(Davies: 1-46; Rupnik: 3-23; Johnson: 3-12)
Session 2
The interpretations of Central, East-Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe.
(Wolff: 1-16; Schöpflin: 7-29; O’Loughlin: 1-22)
Session 3
The ethnic composition of the population of Eastern and Central Europe. Slavs, Germans, Rumanians, Hungarians.
(Brubaker: 1-16; Hutchinson-Smith: 3-13; 5-16; 171-177)
Session 4
Ethnic and national identities. The formation of Eastern and Central European nations as compared to other regions.
(Hobsbawm: 1-13; Crampton: 1-27)
Session 5
The religious denominations of the population of Central and Eastern Europe. Reformation and counter-reformation. The ideological, social, political, and cultural role of the churches.
(Walters: 112-115; 146-164; 177-189; 251-266; 276-286; 294-304)
Session 6
The turning point of 1848. National awakening in multinational empires: national movements in the Habsburg and Russian empires. The ethnic composition of the population of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
(Glatz: 33-43; Pearson: 44-118)
Session 7
The dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy: new states, new majorities, new minorities. The principle of national self-determination.
(Horak: 13-239)
Session 8
Jews as a national and religious minority in Eastern and Central Europe, 1848-1945. Migration patterns, demographic changes, assimilation.
(McCagg: 1-8; 15-24; Hanák: 44-62)
Session 9
Scapegoating in History.
(Pók: 15-32)
Session 10
The religious, social, and economic roots of Anti-Semitism in Central and Eastern Europe.
(McCagg: 1-8; 15-24; Hanák: 44-62)
Session 11
Revision.
Session 12
Mid-term test
Session 13
The Holocaust I.
(Braham-Pók: 285-304; Mendelsohn: 1-8; Yahil: 34-52)
Session 14
The Holocaust debate in the post-war period. The consequences of the Holocaust on the position of the Jewish people in Central and Eastern Europe.
Session 15
The problems of Central and Eastern European national minorities among the causes of World War II.
(Horak: 13-239; Schöpflin: 242-249; Frank 79-119)
Session 16
The consequences of World War II with special regard to the ethnic minorities. National minorities in the Soviet Bloc. Old and new borders.
(Horak: 13-239)
Session 17
Crises in the Soviet Bloc: 1956, 1968, and 1981. Religion in the Communist countries.
(Opocensky: 5-17; Horak: 13-239)
Session 18
The collapse of Communism in Eastern and Central Europe. The revival of national, religious, and ethnic identities. Border changes, population movements, and the collapse of articial federations.
(Feffer: 1-8; Kupchan: 1-14; Brunner: 5-38)
Session 19
Ethnic and national factors in the European integration of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
(Schöpflin: 37-65; Schöpflin: 151-168; Kupfenberg: 69-97)
Session 20
The Roma. Their origins; the various groups within the Roma community; their social, political, economic, and cultural position in present-day Central and Eastern Europe.
(Cahn et al. 71-95)
Session 21
Revision.
Session 22
Final test
A Reader available in the Library including the texts identified above.
Bartov, Omer, ed. The Holocaust. Origins, Implementation, Aftermath. London-New York: Routledge, 2000.
Brubaker, Rogers. Nationalism Reframed. Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe. New York: Cambridge UP, 1996.
Brunner, Georg. Nation-States and Minorities in the Eastern Part of Europe. Budapest: Régió, 1994.
Crampton, R. J. Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century. London-New York: Routledge, 1994.
Crowe, David M. A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia. New York: St. Martin’s, 1994. Davies, Norman. Europe: A History. New York: Oxford UP, 1996.
Frank, Tibor. Double Exile: Migrations of Jewish-Hungarian Professionals through Germany to the United States 1919-1945 (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2009).
Fraser, August. The Gypsies. Oxford: Blackwell & New York: Cambridge UP, 1992.
Gellner, Ernst. Nations and Nationalism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1983.
Hobsbawm, E. J. Nations and Nationalism since 1780. Cambridge UP, 1992.
Horak, Stephan M. and Richard Blanke, et. al. eds. Eastern European National Minorities 1919-1980. Littleton, Col.: Libraries Unlimited, 1985.
Johnson Lonnie R. Central Europe. New York: Oxford UP, 1996.
Kupchan, Charles A. ed. Nationalism and Nationalities in the New Europe. New York: Oxford UP, 1996. McCagg, William O. Jr. A History of Habsburg Jews. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1992.
Mendelssohn, Eva. The Jews of Central Europe between the World Wars. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1983.
Pók, Attila. The Politics of Hatred in the Middle of Europe. Savaria University Press, 2009.
Ramet, Sabrina P. ed. Eastern Europe. Politics, Culture and Society since 1939. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1998.
Rupnik, Jacques. The Other Europe. New York: Pantheon Books, 1988.
Sugar, Peter F. ed. Eastern European Nationalism in the 20th Century. Washington: The American UP, 1995.
Yahil, Leni. The Holocaust. The Fate of European Jewry. New York: Oxford UP, 1991.
Tamas Magyarics earned his Ph. D. in Modern History from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1996. He is currently Associate Professor at the School of English and American Studies, where since 1987 he has taught seminars and lectures on the history of the United States, the transatlantic relations, the U.S.-Central and East European relations, and the Cold War. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, Budapest, the Editor-in-Chief of the Foreign Policy Review, and the Executive Vice-President at the International Center for Democratic Transition (ICDT), Budapest. His current research areas focus on the U.S.-European relations with special reference to the position of the Central and East European countries in the Atlantic community. Among his most recent publications are ‘The Roller Coaster of the Transatlantic Relations since the War in Iraq’ (2009’); Hungary and the ESDP’ (2008); Hungary’s Image in the U.S., 1956-1989’ (2008); ‘The Postwar Settlement and the Central European Policy of Great Britain in the 1920s’ (2008).