Worlds of Maps – Worlds of Texts

Applicant

Herder-Institut für historische Ostmitteleuropaforschung – Institut der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft

https://www.herder-institut.de/

https://www.facebook.com/HerderInstitut

https://www.instagram.com/herder_institut/

Funding body

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)

https://www.bmbf.de/

Project manager

Dr. Elisa-Maria Hiemer GND

e.hiemer@fu-berlin.de

Laufzeit

2020 - 2024

After political independence came Nazi occupation and then communism: the cities of East Central Europe were affected by numerous upheavals and caesuras in the middle of the 20th century. War and destruction, changing administrations, the subsequent reconstruction and new, ideologically shaped urban planning concepts are reflected not only in the cityscape, but also in maps, plans and other written sources. But how are these developments presented here? How are they classified and evaluated?

To the website of the research network UrbanMetaMapping Microblog of Dr. Elisa-Maria Hiemer on Instagram

Geographical knowledge and the appropriation of space always combine historical, social, political and economic aspects. This project aims not only to investigate the production, distribution and reception of city maps and accompanying texts, but also to explore how maps shape the perception of cities and their "character".

The project analyzes six cities (Brieg/Brzeg , Kolberg/Kołobrzeg , Elbing/Elbląg , Drohobycz/Drohobych , Hrodna/Grodno , Brześć/Brest ) that underwent massive political, administrative, ethnic and structural changes in the period 1939-1953 and analyzes them according to four guiding questions:

What is the relationship between discourses on the reconstruction and development of cities in cartographic sources on the one hand and in textual sources on the other?
Which actors (map authors and text authors) shape these discourses, and which approaches succeed?
How did the relationship between the National Socialist urban reconstruction and rebuilding projects from 1941 on and the socialist city administration after 1945 develop? How did this change and influence the objectives of reconstruction and the local appropriation of historic buildings and structures?
In what way did the actors argue about what was to be considered a “loss” or a “gain” or even as “progress” with regard to the effects of the Second World War?

The interdisciplinary approach brings together maps (maps and map drafts for planning, status surveys, internal and published city plans) and text material of different kinds (travel guides, university and school textbooks and so-called grey literature such as jubilee publications and city chronicles).

Besides the analysis of the rhetoric of gain and loss in the face of war destruction, the interplay between socialist maxims and the country-specific (Poland , Belarus , Ukraine ) interpretations of urban development is to be scrutinized: How is the reshaping of historical consciousness brought together with national urban space narratives? How, for example, is responsibility for destruction addressed, given that many cities suffered from massive damage after the end of the war due to arson and looting by various groups. How do local actors try to present their own visions of reconstruction (in the face of censorship)?

The project is a sub-project of the research network "UrbanMetaMapping - Mapping and Transforming: An interdisciplinary analysis of city maps as a visual medium of urban transformation in Central and Eastern Europe, 1939–1949." In addition, the Institute for Archaeology, Heritage Conservation Studies and Art History (IADK) at the University of Bamberg, the Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences in Mannheim (GESIS), the Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS) and the TU Wien are involved. The joint project is led and coordinated by Dr.-Ing. Carmen M. Enss.