Approaching East-Central Europe over the Centuries

During the 1970s the todays Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung, BMBWF) supported the founding of the Center for Austrian Studies at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and the Austrian Chair at Stanford University in California. These foundings were the initial incentives for the world wide 'spreading' of similar institutions; currently nine Centers for Austrian and Central European Studies exist in seven states on three continents. The funding of the Ministry enables to connect senior with young scholars, to help the latter, to participate and benefit from the scientific connection of the former, as the Austrian say, `to sniff the scientific air', and to get in touch with the respective national scientific community, to avoid prejudices, and to spread a better understanding and knowledge about Austria and Central Europe.

This volume contains the annual reports (2016/2017) of the Center Director's and the presented papers of their PhDs, which discuss various topics on (East-)Central European History from various perspectives and in different centuries.