Introduction

Stanislav J. Kirschbaum

pp. 1-4

in: Stanislav J. Kirschbaum (ed), Historical reflections on central Europe, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1999

Abstract

In the years that separate the publication of my first volume of selected papers of the Third World Congress for Soviet and East European Studies, held in Washington, DC, and this volume, both the area and the field of study have undergone significant change. The first volume encompassed topics relating to what was then called the Soviet or Communist bloc, a defmition that included the Soviet Union and the states of Eastern Europe. Despite the divergence of topics, there was one theme that brought them together, namely the need to respond to Marxist historiography and the Marxist approach to history. The response was not necessarily negative; but one was nevertheless needed. As I wrote then: "when one looks at the history and the politics of East Europe, it is clear that neither set formulae nor set interpretations suffice to help our understanding of the area. We are constantly called upon to revise our knowledge and our understanding of its history and politics."¹ The papers in that volume sought to revise various interpretations of East European history. But the Cold War was still on and ideological imperatives tended to weigh more heavily than the need for a detached re-assessment.

Cited authors

Marx Karl