In 2002, on the legal basis of the Federal Displaced Persons Act (Section 96 BVFG), the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media initially established five posts for cultural officers, each of which was assigned specific regional responsibilities. The cultural officers (hereinafter referred to as ‘KO’) were based at the Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald (KO for Pomerania), the Silesian Museum in Görlitz (KO for Silesia), the East Prussian State Museum in Lüneburg (KO for East Prussia), at the Danube Swabian Central Museum in Ulm (Cultural Attaché for South-Eastern Europe) and at the Adalbert Stifter Association in Munich (Cultural Attaché for the Bohemian Lands). In 2005, a further such post (Cultural Attaché for West Prussia) was created at the West Prussian State Museum in Münster.

The KR’s primary task is to communicate the culture and history of Germans in Eastern Europe to as wide an audience as possible, both at home and abroad, in a way that appeals to people of all ages. The KR develop their programme of events independently, whilst also cooperating with the institution to which they are affiliated. The latest academic findings are taken into account, as are the most modern forms of presentation. In their work, the KR strive to establish the widest possible network with cultural and educational institutions that are active, for example, in fostering German-Polish, German-Russian, German-Czech, German-Hungarian or German-Romanian relations. Cross-border cooperation and work with teenagers and young adults are given priority.

The types of events are diverse: study trips, cross-border seminars, youth workshops and discussions with eyewitnesses are just as much a part of this as the organisation and presentation of exhibitions, concerts, panel discussions, films, readings and (popular) scientific lectures.

The cultural officers have their own budget, which can be used not only for the financing of their own projects but also for the support of external projects (e.g. by organisations representing displaced persons, cultural and educational institutions, schools and youth organisations). A prerequisite is a substantive and informed engagement with the culture and/or history of Germans from Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. Proposals may be submitted to the relevant KR.

The KR’s remit covers the following countries and regions where Germans used to live, or in some cases still live today:

• Pomerania and Eastern Brandenburg: Cultural Department for Pomerania
• Silesia: Cultural Department for Silesia
• East Prussia, the Baltic States, Russia and, to some extent, the CIS states: Cultural Department for East Prussia
• West Prussia, the Poznań region, Central Poland, Galicia and Volhynia: Cultural Department for West Prussia
• Banat, Transylvania, Transdanubia, Sathmar, Spiš: Cultural Officer for South-Eastern Europe
• Bohemia, Moravia and Moravian Silesia: Cultural Department for the Bohemian Lands

• www.kulturforum.info/de/forum-partner/alle-partner/6182-kulturreferenten

• www.pommersches-landesmuseum.de/kulturreferat/ueber-das-kulturreferat
• www.dzm-museum.de/projektfoerderung-kulturreferentin/
• www.stifterverein.de/kulturreferat/
• westpreussisches-landesmuseum.de/de/kulturreferat/
• www.ostpreussisches-landesmuseum.de/kulturreferat/
• https://www.schlesisches-museum.de/kulturreferat/arbeitsbereich

Wolfgang Schwarz: Cultural Officers. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2012. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p32711 (accessed 24 September 2012).