The term ‘region’ refers to a spatial category of organisation and orientation and usually denotes a sub-area of a larger geographically defined area, defined according to specific criteria. The inhabitants of regions are linked, for example, by shared landscape features, a common cultural and/or historical background and/or mutual relationships. Regions may be based on various factors – historical, cultural, social, natural, economic, legal, political or even administrative decisions.^[1] They are usually structured by centres, peripheries, boundaries and transitions. The current increased societal focus on the regional – that is, on manageable spatial units – and the associated relevance of the regional represent a trend running counter to Europeanisation and globalisation.^[2]

The term ‘region’ features in various specialist contexts (geography, geology, the human sciences, politics, administration, economics, the legal system, etc.), although the understanding of ‘region’ may vary depending on the speaker’s intention.

In contrast to the term ‘territory’ (as the area of a state, district, municipality, etc.), the term ‘region’ does not imply fixed boundaries or the existence of specific administrative structures; furthermore, it may also encompass multiple territorial affiliations (cross-border regions). In relation to ‘region’, the closely related term ‘area’ usually refers to a smaller geographical unit, so that several areas – for example, those similar in functional terms (such as through culture, tourism or the economy) – can be designated as a region (e.g. ‘Upper Lusatia–Lower Silesia Cultural Region’).

The European Union is dividedinto EU regions according to a hierarchically structured NUTS classification (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) . This facilitates cross-border statistical comparisons of regions in Europe.^[3]

English/Polish/Russian/Czech: region

When researching, presenting and communicating the culture and history of Germans in Eastern Europe, together with their inter-ethnic and intercultural interrelationships, an approach focused on the specific region(s) in question is of paramount importance. The following regional contexts are of particular relevance in this regard:

The collapse of the Eastern Bloc after 1989 and the subsequent emergence of new states have also led to a renewed focus on historical regions and, in some cases, to a redefinition of regions. In many cases, civil society has developed a keen interest in the past and culture of its own respective regions, which in many places has led to a revival of older discourses on regional history and identity-forming cultural practices (traditions, customs) and, consequently, to an engagement with German cultural heritage and, ultimately, to its acceptance, further development and transformation. Examples include the founding of the ‘Borussia’ cultural association in Allenstein/Olsztyn in 1990, the ‘discovery’ of the distinctive characteristics of Lower Silesia and its German cultural heritage (within the administrative boundaries of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship [Województwo Dolnośląskie])^[4], or the strong regional identity of many inhabitants ofSpiš in Slovakia^[5]. The Ukrainian and Polish debate on Galician cultural identity also implies a distinction from the centres of Kyiv/Kyjiv/Kiev and Warsaw/Warszawa respectively.

Regions are the subject of political concepts (‘Europe of the Regions’^[6]) and also of targeted funding from the European Union. The ‘Committee of the Regions’, established in 1992 by the Treaty of Maastricht, represents regional and local authorities in the EU, though it has only an advisory role. The ongoing EU funding programme ‘INTERREG’^[7] specifically targets projects dedicated to structural improvement and cross-border regional cooperation, including cultural issues. Furthermore, the establishment and funding of newly formed, cross-border so-called ‘European regions’ (‘Euroregions’; ‘EuRegios’) are intended in particular to promote tourism and to support cultural and infrastructure projects. The major regions designated as ‘cooperation areas’ within INTERREG – the ‘Baltic Sea Region’ and ‘Central Europe’ – as well as the EuRegios ‘Neiße-Nisa-Nysa’ (1991), ‘Spree-Neise-Bober/Sprewa-Nysa-Bóbr’ (1993), ‘Pro Europa Viadrina’ (1993) and ‘Pomerania’ (1995) on the German-Polish and German-Polish-Czech borders also provide an insight into the culture and history of the German population in these regions.^[8]

To protect selected regions that are considered particularly valuable due to the interplay of natural features and human activity, the concept of ‘Cultural Landscapes’^[9] was established by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 1992. In Eastern Europe, the World Heritage List includes, amongst others, the cultural landscapes of ‘Eisgrub-Feldsberg’ (Czech: Lednice-Valtice, since 1996) in Moravia, the ‘Curonian Spit’ (Lithuanian: Kuršių nerija, Russian: Куршская коса/Kuršskaja kosa, since 2000) – which formerly belonged to the province of East Prussia – and the “Muskauer Park” (Polish: Park Mużakowski, since 2004) in Upper Lusatia.

In the historical sciences, ‘region’ and ‘regional history’ are key research concepts. The definition of the region under consideration is determined by the historian’s research questions and methods.

Historical accounts centred on regions – with precursors in medieval chronicles – have existed since the 16th century, when regionally focused descriptions can be found in particular in the stylised humanist ‘praise of the homeland’ (e.g. Bartholomaeus Stein [1476–1522], *Descripcio tocius Silesie*, 1512/1513). Early modern chronicles (e.g. Joachim Cureus [1532–1572], *Schlesische General Chronica*, German 1585, original Latin 1571) are also frequently region-specific.^[10]

The emergence of new national movements from the mid-19th century onwards led, in Eastern Europe, to an ethnic or national focus in regional historical narratives, which was often accompanied by confessional emphases – such as the PrussianProtestant or Habsburg Catholic ones.^[11] Regional research on Eastern Europe was long overshadowed by national concerns. For example, in German-language accounts of regional history after 1945, there were frequent one-sided references to the originally German character of the regions that had formerly belonged to the German Empire. Conversely, in the People’s Republic of Poland, particular attention was paid to research into regional history in the formerly Prussian or German territories (so-called ‘regained territories’) in order to emphasise their historical Polish character and thereby justify the legitimacy of their annexation after 1945, whilst countering German accounts with a Polish perspective.^[12]

Since the 1990s, the concept of the ‘region’ – just like that of ‘space’ – has gained increasing relevance in the historical and cultural sciences as both a subject of research and a research paradigm (the ‘Spatial Turn’^[13]). In contrast to earlier regional research, the concept of ‘Area Studies’ was developed, which views regions primarily as inter-ethnic and intercultural spaces.^[14] In the context of ‘Area Studies’, regional research – which is based on a multi-perspectival approach, the examination of complex interrelationships and, in its methodology, on international networking – is understood as an extension of traditional national history. Numerous ethnically, culturally and religiously mixed regions in Eastern Europe can be said to possess a dual or multiple cultural identity.^[15] A systematic study of these multifaceted multicultural and multi-ethnic regions of Eastern Central Europe has yet to be undertaken.

In the current ‘renaissance’ of the regions, little attention is often paid to the fact that these have also served as flashpoints for territorial and dynastic conflicts, as a look back at the history of the German principalities and small states demonstrates.

During and at the end of the First World War, the minorities living largely in multi-ethnic regions within the Habsburg Monarchy pushed for the establishment of independent nation states. Under comparable circumstances, the ‘revival’ of regions can go hand in hand with re-ethnicisation and lead to the emergence of separatist or autonomist political and social movements. At present, regional conflicts still exist in Europe (the Basque Country, Northern Ireland, Vojvodina) in connection with aspirations for autonomy or even independence. One example of this is the controversy surrounding greater regional autonomy in Upper Silesia: Here, these tendencies go so far that a section of the population emphasises the existence of a‘Silesian nationality’, which gives rise to fears that this could form the basis for Upper Silesian separatism.^[16]

Robert Traba, a historian specialising in Eastern Europe, has criticised the persistent overlap of national perspectives with current regional discourses: people often speak of ‘multi-ethnic regions’ or ‘regions with a multi-ethnic past’, even though, ultimately, national characteristics remain at the forefront. It is important to consider regional specificities in isolation from national issues. Regions should be understood as ‘dynamic constructs’ that should be viewed ‘as it were from a bird’s-eye view from the outside’ in order to perceive them impartially and not as objects of national or nation-state notions or aspirations to hegemony.^[17]

The anthologies listed below contain numerous regional studies as well as methodological contributions on the subject:

• Krystian Heffner (ed.): Historical Regions in the Structures of the European Union. Historical divisions of the territory in Central Europe and in different states of the world. Łódź, Opole 2011 (Region and Regionalism 10,2).
• Regions of Eastern Europe in the 20th Century. Vol. 1: Burkhard Olschowsky (ed.): Divided Regions – Divided Historical Cultures? Patterns of Identity Formation in a European Comparison; Vol. 2: Burkhard Olschowsky, Robert Traba, Matthias Weber, Andrea Huterer (eds.): Region, State, Europe. Regional Identities under the Conditions of Dictatorship and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe; Vol. 3: Burkhard Olschowsky, Ingo Loose (eds.): National Socialism and Regional Consciousness in Eastern Europe. Munich 2013–2015 (Publications of the Federal Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe 47, 50, 52; also Publications of the European Network for Remembrance and Solidarity 7, 10, 11).
• Marek Sobczyński (ed.): Historical Regions Divided by Borders. General Problems and Regional Issues. Łódź, Opole 2009 (Region and Regionalism 9,1).
• Philipp Ther, Holm Sundhaussen (eds.): Regional Movements and Regionalisms in European Interstitial Spaces since the Mid-19th Century. Marburg 2003 (Conferences on East Central European Studies 18).

• www.bkge.de/BKGE/Aufgaben-Arbeitsbereiche/Landkarten/ (Maps of historical regions with German settlements in Eastern Europe)
• www.zeilenweit.de/dkf/landkarten/landk_main_2013.swf (Maps)
• www.Interreg.de (Information on funding programmes)
• www.unesco-welterbe.de/de/unesco-welterbestaetten#.VF6kVswtAdU (regions inscribed on the World Heritage List – listed by country)

[1] See Helmut Groschwitz: ‘Eastern Bavaria as a Region’. In: Ibid. (ed.): Eastern Bavaria. A Concept under Debate. Regensburg 2008, pp. 7–9, here p. 7.

[2] Matthias Weber, Burkhard Olschowsky: ‘Regions of Eastern Europe in the 20th Century’. In: Olschowsky, Traba, Weber, Huterer (eds.): ‘Region, State, Europe’, pp. 9–32.

[3] For information on the NUTS classification, see the Federal Statistical Office: www.destatis.de/Europa/DE/MethodenMetadaten/Klassifikationen/UebersichtKlassifikationen_NUTS.html (accessed 17 December 2014).

[4] Cf. Anna Mańko-Matysiak, Eef Overgaauw, Tobias Weger (eds.): German Cultural Heritage in Silesia. Approaches and Perspectives in Research. Munich 2014 (Publications of the Federal Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe 51).

[5] Justyna Pokojska: Language as a Means of Preserving and Reproducing Regional Identity. The Dialect of the Polish Spiš Region. In: Olschowsky, Traba, Weber, Huterer (eds.): Region, State, Europe, pp. 202–219.

[6] On the history of this concept, which dates back to the 1920s, see Undine Runge: The Invention of the ‘Europe of Regions’. A Critical History of the Ideas Behind a Conservative Concept. Frankfurt am Main 2003 (Campus Forschung 867).

[7] www.interreg.de/INTERREG2014/DE/Home/home_node.html (accessed 13 December 2021).

[8] The programme funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) has a particular regional focus: ‘Objective 3/Cíl 3 Programme for the Promotion of Cross-Border Cooperation 2007–2013 between the Free State of Saxony and the Czech Republic’, which is dedicated to the implementation of joint economic, social and environmental activities; see www.sn-cz2020.eu/media/de_cs/einzelne_dokumente/Ziel3_Liste_der_Beguenstigten.pdf; Continued 2014–2020, see www.sn-cz2020.eu (accessed 22 October 2014).

[9] Description available at: whc.unesco.org/en/culturallandscape/ (accessed 22 October 2014).

[10] See Matthias Weber: ‘On the Concept of Protonational Historical Narratives. Pomerania and Silesia in 16th-Century Historical Accounts’. In: Joachim Bahlcke, Arno Strohmeyer (eds.): The Construction of the Past. Historical Thinking, the Formation of Traditions and Self-Representation in Early Modern East-Central Europe. Berlin 2002 (Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung, Supplement 22), pp. 55–79.

[11] As an example of a regional historical work with a pro-Prussian orientation and a clear national and confessional bias, the following may be mentioned: Colmar Grünhagen: History of Silesia. Vol. 1: Up to the commencement of Habsburg rule in 1527; Vol. 2: Up to the Union with Prussia 1527–1740. Gotha 1884 and 1886; reprinted Osnabrück 1979.

[12] See also Jerzy Kłoczowski, Witold Matwiejczyk, Eduard Mühle (eds.): Doświadczenia przeszłości. Niemcy w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej w historiografii po 1945 roku – Erfahrungen der Vergangenheit. Germans in East-Central Europe in historiography after 1945. Lublin, Marburg 2000 (Conferences on East-Central European Studies 9).

[13] Cf. Weber, Olschowsky: Regions (note 2), p. 20; Jörg Döring, Tristan Thielmann (eds.): The Spatial Paradigm in the Cultural and Social Sciences. Bielefeld 2008 (Social Theory).

[14] Notable examples here include the establishment of the ‘Centre for Area Studies’ at the Free University of Berlin in 2006 (www.fu-berlin.de/sites/cas/) and at the University of Leipzig in 2009 (www.uni-leipzig.de/~cas/welcome/).

[15] Marek Halub: ‘Regional Identity in Europe: The Case of Silesia’. In: Olivier Mentz, Aleksandra Surdeko (eds.): Europe – Insights and Outlooks. Berlin, Münster 2011 (Learning about Europe. Perspectives for a Didactics of European Cultural Studies 1), pp. 33–53, here p. 33.

[16] Marta Chmielewska, Akicja Szajnowska-Wysocka: ‘Upper Silesia as a Historical Region of Cultural Borderland’. In: Heffner (ed.): Historical Regions, pp. 202–219.

[17] Robert Traba: ‘Region’, ‘Regionalism’, ‘Identity’ and ‘Identification’. Remarks on the terminology and its academic reception. In: Olschowsky, Traba, Weber, Huterer (eds.): Region, State, Europe, pp. 33–40, here pp. 36f.

Matthias Weber: Region. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2014. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p32780 (accessed 13 December 2021).