Introduction or preface

After 1989 the academic legitimacy and institutionalization of the research about Eastern Europe was deeply criticized, and basic questions were also raised about the relationship between academic research and politics, area studies and global history, certain historiographical subfields and the so-called «general history». This article represents an account of the discussions linked with these issues which took place in Germany, a country with a long tradition in this research field. In order to historically contextualize such debates, the author provides an overview of the historical development of German research about Eastern Europe, and of the actual academic and extra-academic institutional landscape.