On their own behalf

Ewald Ammende, Europe’s national minorities and the campaign for cultural autonomy 1920-1936
Erscheinungsjahr 2014
ISBN: 978-94-012-1147-5
Verlag: Editions Rodopi

Buch, Englisch, Band Vol. 37, 413 Seiten

Reihe: On the Boundary of Two Worlds.

What form should Europe take? Should it be based on ‘nation states’ or ‘states of nations’? On what basis should European unification proceed? Should it be an élite undertaking pioneered by statesmen elected to democratic government offices, or should true unification also demand a significant European cultural forum open to spokesmen and –women representing the continent’s nationality groups? Was the League of Nations really such a thing? Or was it a League of States? All these questions were posed by Ewald Ammende and his fellow minority associates during the 1920s. Coming to terms with the consequences of collapsed empires and at least four years of conflict, they were forced to consider how best to re-build their continent as if it were a tabula rasa. In the process, they provided intelligent, perceptive analyses of the national and international affairs of the day, particularly as they affected Central and Eastern Europe. Their voices, reflecting their status as national minorities and a geographical location beyond the borders of the post-war Great Powers, deserve to be written more thoroughly into the history of the interwar years. Their ideas still provide food for thought even today.

Martyn Housden is the author of Neighbours or Enemies? Germans, the Baltic and Beyond (Rodopi, 2008 – with John Hiden) and The League of Nations and the Organisation of Peace (Pearson, 2012). He is Reader in Modern History at the University of Bradford.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Housden, Martyn

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Minderheiten, Interkulturelle & Multikulturelle Fragen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Historische Migrationsforschung
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziologie von Migranten und Minderheiten
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents
Preface
Images
Introduction: Why Baltic history is more difficult to write than German history
One: Brave new world: enterprise and aid
Two: Liberal nationalist
Three: Becoming a minority
Four: Achieving cultural autonomy
Five: Minority interests - European interests - global interests
Six: Establishing the European Congress of Nationalities
Seven: The General Secretary: early optimism and its frustrations
Eight: 1929: year of the minorities
Nine: International national community thinking and a different kind of Pan-Europe
Ten: Critical challenges
Eleven: The new nationalist wave
Twelve: When friends won’t help
Thirteen: Aftermath
Fourteen: Fateful context
Fifteen: At Stalin’s throat
Sixteen: Admitting defeat
Conclusion: The need for more histories of national minorities
Bibliography
Index