Europe has constantly been reimagined – yet in facing the criminal and destructive war against Ukraine and all the tragedies resulting from it, the need for a more comprehensive rethinking toward a more open-minded and future-oriented cultural imaginary of Europe has become obvious. The Russian war of aggression has revealed the extent to which the existing expertise on countries so often bundled together under the misleading label “Eastern Europe” has been neglected and marginalised. Across Europe in general, but especially in Germany and its western neighbours, relevant research institutes have too often been closed and down-sized.The countries in question are not “the East”. They lie in the north, south and centre of Europe and all of them belong to the core of the European landscape. Their complex histories are full of entanglements. Yet each history has unique characteristics – resulting in a rich diversity of cultures, academic systems, politics and the perspectives of the respective inhabitants.
