The relationship between Germans and their non-German counterparts in Central and East Europe has been a fundamental feature of European History. The twelve essays in this volume address key aspects of this complex and multifaceted relationship which has been marked by friendship and cooperation as well as enmity and strife. The topics range from medieval peasant settlement to present-day relations between Germans and Poles. Central themes are national identity, the emergence and development of mixed communities and inter-cultural communication.

Provides up to date treatment of controversial and still very topical subject

Notes on the Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction; R.Bartlett and K.Sch¿nw¿er The German Settlement in Central and Eastern Europe During the High Middle Ages; M.Rady Cives Patriae : 'German' Burghers in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; K.Friedrich German Specialists in Petrine Russia: Architects, Painters and Thespians; L.Hughes State-Sponsored Immigration Into Eastern Europe in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries; R.Bartlett and B.Mitchell Herder's Conception of Nationhood and its Influence in Eastern Europe; H.B. Nisbet Westjuden : Germany and German Jews Through East European Eyes; J.D.Klier 'Dearest Nicki...': Monarchical Relations Between Prussia, the German Empire and Russia During the Nineteenth Century; J.Paulmann The Germans and Czech Statehood in the Twentieth Century; H.Lemgerg Invited but Unwanted? Migrants from the East in Germany, 1890-1990; K.Sch¿nw¿er Soldiers and War Criminals: the Ongoing Debate about the Wehrmacht in the Second World War; T.J.Schulte From Ethnic Cleansing to Ethnic Resurgence: the German Minority in Poland, 1945-95; K.Sword One Thousand Years of Polish-German Camaraderie; N.Davies Index