Katja Wezel | Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (original) (raw)
Papers by Katja Wezel
Journal of Baltic Studies, 2016
dently, but instead as part of complex, historically embedded power relations. It is this focus o... more dently, but instead as part of complex, historically embedded power relations. It is this focus on power relations which logically leads to the employment of Critical critical discourse analysis (CDA) within the work (it is not clear if Agarin is skeptical of CDA generally, or of my employment of it). Other misleading statements include claims that little attention is paid to intergenerational differences and that the impact of the 2004 School Reform on society is unmentioned. Generational change is discussed across 23 separate pages of the book, especially in Chapter 6. Here, survey data (n = 202) is analyzed from the 2011 Victory Day celebrations in Riga, with explicit focus on how historical interpretations change generationally. The school reform is extensively discussed across 10 pages of the book, often from the perspective of generational change, even if Silova or Zaķe are not cited. Agarin has also missed the distinction I make between the terms ‘Russian speakers’ and ‘Russian-speakers,’which relates to his dismissal of the ways in which I treat ethnicity and group identities. As I explain in the monograph, ‘Russian speakers’ is used as a more neutral term to describe people whose first language is Russian, whereas ‘Russian-speakers’ refers to an imagined community of Russian speakers. Agarin’s scathing review, therefore, ironically obscures some of the genuine weaknesses within the book, and which Agarin was well-placed to highlight constructively. There are real (and acknowledged) limitations, for example, with my narrow, geographical sampling bias when examining the receptive interpretation of discourses (especially for focus-groups conducted exclusively in Riga). Unfortunately, constructive reflection on these various weaknesses has been curtailed by the need to refute less-substantiated claims.
Latvijas Vēstures Institūta Žurnāls
When the majority of Baltic Germans left Latvia in the fall of 1939, Margarete von Pusirewsky (18... more When the majority of Baltic Germans left Latvia in the fall of 1939, Margarete von Pusirewsky (1872–1948) stayed behind in her home town Riga. Together with her family – her mother Ludmilla Goegginger (Gēgingers) and her sister Marta Busz, as well as her two daughters and a son, they decided not to follow the mass exodus of Germans. In her life, Margarete von Pusirewsky had already experienced several episodes of self-imposed exile from her hometown and Baltic Heimat, firstly, as the wife of a military doctor post ed to different places around the Russian Empire, and secondly, during the First World War, when she and her family had fled to Helsinki. After these longer periods spent in other parts of the Russian Empire, she always returned to Riga. Even when she left Riga for the last time in 1944 to flee the approaching Red Army, she hoped to be able to return soon. Based on primary sources, in particular the memoirs of Margarete von Pusirewsky, this paper discusses the connectednes...
Nordostarchiv. Zeitschrift für Regionalgeschichte , 2017
Journal of East Central European Studies, 2021
In the first decade of the twentieth century, Riga became imperial Russia's most successful tradi... more In the first decade of the twentieth century, Riga became imperial Russia's most successful trading hub in terms of sales volume. This concluded a development which began in the 1860s with the rapid expansion of Russia's railroad network, the rise of supplies of agricultural products, and the increase of Riga's trade contacts on a global scale. This article uses historical GIS to display the agglomeration of trade contacts on the supplier side, i.e. central Russia, and the rising demand in Western Europe, the Americas, and Australia. The article's GIS visualizations allow the study of Riga's development into a global trading hub and the city's increased industrialization. The article argues that the sharp increase of sales volume was due to two developments: Riga's successful expansion of exports, including new products such as eggs and butter, and a rise of imports due to the increased need of various raw materials for Riga's native industry. The article also uses GIS to demonstrate the variety of ethnic backgrounds of Riga's business owners, which included Baltic Germans, Jews, Latvians, Russians, and Poles. A micro-study of Riga's biggest industry at the time, the rubber-processing factory "Provodnik," concludes the argument underlining the incorporation of Riga into the global trade network prior to World War I.
Journal of East Central European Studies, 2021
One cannot turn up in a university in North America or Europe without hearing that the humanities... more One cannot turn up in a university in North America or Europe without hearing that the humanities are in crisis. Many argue that by embracing the digital, humanities can avoid their decline and even perhaps benefit from revitalization, if not renaissance." 1 This observation reflects the fundamental dilemma in which all of those active in the field of Digital Humanities find themselves these days: 2 How can we expect to transform individual disciplines within the Humanities in a common direction that prepares them for an academia of the future? How can we enhance the level of interdisciplinary interoperability by the use of digital tools and methods without burning the bridges to established techniques for the interpretation of our source material? To what extent does digital technology "challenge established epistemology" 3 and what are the consequences for how we will work, publish, and communicate in the future? Some argue that digital technology is simply a new "tool" that can be integrated into the existing portfolio of tools available for researchers. If that was the case, one could compare digital history to the rise of oral history, which by now has been integrated into the portfolio of historians, especially in Contemporary History. However, if digital technology is more than just another tool, it requires another, different kind of source criticism and understanding. Do we therefore need to adapt our methodology and our basic epistemological assumptions when going digital? How can we, for example, make sure that the veto power of individual sources ("Vetorecht der Quelle" 4) is still salient in times of big data? How should the new opportunities of data accessibility and knowledge portals for historical sources be framed and operated? Are we at the beginning of an overall shift from qualitative to quantitative methods? Against this backdrop, Eva Pflanzelter has referred to Garben Zaagsma's proposal to expand "the focus of current technology-deterministic digitization 1
Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, 2019
Journal of Baltic Studies, 2017
Investigating the politics of merchants and entrepreneurs, this paper discusses how Riga’s econom... more Investigating the politics of merchants and entrepreneurs, this paper discusses how Riga’s economic elite reacted to the challenges of nationalism, revolution, and war and (re)defined themselves during and after World War One. Riga’s entrepreneurs had traditionally sought protection of their businesses by maintaining close relations with the Russian tsar. War and the Russian Revolution forced them to look for protection elsewhere. This paper argues that orientation toward the German Empire in 1917/18 was not so much the outcome of desired national belonging but of economic pragmatism. Spatial identity and the perception of belonging to the Baltics proved stronger than national affiliation to Germany.
Journal of Baltic Studies, 2017
The aim of this special issue is to explore whether the term "National Indifference" can be appli... more The aim of this special issue is to explore whether the term "National Indifference" can be applied to the Baltic region, and in particular to the Baltic Germans. In the second half of the nineteenth century and during World War I, their rootedness in German culture and language brought them into conflict with national perceptions of "Russianness" in the Russian Empire. After becoming citizens of interwar Estonia and Latvia, their national affiliation continued to be questioned by nationalists. The authors of this volume investigate Baltic Germans' perceptions of belonging during the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth Century. The articles explore aspects of national flexibility and identity perceptions beyond the national paradigm in an era when the nation-state became the norm.
Nationalities Paper, 2016
In the 25 years since the re-establishment of Baltic independence from the Soviet Union, there ha... more In the 25 years since the re-establishment of Baltic independence from the Soviet Union, there has been no conclusive public conversation, or “coming to terms with the past” with respect to crimes against Latvian and other persecuted groups under Communism. This paper examines how national politicians, members of the European Parliament in Brussels, representatives of Latvia’s Russian-speaking minority, and the Russian government have engaged in a difficult, long-overdue conversation. Conflicting historical narratives about victimhood are at the heart of these disagreements. Special emphasis is given to Latvia’s historical narrative, its development over the past 25 years, and the way it challenges Russia’s interpretation of history. I argue that Latvian memory politics at the European level are a continuation of Latvia’s quest for acknowledgment of its victimhood, thereby trying to finish the process started in the late 1980s when Balts first demanded acknowledgment of human rights violations they had suffered under the Soviet regime. Latvia’s methods of transitional justice are examined, arguing that its memory politics at the European level are an extension of steps taken at the national level to come to terms with the past and to increase its negotiating power against Russia’s neo-Soviet historical narrative.
The Former Soviet Union and East Central Europe between Conflict and Reconciliation, edited by Lily Gardner Feldman, Raisa Barash, Samuel Goda and André Zempelburg , 2020
Museums of Communism: New Memory Sites in Central and Eastern Europe, ed. by Steve Norris (Bloomington: Indiana University Press), 2020
Erinnerungskulturen / Memory Cultures
Der Beitrag vergleicht das Rigaer KGB-Museum, im Volksmund Eckhaus genannt, mit dem Rigaer Ghetto... more Der Beitrag vergleicht das Rigaer KGB-Museum, im Volksmund Eckhaus genannt, mit dem Rigaer Ghetto-Museum. Beide Museen sind zirka im gleichen Zeitraum (zwischen 2010 und 2016) entstanden bzw. erweitert worden und befinden sich an Originalschauplätzen. Beide Museen legen ein besonderes Augenmerk darauf darzustellen, welche Folgen die nationalsozialistische bzw. kommunistische Besatzung und Diktatur auf Lettland hatte. So beinhaltet das Rigaer Ghetto-Museum eine Ausstellung zum jüdischen Leben in Lettland vor 1941. Beide Ausstellungen legen großen Wert darauf, Zeugnisse von Überlebenden einzubeziehen. Da die Opfer des Rigaer Ghetto-Museums auch aus Deutschland und Österreich kamen, ist die Einbeziehung einer europäischen Perspektive hier vom Untersuchungsgegenstand vorgegeben. Die Europäisierung des Holocaustgedenkens wird auch anhand mehrerer Ausstellungsstücke, so zum Beispiel eines nachkonstruierten Zugwaggons, deutlich. Hingegen stellt das KGB-Eckhaus primär die lettische Geschich...
Reviews by Katja Wezel
Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung, 2020
History: Reviews of New Books
Journal of Baltic Studies, 2016
dently, but instead as part of complex, historically embedded power relations. It is this focus o... more dently, but instead as part of complex, historically embedded power relations. It is this focus on power relations which logically leads to the employment of Critical critical discourse analysis (CDA) within the work (it is not clear if Agarin is skeptical of CDA generally, or of my employment of it). Other misleading statements include claims that little attention is paid to intergenerational differences and that the impact of the 2004 School Reform on society is unmentioned. Generational change is discussed across 23 separate pages of the book, especially in Chapter 6. Here, survey data (n = 202) is analyzed from the 2011 Victory Day celebrations in Riga, with explicit focus on how historical interpretations change generationally. The school reform is extensively discussed across 10 pages of the book, often from the perspective of generational change, even if Silova or Zaķe are not cited. Agarin has also missed the distinction I make between the terms ‘Russian speakers’ and ‘Russian-speakers,’which relates to his dismissal of the ways in which I treat ethnicity and group identities. As I explain in the monograph, ‘Russian speakers’ is used as a more neutral term to describe people whose first language is Russian, whereas ‘Russian-speakers’ refers to an imagined community of Russian speakers. Agarin’s scathing review, therefore, ironically obscures some of the genuine weaknesses within the book, and which Agarin was well-placed to highlight constructively. There are real (and acknowledged) limitations, for example, with my narrow, geographical sampling bias when examining the receptive interpretation of discourses (especially for focus-groups conducted exclusively in Riga). Unfortunately, constructive reflection on these various weaknesses has been curtailed by the need to refute less-substantiated claims.
Latvijas Vēstures Institūta Žurnāls
When the majority of Baltic Germans left Latvia in the fall of 1939, Margarete von Pusirewsky (18... more When the majority of Baltic Germans left Latvia in the fall of 1939, Margarete von Pusirewsky (1872–1948) stayed behind in her home town Riga. Together with her family – her mother Ludmilla Goegginger (Gēgingers) and her sister Marta Busz, as well as her two daughters and a son, they decided not to follow the mass exodus of Germans. In her life, Margarete von Pusirewsky had already experienced several episodes of self-imposed exile from her hometown and Baltic Heimat, firstly, as the wife of a military doctor post ed to different places around the Russian Empire, and secondly, during the First World War, when she and her family had fled to Helsinki. After these longer periods spent in other parts of the Russian Empire, she always returned to Riga. Even when she left Riga for the last time in 1944 to flee the approaching Red Army, she hoped to be able to return soon. Based on primary sources, in particular the memoirs of Margarete von Pusirewsky, this paper discusses the connectednes...
Nordostarchiv. Zeitschrift für Regionalgeschichte , 2017
Journal of East Central European Studies, 2021
In the first decade of the twentieth century, Riga became imperial Russia's most successful tradi... more In the first decade of the twentieth century, Riga became imperial Russia's most successful trading hub in terms of sales volume. This concluded a development which began in the 1860s with the rapid expansion of Russia's railroad network, the rise of supplies of agricultural products, and the increase of Riga's trade contacts on a global scale. This article uses historical GIS to display the agglomeration of trade contacts on the supplier side, i.e. central Russia, and the rising demand in Western Europe, the Americas, and Australia. The article's GIS visualizations allow the study of Riga's development into a global trading hub and the city's increased industrialization. The article argues that the sharp increase of sales volume was due to two developments: Riga's successful expansion of exports, including new products such as eggs and butter, and a rise of imports due to the increased need of various raw materials for Riga's native industry. The article also uses GIS to demonstrate the variety of ethnic backgrounds of Riga's business owners, which included Baltic Germans, Jews, Latvians, Russians, and Poles. A micro-study of Riga's biggest industry at the time, the rubber-processing factory "Provodnik," concludes the argument underlining the incorporation of Riga into the global trade network prior to World War I.
Journal of East Central European Studies, 2021
One cannot turn up in a university in North America or Europe without hearing that the humanities... more One cannot turn up in a university in North America or Europe without hearing that the humanities are in crisis. Many argue that by embracing the digital, humanities can avoid their decline and even perhaps benefit from revitalization, if not renaissance." 1 This observation reflects the fundamental dilemma in which all of those active in the field of Digital Humanities find themselves these days: 2 How can we expect to transform individual disciplines within the Humanities in a common direction that prepares them for an academia of the future? How can we enhance the level of interdisciplinary interoperability by the use of digital tools and methods without burning the bridges to established techniques for the interpretation of our source material? To what extent does digital technology "challenge established epistemology" 3 and what are the consequences for how we will work, publish, and communicate in the future? Some argue that digital technology is simply a new "tool" that can be integrated into the existing portfolio of tools available for researchers. If that was the case, one could compare digital history to the rise of oral history, which by now has been integrated into the portfolio of historians, especially in Contemporary History. However, if digital technology is more than just another tool, it requires another, different kind of source criticism and understanding. Do we therefore need to adapt our methodology and our basic epistemological assumptions when going digital? How can we, for example, make sure that the veto power of individual sources ("Vetorecht der Quelle" 4) is still salient in times of big data? How should the new opportunities of data accessibility and knowledge portals for historical sources be framed and operated? Are we at the beginning of an overall shift from qualitative to quantitative methods? Against this backdrop, Eva Pflanzelter has referred to Garben Zaagsma's proposal to expand "the focus of current technology-deterministic digitization 1
Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, 2019
Journal of Baltic Studies, 2017
Investigating the politics of merchants and entrepreneurs, this paper discusses how Riga’s econom... more Investigating the politics of merchants and entrepreneurs, this paper discusses how Riga’s economic elite reacted to the challenges of nationalism, revolution, and war and (re)defined themselves during and after World War One. Riga’s entrepreneurs had traditionally sought protection of their businesses by maintaining close relations with the Russian tsar. War and the Russian Revolution forced them to look for protection elsewhere. This paper argues that orientation toward the German Empire in 1917/18 was not so much the outcome of desired national belonging but of economic pragmatism. Spatial identity and the perception of belonging to the Baltics proved stronger than national affiliation to Germany.
Journal of Baltic Studies, 2017
The aim of this special issue is to explore whether the term "National Indifference" can be appli... more The aim of this special issue is to explore whether the term "National Indifference" can be applied to the Baltic region, and in particular to the Baltic Germans. In the second half of the nineteenth century and during World War I, their rootedness in German culture and language brought them into conflict with national perceptions of "Russianness" in the Russian Empire. After becoming citizens of interwar Estonia and Latvia, their national affiliation continued to be questioned by nationalists. The authors of this volume investigate Baltic Germans' perceptions of belonging during the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth Century. The articles explore aspects of national flexibility and identity perceptions beyond the national paradigm in an era when the nation-state became the norm.
Nationalities Paper, 2016
In the 25 years since the re-establishment of Baltic independence from the Soviet Union, there ha... more In the 25 years since the re-establishment of Baltic independence from the Soviet Union, there has been no conclusive public conversation, or “coming to terms with the past” with respect to crimes against Latvian and other persecuted groups under Communism. This paper examines how national politicians, members of the European Parliament in Brussels, representatives of Latvia’s Russian-speaking minority, and the Russian government have engaged in a difficult, long-overdue conversation. Conflicting historical narratives about victimhood are at the heart of these disagreements. Special emphasis is given to Latvia’s historical narrative, its development over the past 25 years, and the way it challenges Russia’s interpretation of history. I argue that Latvian memory politics at the European level are a continuation of Latvia’s quest for acknowledgment of its victimhood, thereby trying to finish the process started in the late 1980s when Balts first demanded acknowledgment of human rights violations they had suffered under the Soviet regime. Latvia’s methods of transitional justice are examined, arguing that its memory politics at the European level are an extension of steps taken at the national level to come to terms with the past and to increase its negotiating power against Russia’s neo-Soviet historical narrative.
The Former Soviet Union and East Central Europe between Conflict and Reconciliation, edited by Lily Gardner Feldman, Raisa Barash, Samuel Goda and André Zempelburg , 2020
Museums of Communism: New Memory Sites in Central and Eastern Europe, ed. by Steve Norris (Bloomington: Indiana University Press), 2020
Erinnerungskulturen / Memory Cultures
Der Beitrag vergleicht das Rigaer KGB-Museum, im Volksmund Eckhaus genannt, mit dem Rigaer Ghetto... more Der Beitrag vergleicht das Rigaer KGB-Museum, im Volksmund Eckhaus genannt, mit dem Rigaer Ghetto-Museum. Beide Museen sind zirka im gleichen Zeitraum (zwischen 2010 und 2016) entstanden bzw. erweitert worden und befinden sich an Originalschauplätzen. Beide Museen legen ein besonderes Augenmerk darauf darzustellen, welche Folgen die nationalsozialistische bzw. kommunistische Besatzung und Diktatur auf Lettland hatte. So beinhaltet das Rigaer Ghetto-Museum eine Ausstellung zum jüdischen Leben in Lettland vor 1941. Beide Ausstellungen legen großen Wert darauf, Zeugnisse von Überlebenden einzubeziehen. Da die Opfer des Rigaer Ghetto-Museums auch aus Deutschland und Österreich kamen, ist die Einbeziehung einer europäischen Perspektive hier vom Untersuchungsgegenstand vorgegeben. Die Europäisierung des Holocaustgedenkens wird auch anhand mehrerer Ausstellungsstücke, so zum Beispiel eines nachkonstruierten Zugwaggons, deutlich. Hingegen stellt das KGB-Eckhaus primär die lettische Geschich...
Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung, 2020
History: Reviews of New Books