Machteld Venken Libri

The book explores the challenges faced by European nation-states in fostering national loyalty in diverse borderlands after the Treaty of Versailles. It specifically examines the educational experiences in Upper Silesia, Poland, and the Belgian regions of Eupen, Sankt Vith, and Malmedy, which were detached from the German Empire post-World War I. By analyzing how these countries utilized borderland schools and language education, the work illustrates their efforts to create a peaceful Europe amidst the complex political landscape of the interwar years.

Borderland Studies - Child Studies - Europeanisation - Destitute children - Education - Youth movements - The everyday life - Cultural Emancipation - Nationalisation - Alsace - Memel Region - Polish-German borderlands - North Schleswig - German Speaking Community of Belgium

In the aftermath of World War II, two migration streams entered Belgium: former allied soldiers from Poland and former Ostarbeiterinnen from the Soviet Union. This book focuses on these people’s attempts to give meaning to their war experiences in post-war life, and delineates the various processes they used to understand and articulate what they had been through. These processes were shaped not only by the characteristics of the war experiences themselves, but also by the changing positions which these immigrant men and women held within their home and host societies. Looking from the perspective of the newcomers, this study examines how they gathered in groups in order to remember their war experiences, and how they were integrated into, and/or excluded from, their home and host societies over time.

Die Herausforderungen der nationalen Loyalität in neu entstandenen europäischen Staaten nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg stehen im Fokus dieser Analyse. Insbesondere wird das Schulwesen in Oberschlesien und den belgischen Grenzregionen untersucht, wo ethnische und kulturelle Diversität herrschte. Die Studie beleuchtet, wie Bildungseinrichtungen und Sprachunterricht genutzt wurden, um ein friedliches Europa zu fördern und die politischen Gegebenheiten der Zwischenkriegszeit zu reflektieren. Dabei wird die Rolle der Grenzlandschulen als integrative Instrumente hervorgehoben.