Anno 1922: Central Europe Between Old and New Order
Call for Papers:
International Conference
Anno 1922: Central Europe Between Old and New Order
Jerusalem and Beer-Sheva, 11 – 13 December 2022
The Center for Austrian and German Studies (CAGS) at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Jacob Robinson Institute for the History of Individual and Collective Human Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem invite submissions for an international conference in Israel (Jerusalem and Beer-Sheva) from 11 to 13 December 2022. The conference will take a close look at the year 1922 in order to evaluate how cultural, economic and political developments of that year played a role in establishing the new post-war order in Central Europe. Following Charles S. Maier’s influential Recasting Bourgeois Europe: Stabilization in France, Germany, and Italy in the Decade after World War I, we want to reconsider his claim that “in an era of upheaval, it is continuity and stability that need explanation”.
The First World War put an end to the imperial “Old Order” that had governed the 19th century and gave birth to a nationalist” New Order” that has since shaped the course of European history. While empires were liquidated, the League of Nations aspired to play a dominant role in global affairs. But it was only in 1922 that many of its important mechanisms were put into effect. Arguably, 1922 witnessed a series of important turning points for establishing the “New Order” in Central Europe: The Genoa Conference, the Rapallo Treaty, the German-Polish Convention on Upper Silesia and Mussolini’s rise to power in Italy. Moreover, in Austria and Germany a great number of literary works were written, performed and published in 1922, reflecting the transition from the “Old” to the “New Order”. Thus, for example, Bertolt Brecht’s Drums in the Night was premiered in Munich in that year, and in Vienna Franz Werfel’s play The Mirror-Man was staged at the Burgtheater. At the same time, the reconstruction plan for Austria made her the first country to undergo financial stabilization with help of the League of Nations, while in Germany hyperinflation induced political violence, reaching a new peak with the assassination of Walther Rathenau by right-wing fanatics.
The main purpose of our conference is to examine historical events around the year 1922, not ruling out the possibility of looking at other “in between” events of the early and mid-1920s. We hope to shed new light on how “anno 1922” helped produce a decade of cultural boom and economic stability in Central Europe, how parliamentarian democracy and republicanism were strengthened in Austria and Germany and how these developments were related to fashioning the global “New Order” in Central Europe.
We are especially interested in comparative works that highlight the relations between Austria and Germany and in studies examining the interwar period from a transnational and intercultural point of view. We are further interested in a combined analysis of the connection between economy, culture, and society as well as nation building and minority protection in Central Europe. We particularly welcome papers addressing the following themes in the context of 1922:
The “New Order” and economic-monetary policy in Central Europe
The League of Nations and the “New Order” in Central Europe
Nation building and minority rights in Central Europe
Political violence and ideological strife in Central Europe
Austrian and German hyperinflation
Austrian-German cultural relations and blossoming
Expressionism vs. Conservatism in literature, theater and art in Central Europe
Central Europe’s diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations with the Soviet Union
Scholars wishing to participate in the conference are invited to send an abstract (up to 350 words) together with a CV until 31 May 2022 to Ms. Anat Varon at cags@bgu.ac.il. Authors of selected abstracts will be notified by 30 June 2022. The conference language is English. The conference is planned as an in-person event. In case international travel will be possible, travel costs (economy class) and the costs of accommodation in Jerusalem (4 nights) will be covered for participants from abroad. For questions on the conference, please contact the Center for Austrian and German Studies at the email address above.