Jerzy Kochanowski – författare

Europe has a long history of state-led population displacement on ethnic grounds. The nationalist argument of ethnic homogeneity has been a crucial factor in the mapping of the continent. At no time has this been more the case than during and after the Second World War. Both under the aggressive expansionism of the Third Reich and after Germany''s defeat, millions were brutally forced out of their homelands. Presenting a history from the top as well as the bottom, People on the Move reconstructs the complex map of forced population displacements that took place across Europe during and immediately after the Second World War.

Europe has a long history of state-led population displacement on ethnic grounds. The nationalist argument of ethnic homogeneity has been a crucial factor in the mapping of the continent. At no time has this been more the case than during and after the Second World War. Both under the aggressive expansionism of the Third Reich and after Germany''s defeat, millions were brutally forced out of their homelands. Presenting a history from the top as well as the bottom, People on the Move reconstructs the complex map of forced population displacements that took place across Europe during and immediately after the Second World War.

Europe has a long history of state-led population displacement on ethnic grounds. The nationalist argument of ethnic homogeneity has been a crucial factor in the mapping of the continent. At no time has this been more the case than during and after the Second World War. Both under the aggressive expansionism of the Third Reich and after Germany's defeat, millions were brutally forced out of their homelands. Presenting a history from the top as well as the bottom, People on the Move reconstructs the complex map of forced population displacements that took place across Europe during and immediately after the Second World War.

Europe has a long history of state-led population displacement on ethnic grounds. The nationalist argument of ethnic homogeneity has been a crucial factor in the mapping of the continent. At no time has this been more the case than during and after the Second World War. Both under the aggressive expansionism of the Third Reich and after Germany's defeat, millions were brutally forced out of their homelands. Presenting a history from the top as well as the bottom, People on the Move reconstructs the complex map of forced population displacements that took place across Europe during and immediately after the Second World War.

This book analyzes the history of the black market in Poland before the 1940s and the development of black-market phenomena in post-war Poland. The author evaluates the interrelation between black-market phenomena and historical and geographical conditions. At first, the black market stabilized the system by making it more flexible and creating a margin of freedom, albeit in the short term. In the long run, the informal economic activities of the people ran counter to and undermined the official ideology of the state. The author concludes that in post-war Poland, owing to a singular coincidence of historical, political, economic and social factors, the second economy had its own unique character and an endemic presence that loomed large in the Soviet Bloc.

Bereits 1945 kursierte im neuen Volkspolen der Witz: "Was passiert in der Sahara, wenn die Kommunisten kommen? Der Sand wird knapp!" Jerzy Kochanowskis Buch beleuchtet die Versuche von Partei und Staat im Nachkriegspolen, die "sozialistische Wüste" sowohl zu "bewässern" als auch möglichst hohe Erträge aus ihr herauszupressen. Da die meisten Betriebe verstaatlicht worden waren, mussten sich die gesellschaftlichen Akteure auf ein kompliziertes Spiel mit staatlichen Instanzen einlassen, wobei habituell gegen geltendes Recht verstoßen wurde. Diese heikle Interaktion von Planwirtschaft und Schwarzmarkt hielt fast ein halbes Jahrhundert an. Kochanowski untersucht umfassend das friktionsträchtige Zusammenspiel von dirigistischer Wirtschaftspolitik und informellem Wirtschaftssektor in einem Land des sowjetischen Hegemonialbereichs. Mittels interdisziplinärem Zugriff beschreibt er Verhaltensweisen, Mechanismen, Prozesse und Strategien der am Schwarzmarkt beteiligten nichtstaatlichen wie staatlichen Akteure - vom Handel unter der Hand bzw. dem Ladentisch mit Fleisch, Alkohol und Gold bis zu massenhaften und touristisch getarnten privaten Handelsreisen ins Ausland.

The volume focuses on emerging "rooms for manoeuvre" in the socialist societies of Central and Eastern Europe after the Second World War. Unlike in other works, these areas of activity are not viewed as isolated spheres where citizens could act independently from political and societal constraints. They are rather conceptualized here as geographical, social or institutional spaces whose existence was either outside of political control or more or less intentionally allowed by authorities and other decision-makers. The contributions investigate how East Germans, Poles, Romanians, Slovaks and Czechs coped with the limitations of socialist reality. How did they adopt and successfully adapt given norms to their own specific interests? To what extent were the resulting "rooms for manoeuvre" not only essential aspects of the state socialist system, but even necessary to stabilize it?