COURAGE

connecting collections

The Brigitte Reimann Archive is located in the Neubrandenburg Literary Center, which maintains project-related working relationships with several literary institutions in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, such as the Hans Fallada Foundation, the Mecklenburg Literary Society and the Regional Organization of Authors.
According to its Internet site, the Neubrandenburg Literary Center in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is the heart of a literary network that extends far beyond the national borders. The literary center has been involved with the Hans Fallada Society, the Hans Fallada Foundation, the Mecklenburg Literary Society, the Brigitte Reimann Society, the Federchen publishing house and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Literary Council. Further, continuous as well as project-related collaboration exists with the Kuhtor House of Literature in Rostock, the Regional Organization of Authors, the Friedrich-Bódecker-Circle (for children's and youth literature), the Fritz-Reuter Society, members of the Pirckheimer Society, the Friedrich Griese working group in Lehsten (Waren) as well as the Neubrandenburg Museum Association  eV, the Neubrandenburg Regional Library and other regional libraries and associations which have included Reimann's work in their programs. The Brigitte-Reimann-Archive itself cooperates closely with the Brigitte-Reimann-Society, founded in 1999, which is concerned particularly with the study of works examining the life and writings of Brigitte Reimann (http://www.brigittereimann.de/gesellschaft.php). Together, concrete exhibitions and publication projects are carried out.

The 'Initiativgruppe Leben' [Initiative Group Life] (IGL) was founded in Leipzig in 1987 out of the long-existing Working Group on Environmental Protection within the framework of the youth rectory. The IGL combined environmental policy demands with societal reforms. Individual project groups concentrated in other areas apart from ecology and included Civic Rights, Questions relating to conscription, the political situation in Rumania, and Perestroika in the Soviet Union. The IGL sought to engage more actively with the public and move beyond the safety provided by operating under the aegis of parochial association. The ’Pleiße marches’ of 1988/89 are among the most well known IGL initiated events in Leipzig. In autumn 1989, members of the IGL played a major role in mobilizing for the Monday Demonstrations

The Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe (IDEE) is an independent organization dedicated to the active promotion of democracy, civil society, and human rights throughout Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and other communist or post-communist countries. IDEE also seeks to share the varied experiences of democratic movements and the transitions from communism in Eastern Europe with political and human rights movements seeking democratic change in other parts of the world.

The Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe (IDEE) was formed in 1985 by the Committee in Support of Solidarity—started in December 1981 to aid Poland’s Solidarity movement after the imposition of martial law—with the aim of helping the growing democracy and human rights movements in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. IDEE organized substantial assistance to opposition groups at the forefront of the 1989-91 revolutions that brought about the fall of communism in the region. Since 1989, it has helped democrats in the region to overcome communism’s legacy, build democratic institutions, and oppose new forms of authoritarianism.

The Institute for Human Sciences (Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, IWM) is an independent institution for research in the humanities and social sciences based in Vienna, Austria. It was founded in 1982 by Polish philosopher Krzysztof  Michalski, who was the rector of the institute until his death in February 2013. The idea to found this Institute came to Michalski at the beginning of the 1980s during his stay in the Inter University Centre in Dubrovnik, which at that time served as a place where Eastern and Western scientists could meet. Thus, Michalski decided to relocate the institute to Vienna, where exchanges across East-West borders might be possible. After its establishment, the IWM had a strong formative impact on Western scholars. The institute enabled them to discover Eastern (underground) cultures of investigations and debate. It became a forum for intellectuals from both sides of the Iron Curtain. The IWM, along with others, brought to the Western audience the ideas of Czech phenomenologist Jan Patočka, which were “forbidden” in Czechoslovakia until 1989.

 

Today the IMW focuses on new and frequently discussed topics, which often contribute to discussions on various political, social, economic and cultural issues. Since its inception, the institute has strived for the frequent international exchange of scientists and for dialogues between scientists from various disciplines, groups and cultures – especially from Eastern and Western Europe – as one of the primary aims of the institute was to reintegrate the ideas and experiences of Eastern Europe into Western debates. This exchange also extended to North American, Southeast European and former Soviet researchers.

Research at the Institute is currently focused on eight different areas: Scales of Justice and Legal Pluralism, Economic Ideas and Institutions in Eastern Europe, Democracy in Questions, United Europe – Divided History, Religion and Secularism, Jan Patočka Philosophical Work, International Law and Multinormativity, Sources of Inequality.

The IWM is registered as a non-profit organisation. It receives basic funding from the Austrian Government and the City of Vienna. The instituteʼs projects and activities are supported by international foundations and sponsors.