A few months after taking office, the new Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), Monika Grütters, visited the Federal Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (BKGE) in Oldenburg.
The Minister of State said it was important for her to get to know the BKGE - the only departmental research institution in her portfolio - personally. "The Federal Institute does outstanding work for the Federal Government. Its scientific expertise makes it an internationally valued point of contact for the wide range of topics relating to the cultural heritage of Germans in Eastern Europe," said Grütters during her visit last week. "Researching, preserving and communicating this heritage is a task that has become a unifying element for a common Europe of cultures."
To this end, Germany is working closely with its eastern partner countries. "Through its involvement in the "European Network Remembrance and Solidarity", the only multilateral cooperation at state level dedicated to coming to terms with the 20th century, which was particularly characterised by dictatorships and experiences of violence, the BKGE contributes to a liberal culture of remembrance in a Europe of responsible citizens."
Prof Dr Matthias Weber, Director of the BKGE, which was founded in 1989, and his team presented the work of the Institute, the latest publications, outstanding objects from the BKGE special library and selected research and co-operation projects to the Minister of State: "Nobility in Silesia", "Modern Architecture in Wrocław and Silesia" and the "European Network of Remembrance and Solidarity". Weber also pointed out the many co-operations between the BKGE and the university and the pleasing synergy effects of the university's European focus.
The good cooperation between the BKGE and the university was also emphasised by the participation of the acting president of the University of Oldenburg in the discussion with the Minister of State for Culture. Prof Dr Katharina Al-Shamery expressly thanked the BKM for the extensive third-party funding that flows to the University of Oldenburg. For example, the multi-year project "Freiheitsraum Reformation", which goes beyond academia and is headed by Prof Dr Dagmar Freist and involves partners from academia, culture, society and the church in Oldenburg and north-west Germany, has received 300,000 euros in funding from the BKM since 2012. Another major co-operation project between the BKGE and the university is the online lexicon on the culture and history of Germans in Eastern Europe under the direction of Prof. Dr Sabine Doering. Al-Shamery emphasised the importance of this project for students. The young generation can gain particularly good access to the range of topics relating to the culture and history of Germans in Eastern Europe via the Internet.
The BKGE has been an affiliated Institute of the University of Oldenburg since 2000, and its academic staff are also involved in academic teaching in various disciplines (history, art history, ethnology/European ethnology/German studies).