Fascism first appeared in East Central and Southeastern Europe in the early 1920s. Organizations and individuals in this part of the continent were influenced by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany but also developed their own indigenous forms of fascism in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Due to the heterogenous nature of East Central Europe, fascism took various forms in the territories that prior to 1918 had belonged to the Habsburg, German, Russian and Ottoman Empires. As a result, East Central Europe became a mosaic of fascist parties, organizations, and movements. During World War II, East Central and Southeastern European fascisms substantially contributed to collaboration with the Nazis and the genocide of the Jews at the same time as some geopolitical conflicts and disagreements between them hampered political collaboration. During the Cold War, East Central and Southeastern European fascisms underwent multifaced aesthetic and ideological transformations and adjustment in the Soviet Union and its satellites as well as in exile in the West. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the legacy of fascism re-emerged in the region, informing part of the ideology of various neo-fascist, radical nationalist, antisemitic, and national conservative parties and movements, as well as motivating communal politicians to erect monuments to fascists, war criminals and antisemites.
The organizers are interested in collaborating with scholars who investigate fascism in East Central and Southeastern Europe in a transnational, transatlantic and global context between 1918 and 2018. Some of the key questions which should be addressed in the papers are:
- How did individuals, movements, and parties organize fascist-style organizations in East Central Europe in the 1920s and 1930s? To what extent did they copy doctrines from Italy and Germany, and what was the role of original, indigenous national or regional forms of fascism? How did the competition for multiethnic territories in the region shape the ideology of the specific fascist organizations, movements, and parties?
- What role did antisemitism, racism, and violence play in the ideology of fascist movements? What role did indigenous fascist movements play in aiding the Nazis in annihilating the Jews in their respective regions? To what extent did antisemitism and racism facilitate collaboration with the Nazis? Why were members of some East Central European fascist movements detained by the Nazis?
- What forms of transatlantic and global collaboration existed between East Central and Southeastern European fascist movements and veterans of World War I and World War II in North America, Argentina, and other parts of the world? What was the role of such networks during the interwar period and the Cold War? How did transnational and transatlantic collaboration alter fascism in East Central and Southeastern Europe?
- To what extent were legacies of fascism preserved in the satellite states and republics of the Soviet Union by the ruling communist parties and in underground organizations during the Cold War? How did fascism reemerge after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc? What role does fascism play today in the agendas of neo-fascist, radical right and national conservative parties in these regions?
Please submit an abstract to Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe (g.r-l@fu-berlin.de) with a short bio by September 30, 2021.