The Eastern Front in World War Two – New Challenges for Researchers

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Clik here to view.Niels Bo Poulsen, Royal Danish Military Academy

The Stockholm Institute of Transition Economic (SITE) has the pleasure to invite members of The Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences to a lecture by Professor Niels Bo Poulsen, Institute for Military History and War Studies at the Royal Danish Military Academy.

 
Professor Poulsen presents his new book Dödskampen: Kriget på Östfronten 1941–1945 (Historiska Media 2018, https://tidsskriftet-nof.no/index.php/noros/article/view/1422/2797  ) which is a major contribution on Russian military history and a grand synthesis of recent research and discussions on the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945.

Since the early 2000’s, tensions between Russia and EU/NATO states are reflected in a stiff Russian history policy concerning the Great Patriotic War 1941–45. The reasons for the political tensions between Russia and the West are complex and manifold. Better access to primary sources shed new light on how Nazi Germany prepared for war, and on how the USSR organized its five-year plans for total economic mobilization. However, there are also new controversies on the causes of World War II, on multiple aspects of Soviet warfare, and finally, on the global significance of the Soviet victory. Notable are Russia’s countermeasures against real or alleged historical falsifications by historians, but mostly by politicians and publicists in the West. In his lecture, the military historian and Russia specialist Poulsen will highlight the controversies over interpretations of the German-Soviet war, and explain how a politization of the past creates ethical challenges for professional researchers.

The lecture will be introduced by Torbjörn Becker, Director of SITE, and chaired by Lennart Samuelson, Associate Professor at SITE. Time will be available for questions and answers after the presentation. Copies of Poulsen’s book can be ordered at reduced price.

SITE at the Stockholm School of Economics www.hhs.se/site. Since its foundation in 1989, SITE has become a leading research and policy centre on transition in Central and Eastern Europe, including Russia. More recently we have broadened our research focus to include issues relevant to emerging markets and developing countries more generally.