The Eastern Europe Institute in Dresden

Who we are and what we want

Dresden  is the capital of the Free State of Saxony, the German federal state  with the longest external frontiers with the Central and Eastern  European neighbouring countries. Dresden is one of the most outstanding  locations for research and science within Germany. He has many  scientific facilities which are closely connected with Central and  Eastern European countries or have made Central and Eastern Europe their object of research. Therefore Dresden is equipped with an exceptionally  diversified network for research and knowledge on Central and Eastern  Europe.


Beyond the academic expertise on Central and Eastern  Europe the government of the Free State of Saxony, other administrative  authorities, public law corporations and a variety of foundations as  well as the municipal authorities of Dresden maintain and support  relations with Central and Eastern Europe. Furthermore a variety of  private facilities and public institutions, in some cases maintained by  the Eastern European countries itself, are represented in Dresden.


However,  Dresden is not acknowledged everywhere as an "Eastern Europe location".  Considering the geographical location this is very astounding. As far  as the academic aspect is concerned one notes that in spite of the many-facetted Eastern Europe research there is no interdisciplinary  competence centre or Eastern Europe Institute. This gap can hardly be  filled by a privately founded registered non-governmental and non-profit  organization. However, the foundation of the Eastern Europe Institute  Dresden e.V. is a meaningful indication of regional self-confidence and  the deep attachment of the region to the neighbouring states in Central  and Eastern Europe.


The Eastern Europe Institute Dresden e.V. is a  research institute. Its alignment is interdisciplinary. If scientific  and scholarly institutions in Dresden are working on Eastern Europe  research projects they are carrying this out within their faculty. The Eastern Europe Institute Dresden e.V. makes all the manifold fields of research a subject of interdisciplinary discussions. Thus wide-ranging  talks from different disciplines are given at the Eastern Europe  Institute Dresden e.V. and events in many subject areas are organized  here. Not only the Slavonicist and the scholar but also the lawyer  dealing with the matter of transition and legal adjustment, the  economist looking into transformation economics as well as the trade  relations with Eastern Europe, the medic working on cross-border cooperation or the traffic researcher dealing with problems of cross-border development plans ... they are all given the opportunity to present their research at the Eastern Europe Institute Dresden e.V.


The  Eastern Europe Institute Dresden e.V. strives for cooperation with  other academic institutions and promotes research projects of its own staff. If the city of Dresden or the Free State of Saxony make the  region of Central and Eastern Europe the centre of projects the Eastern  Europe Institute Dresden e.V. strives for cooperation as well. The self-funding Eastern Europe Institute Dresden e.V. is supported by  academics, up-and-coming academics, by committed people from the public  sphere as well as by entrepreneurs and firms in Dresden, the Free State  of Saxony and beyond. Relations with the academic world are ensured by  the director of the institute, Mr Dr. Peter Neumann, who also runs the Dresden branch office of the leading academic non-governmental and non-profit German language organization in the field of Eastern Europe  research: the German Society for East European Studies (DGO - Deutsche  Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde in Berlin with a nation-wide network of  24 branch offices.

Peter Neumann