Publisher's Synopsis
"Pruzzenland" is a region in north-eastern Europe which has historically been influenced by a diverse range of cultural and multi-ethnic traditions and found itself the subject of competing territorial claims made by Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Russia. The alterations to national borders and the almost wholesale change in the region's population in the aftermath of the Second World War were doubtless the most profound ruptures and transformations faced by the area. In recent times, issues around remembering and coming to terms with the past have become crucial resources in the search for regional identity in Poland, Lithuania and Russia. This book, spanning the twentieth century and moving beyond it to the present day, represents the first attempt by research in this field to trace, and make an international comparison of, narratives and constructions of identities relating to a region as they appear in textbooks. The approach taken involves the analysis of mental maps and a focus on seven key topoi: the Pruzzen, Grunwald/Tannenberg/Å"algiris, migration, religions, personalities, the economy and society and landscapes.
