New Avenues in Eastern European History

As the historians of Eastern Europe1 (defined here as the region between the Elbe and the Western borders of the USSR) emancipate themselves from what they call the dogmatism of the period of the cult of personality and as the dialogue between them and the Western historians is resumed, it becomes possible to take a fresh look at the history of Eastern Europe and, in a fruitful interplay of ideas, to discuss rationally the basic issues of Eastern European history and to seek an answer to many of the questions which this history poses. Recent years have witnessed the foundation in Eastern Europe of several research institutes and centres specifically devoted to a study of this region.2 The almost precipitous emergence of these institutes