Ostforschung
Sign in to saveOstforschung (; "research on the east") is a German term dating from the 18th century for the study of the areas to the east of the core German-speaking region. At its core, Ostforschung postulated that Germans and Germany were superior to Poles and Poland, and aimed to prove this thesis. The idea of German superiority and Prussian stereotypes about Poles were the core beliefs of this field of research.
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Ostforschung (; "research on the east") is a German term dating from the 18th century for the study of the areas to the east of the core German-speaking region. At its core, Ostforschung postulated that Germans and Germany were superior to Poles and Poland, and aimed to prove this thesis. The idea of German superiority and Prussian stereotypes about Poles were the core beliefs of this field of research.
Traditional Ostforschung has fallen into disrepute with modern German historians as it often reflected Western European prejudices of the time towards Poles. The term Ostforschung itself remained in use in the names of some journals and institutes throughout the Cold War, but was replaced by more specific terms by the 1990s (e.g., the journal Zeitschrift für Ostforschung, established in 1952, was renamed Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung in 1994).