Dynamics of Property Change in Eastern Europe
Land Reforms, Expropriations and Restitutions in Political, Economic, Ecological, and Social Transformation Processes
Property relations are not merely the economic foundation, but also a fundamental social, political, and ideological problem of societies and states. They also shape cultural frameworks. Changes in property ownership serve both as catalysts and indicators of political and social transformation. This is particularly evident in Eastern Europe during the "Age of Extremes" (Hobsbawm), where land reforms, expropriations, and restitutions have marked the various phases of transition from one political and social system to another. The DGO Disciplinary Group’s Conference aims to discuss the dynamics of property relations from a historical perspective, considering their long-term consequences and adopting a comparative approach, beyond the narrower legal and economic history.
We invite interested persons in participation to register for organisational under:
Program
October 16th, 2025
12.30 pm, guided tour through Martin Opitz Library (optional)
1.00 – 1.15 pm, Opening and Welcome
1.15 – 2.30 pm, Section I. Land Reforms and Societal Transitions in 19th Century-Modernization
Chair: Heidi Hein-Kircher (Herne / Bochum)
Artur Hilgenberg (Regensburg): Die Agrarinstitutionen der Donkosaken. Neuordnung der Grundbesitzverhältnisse am Don um 1835
Tamar Qeburia (Regensburg): Between Empire and Nature: Land Ownership and Territorial Transformation of Georgia's Black Sea Coast
Comments: Borbála Zsuzsanna Török (Vienna)
2.30 – 5.00 pm, Section II. Property as Key Questions for Collective Identities in the 20th Century
Chair: Markus Koller (Bochum)
Dāvis Pumpuiņš (Herne/Bochum): The Return of World War I Refugees to the Republic of Latvia and the Agrarian Question
Duygu Yayla Eldem and A. Emre Eldem (Istanbul): Haunted Homes and Silent Legacies: Property and Memory in Turkey after the Turkish-Greek Population Exchange
3.15 – 3.45 pm Break
3.45 – 5.30 pm
Paris Pin-Yu Chen (Birmingham): The Politics of Land Reform and Estonian Diaspora Subjectivity, 1980s-2000s
Karolis Dambrauskas (Vilnius): Land Property and Inter-Ethnic Relations in Post-Socialist Lithuanian, Slovak and Romanian (Nation-)States
Comments: Heidi Hein-Kircher (Bochum)
5.30 pm – 5.45 pm, Break
5.45 pm –7 pm, Keynote
Chair: Guido Hausmann (Regensburg)
Borbála Zsuzsanna Török (Vienna): East-Central European Debates on Property in the Age of the Great Transformation (19th – 21st centuries)
October 17th, 2025
9.00 – 10.30 am, Section III. Collectivization as a Forced Property Regime
Chair: Sören Urbanski
Nicoleta Șerban (Bucharest): Authorities and Peasants in the Collectivization Process. Revolts in Suraia, Vadu Roșca and Răstoaca (Nov 1957 – Jan 1958)
Benjamin Conrad (Berlin): Sozialisierung als Mittel zur Polonisierung? Das Beispiel Niederschlesien 1945–1948
Antanas Terleckas (Vilnius): Conquering the Countryside: Property Transitions and the Collectivization of Lithuania
Comments: Guido Hausmann (Regensburg)
10.30 – 10.45 am Break
10.45 am – 1.00 pm, Section IV. Social and Political Transformations and Property Regime Change in the Second Half of the 20th Century
Chair: Constantin Goschler (Bochum)
Diana Mincyte (New York): Cows in Transition: Property Relations, Animal Subjectivity, and Gendered Labors in the 20th Century Baltic States
Maksim Shulga (Florence): The Boundaries of Property Regimes in The Era of Late Socialism: How the Apartment Exchange Was Legalized and Functioned (late 1950s – late 1980s)
Tereza Juhászová (Prague): Social Transformation of Rural Slovakia? The Case of a Stubborn Landowner in a Multilingual Region (1940s–1990s)
Florian Peters (Jena): (Neo)liberals Against Property Claims: Contentious Privatisation and Protracted Restitution in Post-Socialist Poland
Comments: Jan-Arned de Graaf (Bochum)
1.00 pm – 1.30 pm, Final Discussion
Impulse Statements by Heidi Hein-Kircher, Borbála Zsuzsanna Török, Guido Hausmann