Property in East Central Europe

Hannes Siegrist is Professor for social and cultural history of modern and contemporary Europe at the University of Leipzig. He is the co-editor of Comparativ. Zeitschrift für Globalgeschichte und Vergleichende Gesellschaftsforschung and the book-series “Moderne europäische Geschichte” with Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen. His publications include Intellectual Property Rights and Globalization (special issue of Comparativ, 2011), Eigentum im internationalen Vergleich: 18.-20. Jahrhundert (with David Sugarman, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1999).

• List of TablesAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Property in East Central Europe: Notions, Institutions and Practices of Landownership in the Twentieth CenturyHannes Siegrist and Dietmar MüllerPART I: ECONOMIC HISTORYChapter 1. The Changing Landscape of Property: Landownership and Modernization in Poland in the Nineteenth and Twentieth CenturiesJacek KochanowiczChapter 2. Agriculture and Landownership in the Economic History of Twentieth-century RomaniaBogdan MurgescuPART II: PROPERTY BETWEEN LAW AND POLITICSChapter 3. Property in the East Central European Legal CultureHerbert KüpperChapter 4. The Habsburg Cadastral Registration System in the Context of ModernizationKurt ScharrChapter 5. Property between Delimitation and Nationalization: The Notion, Institutions and Practices of Land Proprietorship in Romania, Yugoslavia and Poland, 1918–1948Dietmar MüllerChapter 6. Frontline Soldiers into Farmers: Military Colonization in Poland after World War I and World War IIChristhardt HenschelChapter 7. The Country Road to Revolution: Transforming Individual Peasant Property into Socialist Property in Yugoslavia, 1945–1953Jovica LukovićPART III: PRACTICES AND MENTALITIES OF LANDOWNERSHIPChapter 8. Homeland as Property: Symbolic Ownership and the Local Heritage of the Past in Lemkowyna and the UkraineJacek NowakChapter 9. Landownership in Practice: The Case of the Local Community of Naramice in Central PolandPaweł KlintChapter 10. Property and Agricultural Policy in Twentieth-century Romania: Intentions, Technical Means and Social RealitiesCornel MicuChapter 11. Owning Land in Central Serbia: Contemporary Notions and Practices: The Case of MrčajevciSrđan MiloševićChapter 12. The Practices of Land Ownership in Vojvodina: The Case of AradacJovana DikovićSelected BibliographyNotes on ContributorsIndex

“The reader will benefit from the reflections developed throughout the chapters that, taken together, present a pertinent and well documented theme of utmost importance in that part of the European continent.” • Revue d’études comparatives Est-Ouest“Especially now that Neoliberalism remains without any recognizable alternative model, it is a valuable task for historians not to accept concepts of ownership as given but to describe them in their historical variability. Here the volume evokes contradiction, but also shows just how varied the rural ownership relations were, to what degree they served political ends and how creatively the affected population handled the frequently changing legal propositions. For this reason, it offers manifold ideas and inspirations for future work dealing with rural property.” • H-Soz-Kult“…will prove significant in the field, and the focus of debate and controversy. The content is wide-ranging, cogent and coherent… The contributors are also the foremost experts in their fields… The geographical coverage of the book as a whole is admirably wide… [it] evinces a good balance between theory and methodology, and ‘thick description’.” • David Sugarman, Lancaster University“The major contribution of this volume is the comparative perspective on several different regions and countries and the significant differences in their experiences of property systems and of land policy transformations over the course of the 20th century… Other works exist on the post socialist transformations in Eastern Europe, but most lack the historical perspective on land policy change over the longer time frame that this volume addresses.” • Melanie G. Wiber, University of New Brunswick