Territorial Revisionism and the Allies of Germany in the Second World War

Marina Cattaruzza is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Bern.

• Introduction: Contextualizing Territorial Revisionism: Goals, Expectations, PracticesMarina Cattaruzza and Dieter LangewiescheThe European Scenario in the Interwar PeriodRevisionism in PracticeThe Minorities IssueThe manifold problems of the heirs of the empires in East Central EuropeAn era of Revisionism?Chapter 1. The Worst of Friends: Germany’s Allies in East Central Europe – Struggles for Regional Dominance and Ethnic Cleansing, 1938-1945Istvan DeakTHE ROLE OF MINORITIESChapter 2. Minorities into majorities. Sudeten German and Transylvanian Hungarian political elites as actors of revisionism before and during the Second World WarFranz HorvathIntroductionSome remarks on terminology (Minority groups, Revisionism, and Loyalty)Sudeten Germans and Transylvanian Hungarians as Revisionist MinoritiesDominating the others. Sudeten Germans and Transylvanian Hungarians as Members of the Ruling Nation (1938/40-1944/45)ConclusionChapter 3. Germany turns eastwards: The “Volksdeutsche” in Central and Eastern EuropeNorbert SpannenbergerMinority Politics and German “Volksgruppen” in the States of the South Eastern European RegionA Sketch of National Socialist Volksgruppen Politics in PracticeREVISIONISM AS A DRIVING FORCEChapter 4. Revisionism in Regional PerspectiveHolly CaseRevisionism as IdeologyRevisionist and Anti-Revisionist Solidarity: The Case of the Little EntenteLessons and Models in the Geopolitics of Revisionism: Bulgaria and RomaniaRevisionism and Domestic PolicyConclusionChapter 5. Hungarian Revisionism in Thought and Action, 1920-1941 (Plans, Expectations, Reality)Ignác RomsicsHungarian Revisionist Conceptions after TrianonHungarian Revisionist Politics by Negotiation and WarChapter 6. Bulgarian Territorial Revisionism as the Driving Force for its Rapprochment with the Third ReichElżbieta Znamierowska-RakkPostwar Revisionism and Postwar AlliancesGermany as the Main Revisionist PowerThe Recovery of Southern DobrudjaBulgaria’s Accession to the Pact of ThreeConclusionPRACTICES OF REVISIONISMChapter 7. Politics and Military Action of Ethnic Ukrainian Collaboration for the “New European Order”Frank GrelkaPolitical CollaborationAdministrative CollaborationMilitary CollaborationConclusionChapter 8. Civil War in Occupied Territories: The Polish-Ukrainian Conflict in the Interwar Years and in the Second World WarFrank GolczewskiNational DisappointmentHopes set on the Great PowersThe Changes of 1941The Change of the TideAfter the WarChapter 9. The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization and Bulgarian Revisionism, 1923-1944Stefan TroebstVision turned into Politics: The Bulgarian Syndrome of San StefanoPeaceful Revisionism“: Official Bulgarian Foreign Policy in the Interwar PeriodMilitant Revisionism: Informal Bulgarian Interwar Balkan PolicyRevision Achieved—And Lost Again: Bulgaria and IMRO in the Second World WarLegacies: IMRO in Today’s Bulgarian and Macedonian PoliticsChapter 10. Romania in the Second World War: Revisionist Out of NecessityMariana HausleitnerMinorities Policies, Romanization and anti-Semitism in Romania 1918-1941The Redrawing of the Romanian Borders 1938-1940The so called "Purification" in the Bukovina, Bessarabia and Transnistria 1941-1944Who planned and organized the “national purification” of RomaniaConclusionBibliographyIndex

“Overall this book represents a welcome addition to the existing scholarship on nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe, and there is much that scholars of the region can learn from the essays included in this anthology. It is well researched, and many of the authors make provocative, substantiated claims about the nature of territorial acquisition in the mid- twentieth century. This is a text that will be most useful to specialists on World War II or anyone with an already extensive knowledge of the rise of nationalism and its expressions in the region.” · Journal of Austrian Studies“An impressive work of original and documented scholarship, [this book] provides an insightful history of a previously overlooked aspect of German expansionism as a specifically intended outcome of the Nazi government and military forces of World War II. A remarkably informed and informative study, [it] very highly recommended.” · Midwest Book Review“…richly deserve to be read by experts in the field as it provides an excellent survey of the latest work on Eastern, Central, and Southern European history in the modern period.” · H-Soz-u-Kult“Timely on so many fronts, this book offers scholars, students, and informed readers an instructive regional exposition of how territorial revisionist projects overcame petty nationalist regimes and impoverished the culture of a continent.” · European History Quarterly“Enhanced with the inclusion of a List of Abbreviations, Maps, Notes on Contributors, a Select Bibliography, and a comprehensive Index, [this volume] is an original body of impressive scholarship and a highly recommended addition to academic library World War II era German History reference collections and Central European History supplemental reading lists.” · World History Shelf“This is an excellent topic, clearly defined and illuminated by some first rate articles. This volume will contribute to the scholarly literature on the Second World War (which often neglects the smaller participants), but will also enrich discussions among historians and social scientists on that key tension between states and nations.” · James Sheehan, Stanford University“The authors are to be commended for their original research and analysis. In addressing the opportunistic goals, motives, and prejudices of revisionist elites seeking territorial gain in fragile interwar nation-states, the book makes a key contribution to the comparative and transnational history of modern East Central Europe.” · Steven Seegel, University of Northern Colorado