Andreas Helmedach (ed.): Pulverfass, Powder Keg, Baril de Poudre? Südosteuropa im europäischen Geschichtsschulbuch / South Eastern Europe in European History Textbooks

This book demonstrates that the historical region of South-Eastern Europe (or ‘The Balkans’) is still not adequately represented in European school textbooks; indeed, that this part of our continent is frequently avoided and circumvented by academic studies. In textbooks from Western and Central Europe, South-Eastern Europe appears, if at all, as an exclusively problematic area; indeed, as a ‘powder keg’. In textbooks from South-Eastern Europe, on the other hand, the historical region as a traditional whole disappears behind the nation-state perspectives of history textbooks that have only recently been – at the very least – expanded to provide a Europe-wide viewpoint. This is made clear by means of twelve textbook analyses that examine how post-Byzantine South-Eastern Europe is dealt with in British, German, French, Greek, Italian, Croatian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovakian and Hungarian contemporary history textbooks, as well as the portrayal of Byzantium in contemporary German, French and British textbooks. Ultimately, in the concluding chapter, the editor presents his suggestions for an improved and appropriate representation of South-Eastern Europe in German history textbooks.

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