[Fragmentation in East Central Europe: Poland and the Baltics, 1915-1929. Klaus Richter] : recenzija

ENIn the early 20th century, two Baltic Sea ports, Danzig and Memel, were considered as belonging to the same economic space. The distance between these ports, in a straight line, was 214 kilometres, back then, just as it is now. A hundred years ago, in 1921, this distance could be covered by the most advanced means at the time: the 11am plane from Danzig would land in Memel three hours later, with a 30-minute break in Königsberg. Today, unlike 100 years ago, the most common form of transport between the two ports is the automobile. It takes eight hours, to cover a distance of over 700 kilometres. The reason for this dramatic change is the appearance of the Kaliningrad Oblast, one of the outcomes of the Second World War. This Russian semi-enclave outside the European Union and the Schengen Zone is wedged between Lithuania and Poland; but driving all the way round it would still probably take less time than taking the shorter 295-kilometre route through Kaliningrad and the two border control posts, even with all the necessary documents in order before the journey.Klaus Richter’s new book reminds us how a whole string of similar, and sometimes even more radical, obstructions to transport and communications appeared in the large European region stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the north to the Carpathians in the south. This occurred when the imperial order collapsed, and a whole collection of nation-states emerged in the borderland between the former Habsburg, Hohenzollern and Romanov empires. This transformation, a direct result of the First World War, has long been known by historians, and has attracted a great deal of discussion. However, Richter’s book helps us look closer at the economic and social changes arising from this upheaval. The main argument in the book is that the East Central European region fragmented after the Great War. Even though this argument, too, is not at all new, and has been discussed by contemporaries, Richter’s book is probably the first to discuss the issue in so much detail, and from so many angles. [Extract, p. 253]