Intellectual project
European borders as
“Fluid Boundaries”
In some sense, borders have made “Europe.” Perhaps nowhere is this more true than along Germany’s borders with France and Poland. The Rhine and Oder-Neisse river systems have functioned as markers of the post-1945 settlement, spaces of integration, and sources of shared problems. My research aims to examine how citizens along these borders related to one another in everyday life.
Recent research
Working the Border
Even when East Germany closed its border to Poland in the 1980s, it continued to rely on hundreds of (mostly female) commuter laborers from Poland crossing regularly to work in factories in border towns like Görlitz. This project explores how both workers and police navigated this restrictive border regime in the final decade of the Cold War.
Previous research
Better active than radioactive!
My previous project examined cross-border protest against nuclear energy in France and West Germany during the 1970s. It was published in book form with Oxford University Press in 2016.
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Recent activities
See below for information about some of my most recent publications, presentations, and teaching.
Schengen: otwarte, ale chwilowo zamknięte
Artykuł w czasopiśmie Polityka nr. 24 (10 czerwca 2025 r.) (Tekst przetłumaczony przez Magdalenę Saryusz-Wolską) Zakończenie: “UE z dumą chwali się, że strefa Schengen gwarantuje prawo do swobodnego przemieszczania się[…]
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„Sozialistische Integration“ als Beruf: Ostdeutsche und polnische Zollangehörige im Kalten Krieg
Online-Beitrag (Projektbeschreibung) für das Themenportal der Max-Weber-Stiftung Die sozialistische Integration Osteuropas wird im Nachhinein oft als gescheitert betrachtet – doch was bedeutete sie für Zeitgenoss*innen? Besonders zwischen der DDR und[…]
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Rezension: Peters, Von Solidarność zur Schocktherapie
Monographie rezensiert für H-Soz-u-Kult (11.12.2024.) Fazit: Florian Peters hat eine nuancierte Erzählung des polnischen Wegs in den Kapitalismus geschrieben. Dabei analysiert er Thesenpapiere, Partei- und Gewerkschaftsprogramme sowie graue Literatur, Memoiren,[…]
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