Dr. Kathleen Beger

Doctoral Project

Kleine Bürger für die große Zukunft: Sowjetische Einrichtungen für Kinder und Jugendliche im Vergleich (1925-1965) — abgeschlossen

Small Citizens for the Great Future: Comparing Soviet Institutions for Children and Adolescents (1925-1965) — completed

In my dissertation, I examine the example of two diametrically opposed institutions where the youngest members of Soviet society were educated on building, sustaining and supporting socialism. At the same time, I compare the pioneer camp "Artek" located on the Crimean peninsula with a working colony in the Arkhangelsk oblast. Participating in the prestigious "Artek" was a distinction and was reserved only for the best in the country whereas a stay in the working colony was a punishment for minors who had committed a crime. Consequently, the functions of these bodies consisted either in specializing the state elite ("Artek") or in rebuilding and reintegrating delinquent adolescents (working colony). In principle, however, both institutions pursued a similar goal and, despite their allegedly great differences, had many similarities. Based on the concepts of heterotopia (Michel Foucault) and the total institution (Erving Goffman), I grasp "Artek" and the working colony as self-contained systems that served to create the "new man" and to further build and sustain Soviet society. In line with this universal goal, children and adolescents should be educated as loyal supporters of socialism in order to make a productive contribution to the state and society as adults. It is the pedagogical ideal of the "new human being" and its expressions and variations that I trace in my work. While the educational theories, methods and measures in "Artek" leveled smoothly, those in the working colony experienced a greater shift. At the center of the analysis is thus the question of which ideas and parameters were responsible for the fact that the pedagogical treatment of the future elite is much more inflexible and rigidly designed ("Artek") than that of the delinquent children and adolescents (working colony).

Please also see an overview of her project in the Graduate School's Newsletter Nr. 8, Summer Semester 2017.

Curriculum Vitae

Born in Meißen. In November 2014, Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Lehrstuhl für Geschichte Südost- und Ost­europas an der Universität Regensburg unter Leitung von Prof. Dr. Ulf Brunnbauer. From 03/2012 - 02/2014, Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im FWF-Projekt „Tausend Jahre ukrainische Sprachgeschichte in Galizien“ am Institut für Slawistik der Universität Wien unter Lei­tung von Ao. o. Univ. Prof. Mag. Dr. Michael Moser. From 2011 to 2014, Studium der Allgemeinen Slawistik und Osteuropäischen Geschichte an der Universität Wien. From 2009-2010, Auslandsteilstudium an der Nationalen Taras-Schewtschenko-Universität Kiew (Ukraine). From 2007 to 2011, Studium der Ostslavistik und Polonistik an der Universität Leipzig.

Positions, Assignments and Memberships

• Former member of the Study Group "Migration, Transfer, Cultural Contact"

Former Positions (selected)

• Seminar Teacher „Zwischen Ost und West: Die Ukraine im 20./21. Jahrhundert“ (Winter Semester 2016/17)

• Seminar Teacher „Tourismus in Osteuropa vom 19. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart“ (Winter Semester 2015/16)

Publications

Reviews

Rezension zu Volker Zimmermann / Michal Pullmann (Hgg.): Ordnung und Sicherheit, Devianz und Kriminalität im Staatssozialismus. Tschechoslowakei und DDR 1948/49–1989, 2014. In: Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas / jgo.e-reviews, jgo.e-reviews 2015, 4, S. 37-39. URL: https://www.recensio.net/r/792969007eb34dad8e327764ab47c63b.

Further Publications

Comeback eines sowjetischen Pionierlagers? Russlands Ambitionen in Artek seit der Krim-Annexion. In: Erinnerungskulturen. Erinnerung und Geschichtspolitik im östlichen und südöstlichen Europa, 30.10.2018.

Российский государственный архив социально-политической истории (РГАСПИ) / The Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI), in: ESE Archives Guide: A Web Guide to East and Southeast European Archives, 2018 (2018-08-01), http://www.ese-archives.geschichte.uni-muenchen.de/?p=174

Conference and Workshop Organization

• „Heile Welt im Pionierlager ‚Artek‘?“ DoktorandInnen-Workshop „Heil der Diktatur. Über die Attraktivität illiberaler, antidemokratischer Herrschaftsvorstellungen“, November 2016, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• „'Going International?' Staatsozialistischer Kinder- und Jugendtourismus am Beispiel des sowjetischen Pionierlagers 'Artek'“, Workshop „Tourismuswelten. Translokale Perspektiven auf die Tourismusgeschichte”, Februar 2016, Greifswald/Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg
• “Camps with a ‘Friendly Face’? A Comparative Study of Social Experiments on Children and Youth in Soviet Camps (ca. 1925-1975)”, International Workshop “New Research in the Social History of State Socialism”, October 2015, Charles University Prague
• “Where Future Meets Past – The Soviet Pioneer Camp ‘Artek’ as a Site between Socialist Utopia and Memory”, International Conference “Sites of Memory of Socialism and Communism in Europe”, September 2015, Münchenwiler, Switzerland

Presentations

2016

„Heile Welt im Pionierlager ‚Artek‘?“ DoktorandInnen-Workshop „Heil der Diktatur. Über die Attraktivität illiberaler, antidemokratischer Herrschaftsvorstellungen“, November 2016, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

„‘Going International?‘ Staatsozialistischer Kinder- und Jugendtourismus am Beispiel des sowjetischen Pionierlagers ‚Artek‘“, Workshop „Tourismuswelten. Translokale Perspektiven auf die Tourismusgeschichte”, Februar 2016, Greifswald/Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg

2015

“Camps with a ‘Friendly Face’? A Comparative Study of Social Experiments on Children and Youth in Soviet Camps (ca. 1925-1975)”, International Workshop “New Research in the Social History of State Socialism”, October 2015, Charles University Prague

“Where Future Meets Past – The Soviet Pioneer Camp ‘Artek’ as a Site between Socialist Utopia and Memory”, International Conference “Sites of Memory of Socialism and Communism in Europe”, September 2015, Münchenwiler, Switzerland

Teaching

• WiSe 2016/17 Proseminar „Zwischen Ost und West: Die Ukraine im 20./21. Jahrhundert“ (Universität Regensburg)

• WiSe 2015/16 Proseminar „Tourismus in Osteuropa vom 19. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart“ (Universität Regensburg)