Laura Polexe
„I am the son of dirt, I am the son of light“ – networks and self-perception between the social democrats of Romania, Russia, and Switzerland at the beginning of the 20th century.
born 1981
Education:
1999 school leaving exam [equivalent to A-level] German „Johannes-Honterus"-Highschool in Brasov
1999 - 2003/04 studies of philosophy, Babes-Bolyai-University Cluj / Romania
2004 Master´s degree in philosophy; thesis on the meaning of freedom in Karl Jasper´s philosophy (supervised by Prof. Dr. Regine Kather)
2001 – 2006 studies of East European history and philosophy; Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg2004-2005 studies of Russian language and history, University of Zürich, Switzerland
2006 Master of Arts, University of Freiburg; thesis on the Romanian volonteers in the Spanish Civil War (supervisor: Prof. Dr. Dietmar Neutatz)
2007-current: PhD studies in East European History, University of Freiburg, Germany, and University of Basel, Switzerland (supervisors: Prof. Dr. Dietmar Neutatz and Prof. Dr. Heiko Haumann)
may 2007-current: scholarship of the graduate school 1288 „Freunde, Gönner, Getreue" (Friends, Patrons, Clients); University of Freiburg
Experience:
2002 – 2004: student assistant; Dean´s office, University of Freiburg
2002 – 2004: teaching assistant; Caritas Freiburg
2005-2007: research assistant; Center for Teachers, University of Freiburg
Publications:
Review: Tom Gallagher, „Theft of a Nation. Romania since Communism", London (Hurst) 2005. In: Zeitschrift für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde 28(2) / 2005, pp. 248-249.
Review: Vladimir Tismaneanu, „Stalinism for All Seasons. A Political History of Romanian Communism", Berkeley (University of California Press) 2003. In: Zeitschrift für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde 29/2006, pp. 99-100. online
Article (in print): „Wir nahmen mit der ganzen Seele an den Freuden und Leiden des spanischen Volkes Teil" – rumänische Freiwillige im Spanischen Bürgerkrieg. Für: Zeitschrift für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde, Ausgabe 30/2007.
Article (in print): „Rumänien wird wie bisher seine Verpflichtungen stets genauestens erfüllen" – Rumänien und der Warschauer Pakt während des Prager Frühlings 1968. In: Halbjahresschrift für südosteuropäische Geschichte, Literatur und Politik
PhD-Thesis project:
„I am the son of dirt, I am the son of light“ – networks and self-perception between the social democrats of Romania, Russia, and Switzerland at the beginning of the 20th century.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Dietmar Neutatz (Freiburg), Prof. Dr. Heiko Haumann (Basel)
Tutor: Prof. Dr. Gisela Riescher
The focus of my PhD thesis is the friendship between Romanian, Russian and Swiss social democrats. In this context, the centre of my interest is to describe and to analyze the type of relationships between them. I also want to describe the social democratic networks. I will use “network” as a means of investigating the structure of personal relationships and their outcome for political actions.
In particular I want to describe and investigate the role, the function and the understanding of friendship (personal and political). I will also concentrate on the issues of acting and behaving within these relationships, as well as on the self-understanding of the main characters. Another matter to investigate will be the way communication takes place. I will also address the question, how friendship and patronage complete or differentiate themselves within the social democratic network. Is there a specific social democratic type of friendship, with its own semantics and rituals – different from the “bourgeois” understanding of friendship?
A special spotlight will be set on Christian Rakovski. He held a central position within the East European social democratic network, being a friend of Lev Trockij, V.I. Lenin, Robert Grimm, Alexander Helphant „Parvus“, Karl Liebknecht and Karl Kautsky. During World War I he was one the main activists of the so-called “Zimmerwald movement”.