History of the Institute for Southeast European Studies

The Institute for Southeast European Studies was founded in Munich in 1930 by the Foundation for Research in Germanness in the South and Southeast. Under its first director, Karl Alexander von Müller, it was initially concerned with the history of Bavarian settlement and "Germanness" in the Bohemian countries, Austria and South Tirol. An expression of this are the first volumes of the series of Südosteuropäische Arbeiten, which have been published in cooperation with the Institute of East Bavarian Homeland Research in Passau. After Fritz Valjavec joined the Institute in 1935, the remit covered the whole of Southeast Europe. Valjavec was commissioned by the board to found a historical journal. In the following year, the Südostdeutsche Forschungen, first appeared, known by its current name of Südost-Forschungen since 1940. Its contents dealt both with the history of the Germans in Southeast Europe and the history of the individual states. From the beginning, Valjavec established contacts for this purpose with academics in Southeast Europe. Even during the war, the proportion of "German" objects from the region was in the background. At the beginning of the Second World War, the Institute was affiliated to the German Institute for Foreign Studies; Valjavec also took up a chair in Foreign Studies at the University of Berlin. As a result of the link to this Berlin institute, in 1943, the institute was put under the control of Department VI G of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt. Valjavec himself travelled to Bukovina in the second half of 1941 on behalf of Einsatzkommando 10b of the Sicherheitspolizei's Einsatzgruppe D. Although the Institute was evacuated to the countryside in 1944, to Arbing in Lower Bavaria, the stocks of books remained in Munich and were destroyed in an allied air raid.  

Post-war reconstruction (1945-1960)
The ambiguous role of Valjavec in the Third Reich among others meant that, after 1945, he did not aspire at first to any academic appointments (the biography and influence of Valjavec are the main theme of Volume 119 of the Südosteuropäische Arbeiten: Südostforschung im Schatten des Dritten Reiches. Institutionen, Inhalte, Personen. München 2004, issued by Mathias Beer and the then Director of the Institute Library, Gerhard Seewann). This is also a major reason why it took until 1951 to revive the Institute for Southeast European Studies. However, because Valjavec continued to cultivate his contacts to important people in politics and academia, the Institute blossomed under his leadership (as Director from 1955). Alongside the historical department, current affairs were now studied as well. In 1952, the journal Wissenschaftlicher Dienst Südosteuropa (since 1982 known as Südosteuropa) was launched, as was, in 1957, the first volume of the series Untersuchungen zur Gegenwartskunde Südosteuropas. (Studies in Southeast European Current Affairs). On top of this, the publication of the Südosteuropa-Bibliographie (Southeast Europe Bibliography) from 1956 onwards filled a gap in a situation when research became increasingly difficult to organize during the Cold War. In the same year the Institute moved into its rooms in Güllstraße 7 in Munich (were it was to stay for more than 50 years) and the formal body, now called Stiftung für wissenschaftliche Südosteuropaforschung (the Foundation for Southeast Europe Academic Research) received new statutes. In the interim, national ministries as well as the Bavarian Ministry of Education had taken over as grant-awarding bodies. The sudden death of Fritz Valjavec in 1960 did not change this.

Prosperous Decades (1960-2000)
The temporary shock at the death of someone who had decisively shaped the Institute over the previous 25 years was overcome when Mathias Bernath was quickly appointed Director of the Institute. Previous short-term contracts were turned into tenured positions. In the current affairs department consultants for individual countries were appointed who were able to fulfill the increasing demand for expertise on communist Southeast Europe. The history department presented two extensive reference works, the Biographische Lexikon zur Geschichte Südosteuropas (the Biographical Encyclopedia of Southeast European History) and the Historische Bücherkunde Südosteuropa (the Historical Bibliography of Southeast Europe). The compilation of these works involved both authors from Southeast Europe and from the West, a reflection of the way the Institute continually nurtured its international contacts even during the period of the block divide of the continent. Towards the end of the 1970s there was a generational change and, in contrast to previously, few of the new members of staff came from the region being researched. In 1990, the Munich historian Edgar Hösch succeeded Mathias Bernath as Director (until 2007.)
In the 1990s, Southeast Europe came to the attention of the general public when Yugoslavia split up in a series of violent conflicts. The current affairs department was in demand with the German media and politicians. Following reunification, foreign affairs became increasingly important for the Federal Republic of Germany and the government recognized the value of the current political analyses prepared by the Institute for Southeast European Studies.

Crisis and New Beginning (2000 until today)
The government in Berlin decided to found a new foreign affairs think tank as part of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) (The German Institute for International and Security Affairs) to which the Bundesinstitut für ostwissenschaftliche und internationale Studien (BIOst) (German Institute for Eastern Academic and International Studies) and the employees of the current affairs department of the Institute for Southeast European Studies would belong. This meant that at the turn of the year 2000/01, most of the institute's academics had to move at short notice to Berlin. As a result, the Institute was reduced to three academic employees in the history department. Budget cuts of the Bavarian government led to further cuts in library and technical staff. In the meantime, on 12^th March 2002, the Bavarian cabinet decided to move the  Institute for East European Law, the Institute for East European Studies and the Institute for Southeast European Studies from Munich to Regensburg. For the Institute for Southeast European Studies this step ultimately meant a chance to begin again, especially since as a consequence of the move in 2007, at the beginning of 2008 and again in 2010, there was an increase in academic staff so that an expansion of activities in historical research and to some extent in current affairs was made possible. As to current affairs, from 2008, the academic editorship of "Südosteuropa" could again be filled. The "Untersuchungen zur Gegenwartskunde Südosteuropas" (Studies in Southeast European Current Affairs) had already been continued thematically from 2006 as part of the "Südosteuropäische Arbeiten" (Southeast European Studies); it could now be given more extensive editorial assistance. In 2010 an academic post was created for the support of the new medium-term project "Handbuch zur Geschichte Südosteuropas" (Handbook of the History of Southeast Europe). Since around 2006, the library has also been a target for expansion. Since 2007, as an organizer of lectures, series and conferences, the Institute for Southeast European Studies has been more prominent than ever before in its history.
The cooperation of the three (or rather four, since the addition of the Hungarian Institute in 2009) institutes in the Research Centre for Eastern and South Eastern Europe in Regensburg has provided primarily library services and numerous events, often organized together. Since October 2008, Ulf Brunnbauer has been Director of the Institute as well as Professor for Southeast and Eastern European History at the University of Regensburg. Prior to that, Professor Björn Hansen of the Institute of Slavic Studies at the University of Regensburg was acting director of the Institute for Southeast European Studies for a year.