With the end of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, significant migration movements began in the former Eastern Bloc. The group of so-called Russian Germans in particular played a significant role in the context of immigration movements to the Federal Republic of Germany. A small and little-noticed group among them are the Mennonites from Kyrgyzstan, whose origins lie in the Anabaptist movement of the Reformation period in the North German-Dutch cultural area. Due to the repressive measures in the Soviet Union, the majority of the Mennonites took advantage of the opportunity to apply for emigration to the FRG, which had existed since the 1970s, and settled mainly in East Westphalia. In Rot-Front, however, some families remained who still use the German language in everyday life. Another special feature - which underlines the connection to Germany - is the seasonal migration that takes place between Rot-Front and Germany. Here, former inhabitants of the village spend the summer in Kyrgyzstan, although they have actually been living in Germany for years.

Despite their large share in the population of the FRG, Russian-German communities have been little researched so far. The theoretical framework of the project is formed by different approaches from cultural and social geography. The study is based on theories of religiously motivated migration. In addition, the transnational and seasonal migration that takes place between Kyrgyzstan and Germany to this day will be examined. There is little literature, especially on cultural topics such as networks and memory culture. Likewise, the amount of academic literature on the Mennonites from Kyrgyzstan is scanty or non-existent.

Desired results: (Selection)

• Research and presentation of the main lines of development of the German Mennonite settlements in Kyrgyzstan
• Analysis and presentation of the interconnections between these settlements and other Mennonite communities in parts of the former Soviet Union, Germany and the USA
• Identification of transnational manifestations (identities, networks etc.)
• Analysis and representation of common landscapes of remembrance of the German-Kyrgyz Mennonite communities

More information on the project can be found on the project page

Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media

With regard to the material cultural heritage of the Curonian Spit from before 1945, there is a considerable need for research. To date, there is no systematic inventory of the cultural heritage of this region, with the protection status of the Curonian Spit as a UNESCO World Heritage site having a special obligation to research and preserve the heritage. On the basis of this inventory further qualitative research on the migration, interpretation and transformation of the material cultural heritage shall be carried out.

Desired results (selection):

• A complete inventory of pre-war architectural stock and anthropogenic influenced landscape features on the Curonian Spit with a valuation of the monument value
• Gaining information about the acquisition processes of material heritage through narrative interviews
• Recommendations for an improved protection of the material cultural heritage

Seoul National University

Recent Korean history is characterized by numerous traumas, some of which have not been adequately dealt with, such as colonization and oppression by Japan, the Korean War and the authoritarian phase following the Korean War. Remembrance, places of remembrance and practices associated with remembrance are deeply rooted in Korea and are expressed in numerous and varied landscapes of remembrance, which address a wide variety of historical themes and are sometimes similar in their manifestations as landscapes of remembrance or can differ significantly from one another. In Korea, for example, the women who were forcibly prostituted and enslaved by Japan during the Second World War, the so-called "comfort women", the national trauma of the inter-Korean division, inter-Korean crimes such as the suppression of the Jeju Uprising in 1948 and the democracy movement in the 1980s are remembered in a distinct way. The remembrance of North Korean refugees will also be part of the study. The topic of landscapes of remembrance in Korea is particularly relevant in that they continue to have a considerable impact on relations, particularly with Japan, and are important for national reappraisal in Korea itself.
In cooperation with the Institute of Geography at Seoul National University (SNU), various memory landscapes in Korea are analyzed and discussed with regard to the concept developed by Gunnar Maus (2015). The application of the concept of memory landscapes according to Gunnar Maus (2015) is a novel undertaking and combines the application of a young concept with the thematization of various topics that are largely unknown in Europe. 
Intended results:
- Conceptual version of the landscapes of remembrance according to Gunnar Maus (2015)
- Application of the concept of landscapes of remembrance to various examples in the Republic of Korea
- Analysis and discussion of the applicability of the concept of memory landscapes to the case studies in the Republic of Korea
- Thematization and presentation of different (cultural) forms of remembrance
- Dynamization of the concept of landscapes of remembrance

Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft

Knowledge communities interact with each other to generate, exchange or to further develop and use information possibly with understanding, both physically and indirectly, implicitly, or even virtually.

They consist of human actors with their specific characteristics (e.g. origin or education) and technical actors as computers, programs, tools and their respective properties (e.g. transmission quality). They are anchored in routines, structures and systems. There, they can be managed and controlled as well as institutionalized, or they are not controlled at all and just embedded in grown structures of organizations.

Therefore, knowledge flow depends on context specific factors and always occurs at the interfaces of the actors involved. This work focuses on detecting of the key factors of the knowledge flow, its patterns, and possible disturbances in respect to the importance of systems, structures, routines and mechanisms, learning processes, socio-institutional networks and embeddedness(es) of actors. 

More information can be found here

Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography Leipzig

With the book series "Landscapes in Germany" the knowledge about the emergence and the current development of selected landscapes in Germany shall be made accessible to a wider public. The selection of areas is based on current spatial developments. In the foreground is the effort to investigate such landscapes, which are historically or spatially delineated in the perception of the population. The cultural survey thus makes an important contribution to the discussion of cultural and landscape values ​​and their social significance, for example, the character of a regional identity.

Against the background of the current renaissance of the regional, a scientifically sound knowledge of the background of landscape dynamics is to be created. As part of the project, impulses for innovative research strands and methods of regional studies are given as an interdisciplinary practice in the areas of survey, textual representation and visualization.

The Uckermark region is one of the most sparsely populated regions in Germany. It is characterized by large-scale agriculture, the consequences of demographic change and is currently undergoing conversion to an energy landscape (wind power). Nevertheless, it is one of the most successful tourism regions in Germany and experienced a population inflow especially by creative people.