Collegium Carolinum,
the German Historical Institute Warsaw,
and the Leibniz-Institute for History and Culture in Eastern Europe
in collaboration with Charles University’s Faculty of Social Sciences
cordially invite you to the lecture
DR. JAN MUSEKAMP (WARSAW)
Shifting Lines, Entangled Borderlands. How a Railroad Changed Mobility and Migration Patterns in East Central Europe
Tuesday, April 29 2025, 5 p.m.
Valentinská 91/1, 3rd Floor
The lecture will be streamed via Zoom as well, please contact
florian.ruttner@collegium-carolinum.de
The talk explores the transformative role of the Royal Prussian Eastern Railroad (Ostbahn) in shaping mobility and migration patterns in East Central Europe between the 1830s and the 1930s. Originally conceived as an internal Prussian project to connect Berlin with East Prussia’s provincial capital, Königsberg, the Ostbahn quickly evolved into a transnational force, facilitating economic exchange, migration, and cultural encounters across borders. As a crucial artery linking Western and Eastern Europe, the line became a space of multiple mobilities – serving not only travelers and engineers but also smugglers, seasonal workers, and emigrants seeking passage to the Americas.
The talk will examine how the Ostbahn functioned within an entangled borderland, where imperial policies, nationalist movements, and individual trajectories intersected. It will highlight how this railway – initially an instrument of Prussian state-building – transcended national boundaries, accelerating globalization in a period of intensifying nationalism. Through case studies of border crossings, transregional trade, and migration hubs, I will illustrate how the Ostbahn reshaped perceptions of distance and connectivity, becoming both a conduit of economic integration and a contested site of political and cultural tension. Ultimately, this talk offers a lens into the broader dynamics of mobility, control, and transnational exchange in modern European history.
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Jan Musekamp is the deputy director of the German Historical Institute in Warsaw. He holds a Ph.D. and a habilitation from European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) and was a visiting associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh (2018–2024). His research focuses on East Central European cultural and migration history, with an emphasis on mobility, (forced) migrations, and transnational history. His latest book, Shifting Lines, Entangled Borderlands (2024), explores the impact of railroads on mobility and international networks. His current research investigates the global migration history of Ukraine’s German speakers, placing their movements within broader transnational migration patterns.