Shifting Lines, Entangled Borderlands : Mobilities and Migration along the Prussian Eastern Railroad / Jan Musekamp.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Musekamp, Jan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Railroads--Prussia, East (Poland and Russia)--History.

Railroads.

Railroads--Germany--Prussia--History.

Railroads--Europe, Eastern--History.

Königlich-Preussische Ostbahn.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (315 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington, Indiana : Indiana University Press, [2024]

Summary:

"From border towns and major cities to unique railroad structures such as stations or bridges, this manuscript analyzes the obvious and not so obvious nodes of the East-Central Europe rail network-and the spaces in between. Musekamp investigates the dichotomy between a globalizing world and tighter border control in nineteenth-century East-Central Europe, focusing on the Royal Prussian Eastern Railroad (Königlich-Preussische Ostbahn) in the period between the 1830s and 1930s. Prussia originally planned this line as a major internal modernizing project to connect its capital of Berlin to East Prussia's provincial capital of Königsberg (today's Kaliningrad), and from there to the growing Imperial Russian railroad network. The First World War temporarily disrupted and subsequently reconfigured existing networks, adjusting them to new political regimes and borders. However, World War II and its aftermath altered mobility patterns more permanently, dividing not only the Ostbahn tracks but the whole continent for decades to come. Tracing multiple mobilities, entangled borderspaces, microhistories and space, human and nonhuman actors, and the line itself as a creator of possibilities through the towns it traversed, Musekamp demonstrates how the Ostbahn developed from an inner-Prussian line into a transnational force, overcoming borders and connecting Europeans in a time of rising nationalism"-- Provided by publisher.

"Tracing multiple mobilities, entangled borders, microhistory and space, human and nonhuman actors, and the Royal Prussian Eastern Railroad, Jan Musekamp demonstrates how the Ostbahn transformed an inner-Prussian railroad line into a transnational force, overcoming borders and connecting Europeans in a time of rising nationalism. Shifting Lines, Entangled Borderlands investigates the dichotomy between a globalizing world and tighter border control in nineteenth century east-central Europe, focusing on the Royal Prussian Eastern Railroad (Königlich-Preussische Ostbahn) between the 1830s and 1930s. It was originally planned as a major internal modernizing project to connect its capital of Berlin to East Prussia's provincial capital of Königsberg (today's Kaliningrad) and from there to a growing Imperial Russian railroad network. The First World War temporarily disrupted and subsequently reconfigured existing networks, adapting them to new political regimes and borders. However, World War II and its aftermath altered mobility patterns more permanently, dividing not only the Ostbahn tracks but the whole continent for decades to come. From border towns and major cities to unique structures, such as stations or bridges, this volume analyzes the obvious and not-so-obvious nodes of the east-central Europe rail network-and the spaces in between"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: The Ostbahn and European Mobilities in the Railroad Age

Berlin and the Ostbahn: Railroads as Vehicles of Change

Aleksandrów: A Border Station at the Center of Imperial Power and Polish

Nationalism

The Vistula Bridge at Dirschau (Tczew): National in Form, Transnational in Content

Eydtkuhnen and Verzhbolovo: International Travel and a Continental Divide

Königsberg: At the Intersection of Land- and Seaborne Trade

Kaunas-Eydtkuhnen-New York: Emigration Routes

The First World War and Its Aftermath: Cutting Lines, Creating New Links

Epilogue: An Interrupted European Corridor.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Musekamp, Jan Shifting Lines, Entangled Borderlands

ISBN:

9780253068941

0253068940

9780253068934

0253068932

OCLC:

1402821484