Big history and local experiences: Migration and identity in a European borderland

Abstract

On the example of two towns in the multiethnic former Prussian-Russian borderland, Musekamp provides an insight into the entangled history of trade, migrations, cultural encounter, and barriers between the “Self” and the “Other.” After the construction of a railroad in 1861, Eydtkuhnen and Verzhbolovo facilitated trade between Eastern and Western Europe. For travelers crisscrossing Europe, the place was a continental divide between the Russian Empire and Western Europe. For Russian Jewish emigrants passing health inspections here, German Eydtkuhnen was a safe haven and an important stop on their way to North America. Between 1933 and 1945, the area underwent dramatic population movements, with many inhabitants killed or expelled and others resettled—a process that destroyed this thriving European borderland.