History of Communism in Europe

Volume 9, 2018

Breaking the Wall: National and Transnational Perspectives on East-European Science

Academic Migration and Cultural Diplomacy During the Cold War
Humboldt Fellowships for Romania in the Context of Eastern Europe

Romania was the first country in the Eastern bloc to initiate diplo­matic relations with the Federal Republic of Germany. On January 31, 1967, the Embassy of the FRG was opened in Bucharest, Romania. In this context, which marked the intensification of the cultural exchange between the two countries, with special attention paid to the exchange of students and researchers, in this article I aim to tackle the situation of the Humboldt fellows from Romania during 1965-1989, as agents of knowledge transfer and actors of soft-power strategies between the two blocks.