Dr. habil. Stephan Rindlisbacher


Stephan_Rindlisbacher ©Heide Fest

Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies (VCPU)

Academic Staff Member
Postdoctoral Researcher

Stephan Rindlisbacher is a historian specialising in Eastern European history. In his current projects, he focuses on national policies of the early Soviet state and their implementation in regional administration. However, he is also interested in the history of terrorism, political commemoratory culture as well as in the history of Russian and Soviet paper money. Prior to this, he worked as teaching assistant at the Historical Department of the University of Bern. He wrote his PhD on the pre-revolutionary Russian radical movement and the question of political violence focusing on the biographies of two women: Vera Zasulich and Vera Figner. He studied modern history, Slavic as well as Islamic studies. He was educated across the European continent at the Universities of Bern, Zagreb and the State University of St. Petersburg.

TABLE OF PUBLICATIONS
July2024

Books and edited volumes

Borders in Red. Managing Diversity in the Early Soviet Union, New York 2025. [in press]

Leben für die Sache. Vera Figner, Vera Zasulič und das radikale Milieu im späten Zarenreich, Wiesbaden 2014.

Reviewed by
- Lutz Häfner in: Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, 2 (2018), pp. 370-372.
- Karen Rosenberg in: Archiv für die Geschichte des Widerstandes und der Arbeit, 20 (2016), pp. 628-631.
- Beate Fieseler in: sehepunkte, 16 (2016): http://www.sehepunkte.de/2016/03/26032.html
- Felicitas Fischer von Weikerstahl in: Recensio Moskau, 2016/17: http://www.perspectivia.net/publikationen/recensio-moskau/2016-7
- Andrzej Szwarc in: Kwartalnik Historyczny, 123 (2016) 2, pp. 394-399.
- Jonathan Daly in: Slavic Review, 74 (2015) 2, pp. 397-398.
- Fabian Thunemann bei H-Soz-Kult, 11.05.2015: http://www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/rezbuecher-22506
- Anke Hilbrenner in: Nordost-Archiv, 23 (2014), pp. 227-228.
- Sandrine Mayoraz in: Religion & Gesellschaft in Ost und West, 42 (2014) 8, pp. 31.

with Frank Grelka (eds), ‘Our Work with the Masses Isn’t Worth a Kopeck...’ A Document Collection
on German and Polish Rural Soviets in Ukraine during the NEP, 1923-1929, Wiesbaden 2021.

Reviewed by
- Amber Nickell in: Revolutionary Russia, 2 (2022): https://doi.org/10.1080/09546545.2022.2127217
- Torsten Pomian, in: Nordost-Archiv, 31 (2022), pp. 210-215. https://biblioscout.net/book/10.25162/9783515135092
- Guido Hausmann, in: Historische Zeitschrift, 318 (224), pp. 232-233. https://doi.org/10.1515/hzhz-2024-1046

with Dimitri Tolkatsch (eds), Die heutige Ukraine und ihre sowjetischen Wurzeln, Marburg 2021.

Reviewed by
- Fabian Baumann, in Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, 69 (2021) 4, pp. 697–700. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546545.2022.2127217
- Klaus Steinke, in: Informationsmittel für Bibliotheken, 30 (2022) 1, pp. 10. http://www.informationsmittel-fuer-bibliotheken.de/showfile.php?id=11350

Peer-Reviewed Articles

together with Luminiţa Gatejel and Nick Baron, ‘Drawing the Line’. Border Commissions in Eastern Europe, in: Journal of Modern European History, 22 (2024) 1, pp. 2-9.

Between Proclamations of Friendship and Concealed Distrust. The Turkish-Soviet Border Commission, 1925-1926, in: Journal of Modern European History, 22 (2024) 1, pp. 55-68.

together with Alun Thomas, Paths Not Taken. How Did Nomadism Affect Border-Making during National Delimitation in Central Asia?, in: Ab Imperio, 2 (2023), pp. 117-141.

From International Isomorphism to Traditionalist Iconography. Banknotes as an Alternative Approach to Soviet Chronology, in: Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, 70 (2022) 1/2, pp. 100-130.

together with Frank Grelka, Modernization on Empty Coffers. Polish Minority Institutions in Early Soviet Ukraine, in Revolutionary Russia, 35 (2022) 2, pp. 247-265.

From Space to Territory. Negotiating the Russo-Ukrainian Border, 1919-1928, in: Revolutionary Russia, 31 (2018) 1, pp. 86-106.

Living for a ‘Cause’. Radical Autobiographical Writing in Russia at the Beginning of the 20th Century, in: AvtobiografiЯ, 7 (2017), pp. 59-77.

Das radikale Milieu im vorrevolutionären Russland, in: Jahrbuch für Historische Kommunismusforschung 2013, pp. 1-16.

Radicalism as Political Religion? The Case of Vera Figner, in: Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, 11 (2010) 1, pp. 67-87.

Other Publications

together with Frank Grelka, Beutepraxis in der Sowjetischen Besatzungszone. Neue Quellen für die Provenienzforschung aus russischen und ukrainischen Archiven, in: Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung (ed.), Entzug, Transfer, Transit. Menschen, Objekte, Orte und Ereignisse. 20 Jahre Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung, Heidelberg 2024, pp. 56-62.

Das sowjetische Erbe. Territorien, Grenzen und ihre Relevanz für heute, in: Osteuropa, 73 (2023) 12, pp. 113-126.

National Forms with Economic Content? Gosplan’s Expertise on Territorializing the Soviet State, 1921-1930, in: Steffi Marung and Ursula Rao (ed.), Spatial Entrepreneurs. Actors and Practices of Space-Making Under the Global Condition, Berlin 2023, pp. 39-57.

The Territory of Ukraine and Its History, in: Olena Palko and Mauel Férez Gil (eds.), Ukraine's Many Faces. Land, People, and Culture Revisited, Bielefeld 2023, pp. 167-176.

The Territorial Challenge in the Early Soviet State, in: Sabine von Löwis/Beate Eschment (eds.), Post-Soviet Borders. A Kaleidoscope of Shifting Lives and Lands, New York 2023, pp. 51-66.

Vorboten der Transformation. Akademischer Austausch zwischen Polen und westlichen Institutionen, 1960–1989, in: Falk Flade, Anna Steinkamp and Konrad Walerski (eds.), Transformation in Polen und Ostdeutschland: Neue Einblicke in die Debatte über eine gespaltene Wirtschaft, Wiesbaden 2022, pp. 223-237.

El territorio de Ucrania y su historia, in: Olena Palko and Manuel Férez Gil (eds.), Descubriendo Ucrania. Su pueblo, su historia y su cultura, Buenos Aires 2022, pp. 42-47.

Contested Lines. The Russo-Ukrainian Border, 1917-1929, in: Olena Palko/Constantin Ardeleanu (eds), Making Ukraine. Negotiating, Contesting and Drawing the Borders in the Twentieth Century, Montreal 2022, pp. 189-209.

The Reorganisation of Local Administration in Soviet Ukraine. The Example of Karl-Liebknecht Raion, 1924–1929, in: Frank Grelka/Stephan Rindlisbacher (eds.), ‘Our Work with the Masses Is Not Worth a Kopeck...’ A Document Collection on German and Polish Rural Soviets in Ukraine during the NEP, 1923-1929, Wiesbaden 2021, pp. 47-64.

Das Territorium der Ukraine, in: Stephan Rindlisbacher/Dimitri Tolkatsch (eds.), Die heutige Ukraine und ihre sowjetischen Wurzeln, Marburg 2021, pp. 9-27.

La Russie clandestine, 1864-1917, in: Virgile Cirefice/Grégoire Le Quang/Charles Riondet (eds), La part de l’ombre. Histoire de la clandestinité politique au XXe siècle, Paris 2019, pp. 125-136.

Into historical Limbo. The Legacy of the October Revolution in Russia, in: Thomas Telios/Dieter Thomä/Ulrich Schmid (eds), The Russian Revolution as Ideal and Practice. Failures, Legacies, and Future of Revolution, London 2019, pp. 207-223.

Gemeinsam gegen den Krieg? Anželika Balabanova und das transnationale Zimmerwalder Netzwerk, 1914–1917, in: Frank Jacob (ed.), Krieg und Frieden im Spiegel des Sozialismus, Berlin 2018, pp. 308-327.

The Echoes of the Echoes. Reflecting the International Commemoration of the October Revolution in the Newspaper Pravda, 1918-1991, in: Jean-François Fayet/Valérie Gorin/Stefanie Prezioso (eds), Echoes of October International Commemorations of the Bolshevik Revolution 1918–1990, London 2017, pp. 175-193.

Grenzziehungen als Stabilisierungsfaktor der jungen Sowjetmacht. Die Grenzregulierung zwischen der Russischen Föderativen und Ukrainischen Sowjetrepublik in den 1920er Jahren, in: Frank Grelka/Tim Buchen (eds), Akteure der Neuordnung. Ostmitteleuropa und das Erbe der Imperien, 1917 – 1924, Berlin 2017, pp. 27-46. = Wytyczanie granic jako czynnik stabilizujący młodą władzę radziecką. Regulacja granicy między Rosyjską Federacyjną Republiką Radziecką a Ukraińską Republiką Radziecką w latach 20. XX wieku, in: Frank Grelka/Tim Buchen (eds), W poszukiwaniu nowego ładu. Europa Środkowo-Wschodnia wobec upadku imperiów, 1917 – 1924, Berlin 2017, pp. 175-191.

Vera Figner i Komitet pomoshchi politicheskim katorzhanam v Rossii (1909-1917), in: Ezhegodnik Doma russkogo zarubezh‘ia 2014-2015, pp. 13-19.

«Gospodin Plekhanov – filosof, chelovek nauki... Bolee togo, on – chelovek mira.» Dokumenty iz shveitsarskikh arkhivov 1889-1894 gg., in: Istoricheskii arkhiv, 2 (2012), pp. 5-25.

Rossiiskie emigranty v Shveitsarii v kontse XIX v. Primer R.M. i G.V. Plekhanovykh i V.I. Zasulich, in: Plekhanovskie chteniia, vol. 10, St. Petersburg 2012, pp. 159-163.

Literature, the Radical Milieu and Terrorist Action in 19th Century Russia. The Cases of Vera Figner and Vera Zasulich, in: Jens Herlth/Thomas Austenfeld/Dimiter Daphinoff (eds), Terrorism and Narrative Practice, Zürich/Berlin 2011, pp. 99-115.

Tragicheskii konets revoliutsionnoi zhizni Very Ivanovny Zasulich, in: Plekhanovskie chteniia, vol. 9, St. Petersburg 2010, pp. 24-28.

Outreach

Together with Nick Baron, “Ukraine War. Why a Ceasefire Based on Partition of Territory Won’t Work”, at: The Conversation, 8. August 2023: https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-why-a-ceasefire-based-on-partition-of-territory-wont-work-209750

Interview with Alun Thomas at Peripheral Histories on “Creating a Pandora’s Box: The Soviet Search for National Borders”, at: Peripheral Histories: https://www.peripheralhistories.co.uk/post/creating-a-pandora-s-box-the-soviet-search-for-national-borders

together with Frank Grelka, Das Ukrainische Erlebnis. Was die Ikonographie einer Währung über ein Land verrät, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 18. May 2022, No. 115, p. 12.

Nach den Wahlen in Polen: Jarosław Kaczyński als Garant für das nationale Kapital?, 15.11.2019: https://histoires-continentales.ch/2019/11/16/nach-den-wahlen-in-polen-jaroslaw-kaczynski-als-garant-fuer-das-nationale-kapital/ (blog ceased)

Berg-Krarabach. Eine bequeme politische Sackgasse, in: Schweizer Monat, No. 1069, September 2019, pp. 50-55.

Karabakh. Genealogy of a Convenient Deadlock, 14. April 2019: https://histoires-continentales.ch/2019/04/14/karabakh-genealogy-of-a-convenient-deadlock/ (blog ceased)

Interview on „Women in Russia“ with Radio Oe 1 (ORF), 28.-31. August 2017.

Reviews in

Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung; Journal of East Central European Studies; Comparativ; Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Geschichte; Sehepunkte; H-Soz-Kult; Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas; Neue Politische Literatur; Religion & Gesellschaft in Ost und West

Ongoing Research Projects

  • Encountering the West, Facilitating Change. Academic Exchange during the Cold War Era and Its Impact on the Transformation in Poland to the Present (more)
  • Borders in Red. Managing Diversity in the Early Soviet Union
    Duration: 01.2017–12.2024 (more)

Concluded Projects

  • “Our Work with the Masses Is Not Worth a Kopeck...” A Document Collection on German and Polish Rural Soviets in Ukraine during the NEP, 1923–1929
    Duration: 11.2018–01.2021 (more)

 

Contact

  • Große Scharrnstraße 23a
  • 15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
  • GS 306

+49 335 5534 2637 rindlisbacher@europa-uni.de