Silviu Miloiu
President of the Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies, E-mail: silviu.miloiu@arsbn.ro
Revista Română pentru Studii Baltice şi Nordice / The Romanian Journal of Baltic and Nordic Studies (RRSBN) continues the publication in this issue of a series of studies which have been presented at the annual conference on Baltic and Nordic Studies in Romania. These articles approach topics related to the relations and encounters between Black Sea and the Baltic Sea areas or various developments in the Baltic Sea region during the 20th century. Kari Alenius contributes to this issue with an analysis of the way Romania was presented in the Finnish schoolbooks. As correctly emphasized by the author, this image reflects the perception and attitude of the authors of „ the outside world and diversity”. Alenius identifies four stages in this respect: end of 1800s until the end of the First World War; early years of the 1920s to the 1950s; the 1960s to the 1980s and the last decades since the 1990s. Although each stage emphasized different characteristics of Romania, the author finds also continues among them.
Saulius Kaubrys deals with the Jewish faction at the Third Seimas of Lithuania in 1926-1927. This was a time when the Jewish faction entered the government. Although it showed solidarity with its coalition partners and hoped that by doing so its aims would be dealt with, the fact that progress in this regard was slow and the coup d’état of December 1926 marked a change of attitude of the Jewish faction from pro-active to passive.
Dalia Bukelevičiūtė approaches the project of the Eastern Pact of 1934–1935 from the perspective of two regional cooperation structures, the Baltic Entente and the Little Entente. The author concludes that in the process of negotiations, it became apparent that countries were more concerned with their narrow national interests than with the common security of the whole bloc.
Kalervo Hovi highlights the rationalities behind Finnish decision to go to war against the Soviet Union alongside, although not in alliance, with Germany. The decision was a result of the way the Finnish elites assessed the national interest in the aftermath of the Winter War.
Dragana Kovacevic approaches the condition of Bosnians and Herzegovinans residing in Norway who moved to Norway as children and war refugees in the 1990s. It discusses the way they relate to their identity and heritage and also how the receiving society perceives their integration in the Norwegian society. Kovacevic brings into light concepts such as transnational belongings and long-distance nationalism.
An outcome of ample investigations in Sveriges Riksarkivet, Veniamin Ciobanu contributes with new documents revealing the international dimension of the Russian brutal suppression of the Polish insurrection (November 1830). Countries such as Great Britain and France tried to soften the attitude of Russia towards Polish insurgents.
We hope that the variety of themes tackled in this issue and their importance to the enrichment of our knowledge of past and current developments affecting the Black Sea and Baltic Sea areas will foster academic and public debates.
