Marseille, 9 Octobre 1934 : l’assassinat du roi Alexandre Ier de Yougoslavie (Marseille, 9 October 1934: the assassination of King Alexander I. of Yugoslavia)
In: Courrier des Balkans, 12 Octobre 2009
For online version please  FOLLOW THIS LINK
75 years after the assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia in Marseille, this article recalls this largely forgotten event and its consequences, especially as they relate to French-Yugoslav relations.

Youth and Dealing with the Past in (Western and Central) Europe

In: The role of youth in peace building process. Centar for Peace Studies (Zagreb), Conference publication, 2009, 33-44
For online version please FOLLOW THIS LINK (with publication as pdf-document)
The paper is divided in four parts: First, it addresses the different situations and approaches of dealing with difficult pasts in the societies of France and Germany, by outlining the historical steps from 1945 to today. Secondly, it asks about the role of young people in these dealings with the past: have they been and are they [currently] more subjects or objects of these processes? Third, it analyzes how issues about the past and dealing with it interfere(d) in the relationship between France and Germany since 1945, and more specifically in the friendship and cooperation-building process between these two former enemies. It also asks what was and is the role of youth in these processes. Fourth, it explores to what extent the French-German reconciliation experience may be seen as a tool for peace-building processes abroad, and more specifically in the field of youth work in the countries of former Yugoslavia. The paper concludes with some general remarks concerning the complex relationship between reconciliation and dealing with the past.

Motivation statt Modell. Die deutsch-französische Aussöhnung und die Balkanländer (A motivation, not a model: The French-German reconciliation and the Balkans)
In: Dokumente-Documents, 2/2009, 35-39
Available online as PDF: DOWNLOAD PDF

Shorter version of the text published before in “L’Europe en formation” (see below).

La réconciliation franco-allemande et les Balkans : une motivation, pas un modèle (The French-German reconciliation and the Balkans: a motivation, not a model)
In: L’Europe en formation, automne-hiver 2008, n° 349-350, 33-54
For online version please  FOLLOW THIS LINK
Based on numerous experiences of treatment of French-German history in international training seminars in the Balkans in the framework of the South Eastern Europe Initiative of the French-German Youth Office, the paper analyzes similarities and differences of both war and post-war-histories, presents different experiences of treatment of French-German history in a Balkan context and explores the possibilities to use these experiences in training seminars and other international activities.The general question the paper is dealing with is: to what extent and under which conditions the French-German experience can be useful for civil society- exchange programs and the post-war process in the Western Balkans?

Nota: An error has slipped in the first paragraph of the article, concerning the sentence: “Reposant sur la conviction qu’un travail sur le rapport franco-allemand avec les Balkans peut bien être la solution, …”. The correct version is: “Reposant sur la conviction qu’un travail sur le rapport franco-allemand avec les Balkans peut bien faire sens, …”.

Book review:
Anke Hillbrenner u.a., Bosnien und Herzegowina zehn Jahre nach dem Krieg. Dokumentation einer Studienreise, Michael-Žikić-Stiftung 2006,
in: Südosteuropa-Mitteilungen 4/2008, 112-114

Book review:
Florian Bieber, Nationalismus in Serbien vom Tode Titos bis zum Ende der Ära Milosevic, LIT-Verlag 2005,
in: Südosteuropa-Mitteilungen, 1/2008, 101-2

«L’empereur peut-il venir ?» Deutsche und französische Besuchspolitik als Ausdruck und Triebfeder nationalstaatlicher Rivalität 1871 bis 1914 („May the Emperor come?“ The policy of state visits from France and Germany as expression and instrument of national rivalry 1871 to 1914)
In: Francia. Forschungen zur westeuropäischen Geschichte, 34/2, März 2008, 77-102
For online version please FOLLOW THIS LINK(also as pdf-document)
In the period between 1871 and 1914, international state visits emerged as a central tool for the different European nation-states in their quest for (inter)national prestige. The article analyzes the fierce competition around state visits which developed between France and Germany in this period, in relation to the general politcal rivalry between both states. How did the rivalry between France and Germany influence the policy of state visits of both countries? And, how did the competetion of state visits contribute to the French-German rivalry?

Informationen zu Südosteuropa / Informations sur les Balkans / Information on the Balkans
in: Website „Les activités de l’OFAJ avec l’Europe du Sud-Est / Die SOE-Initiative des DFJW / The activities oft he French-German Youth Office with South-East Europe“, 2007
German version online: FOLLOW THIS LINK
French version online: FOLLOW THIS LINK
English version online: FOLLOW THIS LINK
A commented list on sources of information about the Western Balkans, in English, French and German, including websites, book,(specialised books, essays, news coverage, fiction, comics, travel guides) and films.

(Ed.), Envie d’Europes ! Un guide des ressources numériques en ligne sur le thème de l’Europe DFJW-Arbeitsmaterialien, Paris-Berlin 2007

(Hg.), Lust auf Europa! Informationsquellen zum Thema Europa: Ein Wegweiser (Desiring Europe! A guide to information sources on Europe)
DFJW-Arbeitsmaterialien, Paris-Berlin 2007
As PDF-Document (in French and German language):
For online version please FOLLOW THIS LINK
French version as PDF: DOWNLOAD PDF
German version as PDF: DOWNLOAD PDF
Commented guide, in French and German, on numerous information sources, especially websites, on European topics and questions.

Book review:
Giovanni Scotto, Friedensbildung in Mostar – Die Rolle der internationalen Nichtregierungs-Organsiationen, LIT-Verlag 2004,
in: Südosteuropa-Mitteilungen, 5-6/2006, 144-145

Ex-Jugoslawien: Internationaler Jugendaustausch als Demokratisierungsmoment (Ex-Yugoslavia: International youth exchange as tool of democratisation)
in: Ost-West-Gegeninformationen, 18. Jg.,  3/2006, 32-37
The article describes the development of international youth exchange with the Western Balkans since the 1990s and deals with the following question: to what extent can these activities in the field of civil society contribute to the stabilisation and democratisation of the region?

(Ed.), Neue Brücken für den Balkan. Die Südosteuropa-Initiative des Deutsch-Französischen Jugendwerks,
De nouveaux ponts pour les Balkans. L’inititiave de l’OFAJ dans les pays de l’Europe du Sud-Est
New bridges for the Balkans. The South Eastern Europe Initiative of the Franco-Germano Youth Office,
Arbeitsmaterialien des DFJW/ Documents de travail OFAJ, Berlin/Paris, décembre 2005, 175 p.
German version as PDF: DOWNLOAD PDf
French version as PDF: DOWNLOAD PDF
English version as PDF: DOWNLOAD PDF

This documentation on the first five years of work of the South-Eastern Europe Initiative of the French-German Youth Office, contains texts on the origins, development and contents of this inititave, a chronological and commented list of all the projects, extracts of project-reports and a midterm-evaluation about the results oft the encounters.

Within the documentation « New bridges for the Balkans » : „Wir sind selbst Lernende in diesem Prozess“ – Erlebnisse und Erkenntnisse aus der Weiterbildungsarbeit im Rahmen der SOE-Initiative des DFJW
For more info online please FOLLOW THIS LINK

« Nous sommes nous-mêmes en apprentissage » : Expériences et constats tirés du travail de formation dans le cadre de l’initiative de l’OFAJ dans les pays de l’Europe du Sud-Est
For more info online please FOLLOW THIS LINK

“We ourselves are learners in this process” – Experiences and findings of training work within the framework of the South Eastern Europe Initiative of the FGYO
For more info online please FOLLOW THIS LINK

A personal testimony on the beginning and the devleopment of the Initiative of the FGYO in South Eastern Europe, especially in the field of the training of trainers, the experiences, the challenges, the learning processes and the discoveries.

Within the documentation « New bridges for the Balkans » :

Trilaterale Begegnungen bewegen Menschen in Europa – eine Zwischenbilanz über Resultate, Folgen und Auswirkungen
For more info online please FOLLOW THIS LINK

Les rencontres trilatérales, source d’apprentissage et de mobilité en Europe – un bilan provisoire sur les résultats, les suites et les répercussions
For more info online plase FOLLOW THIS LINK

Tri-national encounters moving people in Europe – a mid-term review of results, effects and implications
For more info online please FOLLOW THIS LINK

Derived from reports, questionnaries and discussions with participants, this publication is the first review of the effects of the encounters organized in the framework of the initiative of the FGYO in South Eastern Europe.

Formation interculturelle et échanges franco-allemands  (Intercultural training and French-German exchange activities)
In: Französisch heute, 4/2005, 352-360
The success of international encounter programs depends a lot on the intercultural competences of the organizers of these programs. This article analyzes how the French-German Youth Office, created in 1963, slowly became aware of the importance of intercultural training, and how the philosophy and the new activities of the FGYO in the field of intercultural training developed.

Une campagne de séduction et de conquête : La visite du Général de Gaulle en Allemagne en septembre 1962(To seduce and to conquer: the visit of general de Gaulle in Germany in September 1962)
In: Allemagne d’aujourd’hui, N° 162, octobre-décembre 2002, 54-62
For French president Charles de Gaulle, state visits have been a central tool of his foreign and domestic policy, and his spectacular visit to Western Germany in September 1962 is a particularly striking illustration for this. The article analyzes this visit in its political context and the importance it had for the development of French-German relations.

Besuchspolitik. Staatsbesuche als Ritual und Werkzeig nationalstaatlicher Politik in Deutschland und in Frankreich 1871-1969 (The policy of state visits. State visits as national-political ritual and instrument in France and Germany 1871-1969)
Phil. Diss., Universität Freiburg i. Br., 2002, 395 p. (as MikroFiche)
What has been the policy of state visits – through the reception of foreign head of states and the official visits abroad by a country’s own head of state – of the French and the German state in its different forms between 1871 and 1969? Which functions did this politcial ritual fulfill in foreign and domestic policy and how did these functions evolve?  The PhD dissertation analyzes what has been the place and the role of state visits in the German Empire, the Republic of Weimar, the Third Reich and the early Federal Republic of Germany on the one hand, and in the French Third Republic, Fourth Republic and early Fifth Republic on the other.