... is a joint research project involving the Martin-Opitz-Library (Herne, Germany), the University of Birmingham (Birmingham, UK), and the Herder Institut for Historical Research on East Central Europe - Institute of the Leibnitz Association (Marburg, Germany). It explores how three waves of land redistribution initiatives have influenced the history of the Baltic states throughout the 20th century. The land reforms have shaped a distinctive relationship between society and the state, as well as have had a significant impact over people's subjectivity. By tracing the combined effects of interwar land reforms, Soviet collectivisation, and post-1991 privatisation on people's perceptions of ownership, the project connects entrenched ruptures in the region's history.
The question of land ownership lies at the heart of political, economic, and social systems worldwide. For landowners, it represents not only a source of livelihood but also a marker of social position. For modern nation-states, managing land tenure and agricultural production has increasingly become a tool for asserting sovereignty. Land redistribution policies are designed to strengthen ties between rural populations and the state by shaping social roles and legitimizing state power. As a result, such policies often play pivotal roles in revolutions and political transitions, becoming symbols of democratization, economic reform, and social cohesion.
The SOL project examines how successive land redistribution efforts have influenced the historical trajectory of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania throughout the 20th century, fostering a unique dynamic between the state and society. By placing the interwar land reforms that followed the Russian Empire’s collapse, Soviet collectivization, and the post-Soviet privatization within a unified analytical framework, SOL highlights how each phase served different purposes: while the interwar and 1990s reforms were central to nation-building and integration into new global systems, collectivization was key to the region’s Soviet transformation.
Using an interdisciplinary approach centered on subjectivities, SOL investigates how land redistribution reshaped individual and collective identities over time. It explores how uncertainty around property rights influenced reform policies, how these policies affected personal self-understanding, family structures, gender roles, and community dynamics—ultimately shaping both identities and allegiances within Baltic societies.
The project aims to closely collaborate with Baltic scholars from various fields within the social sciences and humanities. To this end, it actively engages with universities in the region by organizing workshops, hosting visiting fellows, and jointly contributing to SOL’s research output through co-authored articles, special journal issues, conference panels, and other collaborative formats.
Funded by the UK-German Funding Initiative in the Humanities (AHRC/DFG), the project seeks to deepen the strategic collaboration between the University of Birmingham, Martin Opitz Library in Herne and the Herder Institute in Marburg by uniting leading academic expertise with exceptional archival resources on Baltic history
Principal Investigators
Prof. Dr. Heidi Hein-Kircher (Martin Opitz Library, Ruhr University Bochum)
Heidi.Hein-Kircher@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Prof. Klaus Richter (University of Birmingham)
k.richter@bham.ac.uk
Research Associates
Dr. Paris Pin-Yu Chen (University of Birmingham)
p.chen.1@bham.ac.uk
Davis Pumpurins, M.A. (Martin Opitz Library, Ruhr University Bochum)
Davis.Pumpurins@edu.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Project Coordination
Anna Ivanova, M.A. (Martin Opitz Library)
anna.ivanova@sowi.uni-giessen.de