Knowledge Base of the German-Greek cultural and scientific transfer
The German-Greek relationship has a long history behind it. Keywords such as the European Philhellenism, the Greek ʺBavarian ruleʺ, the national socialist occupation of Greece during the Second World War, the recruitment of Greek guest workers by the Federal Republic of Germany and the success of authors such as Nikos Kazantzakis or Petros Markaris in Germany allow us to take a closer look into the extent of this relationship. Nevertheless, these are indicative of merely a small portion of the ongoing political, economic, scientific and cultural transfer processes between the German and Greek cultural spaces, from the 18th century onwards.
In order to display this diversity, the Center for Modern Greece is preparing a digital knowledge base to provide access to the broad information network of the German-Greek scientific and cultural transfer. In accordance with the approach of the cultural transfer research, the knowledge base focuses on the protagonists, the fields of action and the modes of mediation which have enabled a fruitful exchange between the German and Greek cultures in the last 200 years.
The Knowledge Base contains biographic and bibliographic data, which are to be made available to its users in two main plains:
- A bibliographic database of the following subjects: 1. Literature about the German-Greek cultural transfer, 2. Modern Greek-German translations, 3. German-Modern Greek translations, 4. Literature about Greece in German, 5. Literature about Germany in Greek.
- An index about the protagonists and fields of action of the German-Greek scientific and cultural transfer. The articles contain general biographic data, information about transfer fields (e.g. politics, science, literature), modes of mediation (e.g. translation, adaptation, instruction), network (associated participants/fields of action) as well as a dynamic literature list with related bibliographic entries.
The bibliographic data and entries on the protagonists and fields of action of the German-Greek scientific and cultural transfer are connected with each other through a comprehensive Tagging system in order to enable a dynamic information network. Navigation is possible either by entering a specific input in the search field or by browsing through the individual information plains or the keyword indices through which the bibliographic and encyclopaedic data are connected. Furthermore, in the Information section the users of the knowledge base can be informed about the current research work as well as the activities in the sphere of the knowledge base.
And last but not least, the digital knowledge base, being a work in progress, is open to the submission of contents and ideas. To encourage the research work in the area of German-Greek scientific and cultural transfer, CeMoG relies on the organisation of conferences and workshops, the interconnection between German and Greek education establishments and also on financial support for relevant research projects. Additionally, the knowledge base will function as a network and publication platform for young scholars, who research the various aspects of the German-Greek relationship. Entries and references about the corresponding research papers are always welcome!