Shared Culture, Peace and Bridging: Western Influences on the Dissident Idea of Central Europe in the Communist States during the 1980s

The debate on the idea of Central Europe that emerged within the dissident intellectual circles from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland has been vastly discussed from a historical, political, sociological, or economical perspective. This paper suggests and analysis on how different themes used by intellectuals from the Federal Republic of Germany and Austria have penetrated the Central European dissident ideas and have contributed to the appearance of a specific manner of thought. We argue here that the ideas of Central Europe emerging from West-Germany and Austria have been extremely influential on the dissident intellectuals from the Communist states and have given them an efficient tool to challenge the official political system. We will focus our study on specific themes that derive from literary, biographic, or essayistic works that are relevant to our discussion, as well as secondary literature on this subject.