Making Domestic Violence Visible Under State Socialism. Central and Eastern Europe 1950s–1980s

This thematic cluster examines how domestic violence became visible under state socialism in Central and Eastern Europe, 1950s–1980s. Microhistorical, bottom-up case studies of Czechoslovakia, the GDR, and Soviet Lithuania trace how communities, experts, and authorities defined and addressed domestic violence. Drawing on little-used sources, criminal and court files, local records, medical reports, and letters, the articles show how class, ethnicity, and expertise shaped recognition and response. They reveal tensions between the proclaimed “new socialist society” and everyday practice, challenge monolithic depictions of communist rule, and foreground agency and longue durée patriarchal continuities. Together, they promote a European history of family violence.