ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is based on a research that has been conducted by an interdisciplinary European consortium of scholars and their research teams. It focuses on pairs of split border communities, which are obviously unique in their specific geographical settings. The book also focuses on a number of villages along the regional border between the Bundesländer of Thuringia and Bavaria, formerly the state border between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic; the towns of Gorizia/Gorica and Nova Gorica on the Italian-Slovenian border; Eisenkappel/Železna Kapla and Jezersko on the Austrian-Slovenian border; the communities of Moschendorf and Pinkamindszent on either side of the Austrian-Hungarian border; Bärenstein and Vejprty on the German-Czech border; and Görlitz and Zgorzelec on the German-Polish border.
