SUMMARY:

The article analyzes the evolution of the concept of East-Central Europe in the writings of the famous Polish historian Oskar Halecki (1891–1973), who actually developed it. This seemingly neutral, geographical notion was formulated within the context of Polish nationalist historiography operating with categories such as “Jagiellonian idea,” “federalism,” “Antemurale” (as in “antemurale Christianitatis” – bulwark of Christianity), “the borderland of Western civilization,” “Central Europe,” and so on. “East-Central Europe” thus emerged as a claim for a “special path” of the region traditionally defined as Eastern Europe – emancipated from Russian domination and headed by Poland as a “bulwark of Europe.” This political ideal of the future informed Halecki’s historical studies and evolved in his writings of the interwar and post–World War II periods.