Note on Translation Abbreviations Introduction Brokers of Modernity Why Modernist Architects? Modernist Architects and Modernity Thematic and Temporal Structures 1. Modernity in Eastern Europe – East European Modernism? The European East – Sketches of a Projection screen East Central Europe – A Space of Crisis? The Post-Monarchic State and the Legacy of the War Eastern Modernity Conclusion 2. Architects as Experts of the Social: A new Type entering the European Scene New Tasks for Architects Architects and the Rise of the Modern Expert Training Modern Architects The Rise of Scientific Urbanism and the Self-Empowerment of Architects The Lure of the Machine Themes of Change – Architecture as Technology: Rationalization, Planning, and Technocracy 89 Conclusion 3. Organising New Architectural Goals Organising Architects in a New State Architecture in a New Key – the CIAM Self-empowerment – the CIAM and its Polish Group CIAM-Universalism or Eastern Fast-track? The CIAM-Ost Realizers – the WSM as Interface Conclusion 4. Communicating Social Change through Architecture The Spatial Structure of the New Discourse on Architecture The Abstract Heritage of the First World War and the Logic of the Media Architectural Journals and Books as Architectural Programme Travelling, Gathering, Thinking Alike: Architects as Modern Men Communicating Problems and Solutions via Language and Exhibitions Conclusion Gallery with Plates5. Materialising the International Agenda: Warszawa Funkcjonalna The CIAM IV Moment – Politics Coming in Realising the Novel: The Functionalist Laboratory of Zlín The Idea of the Functional City Warszawa Funkcjonalna Conclusion 6. Under Pressure: Modernist Architects and the Rise of Political Extremes Questioned Loyalties and Strained International Exchange Continuity and Rupture – the Onslaught on Warsaw Personal Toll and Collaboration Windows of Opportunity: Warsaw as a Post-catastrophic City Old Bonds and new Attention: Warsaw as a Realized Utopia? 2 Conclusion Epilogue Acknowledgements Notes Bibliography Illustration Credits Index

Martin Kohlrausch’s Brokers of Modernity puts forth a solid revision of this narrative and succeeds in shifting it significantly eastward. By inserting the manifold contributions by architects from East Central Europe into the larger history of European modernism, he provides an overdue account of what had been shattered when the trans-European professional networks dissolved in the wake of the Second World War. [...] Kohlrausch presents an immensely informed study, which is based on his research of the past decade. [...] Applying the more recent concept of a ‘multi-speed Europe’ to his period of analysis, the historian masterfully balances institutional history, a history of networks, and a history of modern architecture embedded in its social-historical context.Sarah M. Schlachetzki, H-Soz-Kult