Ostforschung Ostforschung () in general describes since the 18th century any German research of areas to the East of Germany. Since the 1990s, the Ostforschung itself is a subject of historic research, while the names of institutes etc. were changed to more specific ones. For example, the journal „Zeitschrift für Ostforschung“ was renamed to „Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung“. The Ostforschung school of historical research is considered highly biased and discredited by modern historians.