Mitteleuropa is the German term equal to Central Europe. The word has political, geographic and cultural meaning. While it describes a geographical location, it also is the word denoting a political concept of a German-dominated and exploited Central European union that was put into motion during the First World War. The historian Jörg Brechtefeld describes 'Mitteleuropa' as the following:

The term 'Mitteleuropa' never has been merely a geographical term; it is also a political one, much as Europe, East and West, are terms that political scientists employ as synonyms for political ideas or concepts. Traditionally, Mitteleuropa has been that part of Europa between East and West. As profane as this may sound, this is probably the most precise definition of Mitteleuropa available.

The German academic Ständiger Ausschuss für geographische Namen (Permanent Committee on Geographical Names) at the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy refers to a territory roughly bounded by the river Rhine in the west, the Bug in the east, the North Sea and the Baltic coast in the north, as well as the Alps and the Adriatic Sea in the south. The area is covered by the modern states of:

Stanisław Michalkiewicz (born 8 November 1947 in Lublin) is a Polish liberal conservative political commentator, lawyer and politician.

He graduated in 1969 from Maria Curie-Skłodowska University with a law degree. In 1972 he completed postgraduate studies at the University of Warsaw.

He publishes columns and articles in several newspapers and magazines, such as Najwyższy Czas!, Powściągliwość i Praca, Nasza Polska, Nasz Dziennik, Gazeta Polska, Dziennik Polski, Niezależna Gazeta Polska, Goniec and others.

He wrote several sociopolitical books. His feature articles are transmitted by Polskie Radio Program I (Polish Radio One), Radio Maryja and TV channel Telewizja Trwam.

In 1987 he co-founded Ruch Polityki Realnej which subsequently transformed into Unia Polityki Realnej. He served as the Chairman (1997-1999) and Vice-Chairman (2004 to 18 April 2005) of Unia Polityki Realnej.

Between 1991 and 1993, he served as a judge at the State Tribunal of the Republic of Poland.

Andrea Centazzo is an Italian-born American percussionist and composer of minimal music. He acquired U.S. citizenship in 2000 and lives in Los Angeles, California.

Claudio Magris (b. April 10, 1939, Trieste) is an Italian scholar, translator and writer.

Magris graduated from the University of Turin, where he studied German studies, and has been a professor of modern German literature at the University of Trieste since 1978.

He is an essayist and columnist for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and for other European journals and newspapers.

His numerous studies have helped to promote an awareness in Italy of Central European culture and of the literature of the Habsburg myth.

Magris is a member of several European academies and served as senator in the Italian Senate from 1994 to 1996.

His first book on the Habsburg myth in modern Austrian literature rediscovered central European literature. His journalistic writings have been collected in Dietro le parole ("Behind Words", 1978) and Itaca e oltre ("Ithaca and Beyond", 1982). He has written essays on E.T.A. Hoffmann, Henrik Ibsen, Italo Svevo, Robert Musil, Hermann Hesse and Jorge Luis Borges. His novels and theatre productions, many translated into several languages, include Illazioni su una sciabola (1984),Danubio (1986), Stadelmann (1988), Un altro mare (1991), and Microcosmi (1997). His breakthrough was Danubio (1986), which is a magnum opus. In this book (said by the author to be an "drowned novel"), Magris tracks the course of the Danube from its sources to the sea. The whole trip evolves into a colorful, rich canvas of the multicultural European history.