Acknowledgements
2021
The major part of the work required for the publication of this book took place during the 2020-2021 Covid pandemic.Without the strength, patience, generosity, and immense effort of all the contributors to this volume, its co-editors would have been left empty-handed.Our heartfelt thanks therefore goes out first to all our colleagues and friends who have embarked on this unexpectedly difficult adventure with us and who have courageously surmounted all the obstacles raised by the virus in order to make their contributions to this book.The outstanding help of Vanessa Monteventi, who did the major part of the editorial work required to prepare the manuscript of this collective volume, must be underscored.We are deeply grateful to her and thank her for her patience, precision, reliability, and amazingly-constant good mood even when faced with the most frustrating tasks sometimes required in such work.The team at De Gruyter, in particular Katharina Legutke and Torben Behm, have been very helpful and patient throughout the publication process: we should also like to extend our warmest thanks to them all, and to add