Hadrons in the Nuclear Medium -- Introduction and Overwiew

In this talk I first discuss predictions based on QCD sum rules and on hadronic models for the properties of vector mesons in the nuclear medium. I then describe possible experimental signatures and show detailed predictions for dilepton invariant mass spectra with a special emphasis on nuclear reactions involving elementary incoming beams and nuclear targets. I will in particular illustrate that the sensitivity of pion and photon induced reactions to in-medium effects is comparable to that of heavy-ion reactions.