The first edition of the project A Child in the Labyrinth of 20th-Century History focuses on childhood in a Europe divided by war and ideology. It follows the lives of children growing up in the shadow of the Second World War and during the decades of the Cold War, exploring how political systems, state ideology and historical upheaval shaped their everyday experiences. From life under communist regimes and the pressures of ideological education to political persecution, divided families and the realities of exile and migration, the project uncovers the many ways in which children navigated a world beyond their control. Through their stories, it offers a new perspective on the history of twentieth-century Europe—one seen through the eyes of its youngest witnesses, participants and survivors.

The 2026 edition begins with the international conference Actors, Witnesses or Subjects? Children in Post-war Central and Eastern Europe, 1945–1989, to be held in Warsaw on 19-20 November 2026. Bringing together scholars from across disciplines, the conference inaugurates the project's long-term exploration of children's experiences in twentieth-century Europe and lays the foundation for its future research, publications and educational activities.

Warsaw, 19-20 November 2026

Abstract submission deadline: 18 September 2026

The Second World War did not end childhood's encounter with violence, loss and upheaval. Across Central and Eastern Europe, millions of children entered a post-war world marked by political division, forced migration, ideological conflict and the rise of communist regimes. For many, the years that followed brought not peace but new forms of uncertainty, state control and political repression. Others grew up separated from their families, in exile or diaspora communities, or under systems that sought to shape every aspect of their lives.

Yet despite their central place in these events, children have rarely occupied a central place in the historiography of post-war Europe. Too often, they have appeared only as victims, silent witnesses or objects of state policy, rather than as individuals with their own experiences, perspectives and capacity to act.

The international conference Actors, Witnesses or Subjects? Children in Post-war Central and Eastern Europe, 1945–1989 invites scholars to reconsider this history through children's eyes. Bringing together researchers from history, childhood studies, sociology, memory studies, literary and cultural studies, and related disciplines, it explores children not only as subjects shaped by political and social forces, but also as agents who interpreted, negotiated and responded to the realities around them.ing form.

The conference takes children's own perspectives as its point of departure. Rather than asking simply what communist regimes did to children, it seeks to explore how children experienced, interpreted and navigated the profound political, social and cultural transformations that shaped post-war Central and Eastern Europe. Looking beyond children as passive victims or objects of state policy, the conference encourages participants to consider them as historical actors with their own voices, experiences and strategies for responding to the world around them.

Among the questions the conference seeks to address are:

• How did children experience and make sense of a post-war reality that remained deeply marked by violence, instability and political transformation?
• To what extent were children passive subjects of state power, and to what extent did they resist, adapt to or negotiate the structures that sought to shape their lives?
• How successful were communist regimes in their attempts to mould successive generations, and what were the long-term consequences for those who embraced, questioned or resisted official ideology?
• What role did parents and families play in shaping children's values, identities and political attitudes?
• How did childhood under communist rule differ across the national and regional contexts of Central and Eastern Europe, and across the different phases of state socialism - from Stalinist terror and post-1956 stabilisation to the crises and eventual collapse of the communist system?
• How were children's lives influenced by political repression, economic hardship, recurring crises and the everyday realities of shortage economies?
• What methodological challenges arise when recovering children's voices from sources that were predominantly created by adults, about children and for adult purposes?
• What can the experiences of children under communist rule tell us about the adults they became and about the societies of Central and Eastern Europe today?
• Which memories, values and patterns of behaviour have been consciously or unconsciously transmitted across generations, and which have been forgotten or suppressed?
• How can recovering children's perspectives deepen our understanding of Europe's recent past and its continuing legacies?

We welcome contributions from scholars at all career stages whose research explores childhood, post-war Europe, communism or related fields. The conference is intentionally interdisciplinary and aims to foster dialogue across different approaches to the study of children and young people in twentieth-century history.

We particularly welcome contributions from:

• History of childhood and youth
• Social and cultural history of state socialism
• Memory studies, including representations of the past in literature, film and the visual arts
• Transgenerational trauma studies

We are especially interested in research that:

• foregrounds children's own voices and perspectives;
• draws on ego-documents such as diaries, letters and memoirs;
• uses oral history, visual sources, photographs, drawings and material culture;
• explores institutional, educational and policy frameworks alongside personal experience;
• adopts interdisciplinary or comparative approaches.

Whether examining childhood through archival research, oral testimony, cultural representation or material evidence, we encourage contributions that place children's experiences at the centre of the historical narrative.

We invite proposals for 20-minute individual papers. Submissions should be made in English and include:

• An abstract (maximum 350 words)
• A short biographical note (maximum 150 words), including your institutional affiliation

Please submit your proposal to childreninhistory@enrs.eu by 18 September 2026.

Applicants will be notified of the outcome by 25 September 2026.

The conference language is English.

Selected papers will be considered for publication in the ENRS book series.

The organisers will contribute towards the travel and accommodation costs of accepted participants. Further details will be provided upon acceptance.

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