cover image of How We Remember. The Memory of Communism – Its Forms, Manifestations, Meanings project

    17 - 18 Sept 2019, Prague

    How We Remember. The Memory of Communism – Its Forms, Manifestations, Meanings

    The thirtieth anniversary of the events that took place in 1989 is an appropriate opportunity not only for research of and discussions about the developments which resulted in the fall of the Central and Eastern European Communist regimes in the end of the 1980s, but also for focusing attention on how the memory of Communism has been developing and transforming in the last three decades and how reflections of the Communist past have been influencing the development since 1989.

    The objective of the “How We Remember” international conference is to examine and discuss forms, manifestations, and meanings of the memory of Communist regimes in various shapes and environments from a broad transnational perspective. The conference will be attended by many leading experts from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Russian Federation, and Estonia.

    The conference will focus, in particular, on:
    ⦁ reflections of Communism in the public, political, and professional discourse
    ⦁ forms of treatment of the Communist past in the public space
    ⦁ connections between reflections of Communism and the development of new democratic social identities
    ⦁ memory of Communism in art, literature, and cinematography
    ⦁ transformations of the individual memory of communism.

    The conference will be held in English and Czech/Slovak and simultaneously translated into Czech and English.
    Venue: Goethe-Institut Prag (Masarykovo nábřeží 32, Praha 1)

    Programme

    How to Remember

    17/09/2019 Tuesday

    9:00
    Introductory speeches & keynote lecture
    Goethe-Institut Prag
    Miloš Řezník: Národní paměť a transnacionalita míst paměti: 1989 ve střední Evropě /National Memory and Transnationality of the Places of Memory: 1989 in Central Europe
    9:45–11:15
    Session 1
    Jan Rubeš: Úvahy o selektivní paměti /Reflections on Selective Memory
    Vera Dubina: Contemporary “Memory-Building” in Russia: State History Policy and Local Initiatives
    Piotr Kwiatkowski: Communism in Polish Collective Memory after 1989
    Valeriya Korblyova: The Communist Past in the Political Present of Ukraine
    11:45–13:15
    Session 2
    Muriel Blaive: The Black Book of Communism
    Florin Abraham: Historiography and Remembrance Policies in Romania: The Role of Anti-Communist Ideology (1989–2019)
    Attila Pók: The Memory of Communism in Hungarian Historiography
    Jekaterina Pavlenko: Practices of Working with Soviet Past in Russia in the Last 30 Years: International Memorial Experience
    14:15–14:30
    Project presentation
    Lena Ens
    14:30–16:00
    Session 3
    Claudia-Florentina Dobre: 30 Years after the Fall: Communism in the Romanian Post-Communist Cinema
    András Nagy: The Communist Past in Hungarian post-1989 Literature
    Hannes Krauss: The GDR in post-1990 German Literature
    Alexander Kratochvil: Literární diagnóza středoevropské „historické nemoci“ /The Literary Diagnosis of the Central European “Historical Disease”
    16:30–18:00
    Session 4
    Helena Ulbrechtová: Otcové ve službách nacismu a stalinismu z perspektivy jejich synů /Fathers in the Service of Nazism and Communism from the Perspective of Their Sons
    Réka Sárközy: The Communist Past in Hungarian Documentary Movie
    Kamila Zyto: The Memory of Communism in Polish Cinematography
    Claus Löser: Mirror & Projection. The Peaceful Revolution in East Germany and Its Cinematographic Echoes during the 1990’s

    18/09/2019 Wednesday

    9:00–10:45
    Session 5
    Sabine Stach: How Tourists Remember: The Communist Past and International Tourism Industry
    Albert Bing: Croatia: …ism’s and Confusing Memories: Controversies of the Communist Past in the Present
    Marie Černá: Podivná okupace. Vzpomínání na Sovětskou armádu v Československu 1968–1991 /A Strange Occupation: Remembering the Soviet Army in Czechoslovakia, 1968–91
    Sandor Horváth: Anti-Communist Cultural Activities in post-1989 Remembrance
    Adéla Gjuričová: Od digitální utopie k remixu: Paměť komunismu v digitální éře /From Digital Utopia to Remix: The Communist Past in the Digital Era
    11:15–12:45
    Session 6
    Jürgen Danyel: Communist Monuments after 1990: German Debates and Experiences
    Jaroslav Cuhra: Pamětní místa v českém veřejném prostoru /Memorial Sites in Czech Public Space
    Mile Bjelajac: Serbia: contested memory
    Tomasz Kozłowski: The Forms of Treatment of the Communist Past in the Public Space in Poland after 1989
    12:45–13:00
    Project presentation
    Lena Ens: Commemorative Sites to the Communist Dictatorships in Europe in the 20th Century
    Barbora Latečková, Jana Plavec: Ženy a revoluce /Meaning of Democracy: Women and Revolution
    14:00–15:30
    Session 7
    Jurij Hadalin: 30 Years after the Fall of Communism in Slovenia: Controversies over the Interpretation of Memories during the Transition Period
    Sandra Vokk: Development of the International Museum for the Victims of Communism in the Former Patarei Prison
    Peter Jašek: Pamäťová politika na Slovensku a Nežná revolúcia /Memory Policy in Slovakia and the Velvet Revolution
    Toomas Hiio: Coming to Terms with the Consequences of the Soviet Occupation in Estonia: 30 Years of Memory Policy and Commemoration
    16:00–17:30
    Session 8
    Petra Chovancová: Spomínanie na obdobie komunizmu v lokálnej pamäti /Remembering the Communist Era in Local Memory
    Klára Kohoutová: liv politiky paměti na vznik a uchovávání romské minulosti /The Influence of Memory Policy on the Origin and Preservation of the Roma Past
    Miroslav Vaněk: Proměny paměti studentských aktivistů z roku 1989 /Changes in the Memory of Student Activists from 1989
    František Neupauer: Pamäť politických väzňov /The Memory of Political Prisoners
    17:30–17:45
    Concluding remarks
    Oldřich Tůma

    Partners

    Main organiser
    logo of USD Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences
    Partners
    logo of ENRS
    logo of Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung
    logo of DHI Warschau
    logo of Goethe Institut
    logo of Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Prague
    logo of Strategie AV21
    Media Partner
    logo of Český rozhlas Plus
    Event organised as a part of the 1989. Changes and Challanges framework
    logo of 1989. Changes & Challenges CZ