European Remembrance Symposium 2023: Programme

Edition

European Remembrance Symposium 2023

Resistance and Solidarity

11th European Remembrance Symposium and 6th Taking Stock of European Memory Policies

9 – 11 May 2023, Barcelona

This year the 11th edition of the European Remembrance Symposium and the 6th edition of Taking Stock of European Memory Policies will take place as one event in Barcelona. The meeting will bring together hundreds of representatives of the institutions and organisations active in the field of 20th-century history and memory. The idea behind this joint event is the conviction that dialogue concerning the history of the last century is needed, taking into account various sensitivities, experiences and existing interpretations. Over three days, an international group of academics and practitioners from different countries will discuss the importance and role of resistance and solidarity in the context of past and contemporary conflicts.

Venue: Aula Magna, University of Barcelona, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 585, 08007 Barcelona

Language: English, Spanish

Programme

09/05/2023 Tuesday

15:00-16:30 (GMT+2)
Registration

University of Barcelona

16:30-17:00
Welcome speeches

Prof. Montserrat Puig i Llobet, Vice-Rector for Equal Opportunities and Gender, University of Barcelona
Ana Gallego, Director-General DG Justice, European Commission (video recording)
Dr Jordi Guixé i Coromines, Director of the European Observatory on Memories
Rafał Rogulski, Director of the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity

17:00-18:30 (GMT+2)
Resistance and Solidarity

A dialogue between Dr Piotr Naimski and Dr Carmen Magallón

Moderator:
Michael Žantovský, Václav Havel Library, Prague

Participants:
Dr Carmen Magallón, Director of the SIP Foundation (Peace Research Centre), Zaragoza
Dr Piotr Naimski, former member of the anti-communist opposition, one of the creators of the Workers’ Defence Committee in Poland

18:30-19:00 (GMT+2)
Coffee break (photo opportunities, contribution walls)

19:00-19:45 (GMT+2)
Turbo presentations

During the turbo presentations, participants showcase their organisation or project to the symposium’s audience. Each speaker has up to 90 seconds. The topics have to be connected with the general theme of the symposium.

19:45-20:15 (GMT+2)
Screening of the film Spain in Exile (1946)

A documentary directed by Guillermo Zúñiga and produced by Paul Falkenberg, explaining the living conditions of Spanish exiles in France after the Second World War. Film presentation by Carolina Fenoll Espinosa (Spanish National Contact Point of the CERV Programme) and Prof. Àlvar Martínez (University of Valencia, Valencia)

20:30 (GMT+2)
Reception: cocktails followed by dinner and a concert by the NOGUIRA trio

The NOGUIRA trio, created and led by Nora Buschmann, performs a series of instrumental pieces and songs from all over the world, in a show that lasts an hour. The repertoire includes protest songs against dictatorships and in support of oppressed people, and music arising from the migration from Europe to Brazil and Argentina in the early 20th century. Nora Buschmann, guitar and vocals, is accompanied by Ramón Olivares, percussion, and Guillermo Calliero, trumpet and bandoneon.

10/05/2023 Wednesday

09:15-10:00 (GMT+2)
Registration

University of Barcelona

10:00–11:30 IST (GMT+2)
First panel discussion: Mnemonic Solidarity – Can Memory be a Form of Solidarity and Resistance?

• Solidarity with the resisters and the oppressed
• Solidarity as a form of resistance
• Remembrance of solidarity. How can we remember the acts of solidarity? Exploring ways to commemorate

Moderator:
Keith Lowe, writer

Panellists:
Prof. Zsuzsanna Bögre, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest
Dr Jesús Alonso Carballès, Bordeaux Montaigne University, Bordeaux
Prof. Elżbieta Ciżewska-Martyńska, University of Warsaw, Warsaw
Dr Claudia-Florentina Dobre, Nicolae Iorga Institute of History and Centre for Memory and Identity Studies, Bucharest

11:30-12:00 IST (GMT+2)
Coffee break (photo opportunities, contribution walls)

12:00-13:30 (GMT+2)
Q&A session – Taking Stock of European Memory Projects on Solidarity – Case Studies

During this Q&A session the representatives of diverse projects supported by the European institutions discuss their experiences on memory and solidarity.

Moderator:
Constanze Itzel, Director of the House of European History, Brussels

Panellists:
Bogdana Brylynska, Lviv–UNESCO City of Literature, Lviv
Dr Luiza Iordache Cârstea, National University of Distance Education (UNED), Madrid
Fynn-Morten Heckert, Observatory on History Teaching in Europe (OHTE), Strasbourg
Maciej Piotrowski, Nizio Design International / Rozstaje [Crossroads] seminar for literature translators, Warsaw
Dr Erkki Tuomioja, Historians without Borders in Finland, Helsinki

13:30-14:30 (GMT+2)
Lunch and coffee break

15:00–18:00/18:30
Cultural visits

Different venues within Barcelona

Possible options:
Visit to the air-raid shelter, Refugi 307 and the Sagrada Família
Visit to La Modelo prison and the Sagrada Família

11/05/2023 Thursday

09:15-10:00 (GMT+2)
Registration

University of Barcelona

10:00-11:30 (GMT+2)
Second panel discussion: Solidarity and the Power of Art

Moderator:
Prof. Bibiana Crespo Martin, University of Barcelona, Barcelona

Panellists:
Šimon Krbec, The Theresienstadt Centre for Genocide Studies, Prague
Mirosław Nizio, Nizio Design International, Warsaw
Tszwai So, Spheron Architects, London
Piedad Solans, historian and independent curator, Madrid

11:30-12:00 IST (GMT+2)
Coffee break (photo opportunities, contribution walls)

12:00-14:00 IST (GMT+2)
Summary and round table discussion: Solidarity of the Past for the Present / Ethical Consequences and Lessons from 20th-century History

What does the history of 20th-century solidarity and resistance teach us in the context of the new challenges we face in the 21st century?

Moderator:
Otmar Lahodynsky, journalist

Panellists:
Olha Honchar, Territory of Terror, the Memorial Museum of Totalitarian Regimes, Lviv
Dr Matej Medvecký, National Memory Institute of Slovakia, Bratislava
Dr Marek Mutor, Platform of European Memory and Conscience, Ossoliński National Institute
Géraldine Schwarz (online), journalist and documentary filmmaker
Barbara Walshe, The Glencree Centre for Peace & Reconciliation, Glencree

14:15–14:30 (GMT+2)
Closing remarks

14:30 (GMT+2)
Lunch break and the end of the symposium

Throughout the conference during the breaks, it is possible to find out about funding opportunities for projects in the field of European remembrance from the following institutions and programmes:

• Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ)
• HISTOLAB Fellowship
• International Visegrad Fund
• Spanish National Contact Point of the CERV Programme