Videos

The 13th European Remembrance Symposium & International Conference, held in Helsinki in June 2025, marked the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act. Organized by the European Network of Remembrance and Solidarity and partners, the event explored the historical and contemporary significance of the 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).
Through panels, discussions, and site visits, participants reflected on the Spirit of Helsinki, its impact on Cold War diplomacy, human rights, and civic movements in Eastern Europe, and examined its relevance to today’s global challenges, including conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The symposium gathered historians, diplomats, educators, and cultural professionals to foster dialogue and international cooperation around memory, history, and peacebuilding.

Learn more about the 2025 event here.

The 13th European Remembrance Symposium & International Conference, held in Helsinki in June 2025, marked the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act. Organized by the European Network of Remembrance and Solidarity and partners, the event explored the historical and contemporary significance of the 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).
Through panels, discussions, and site visits, participants reflected on the Spirit of Helsinki, its impact on Cold War diplomacy, human rights, and civic movements in Eastern Europe, and examined its relevance to today’s global challenges, including conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The symposium gathered historians, diplomats, educators, and cultural professionals to foster dialogue and international cooperation around memory, history, and peacebuilding.

Learn more about the 2025 event here.

The 13th European Remembrance Symposium & International Conference, held in Helsinki in June 2025, marked the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act. Organized by the European Network of Remembrance and Solidarity and partners, the event explored the historical and contemporary significance of the 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).
Through panels, discussions, and site visits, participants reflected on the Spirit of Helsinki, its impact on Cold War diplomacy, human rights, and civic movements in Eastern Europe, and examined its relevance to today’s global challenges, including conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The symposium gathered historians, diplomats, educators, and cultural professionals to foster dialogue and international cooperation around memory, history, and peacebuilding.

Learn more about the 2025 event here.

The 13th European Remembrance Symposium & International Conference, held in Helsinki in June 2025, marked the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act. Organized by the European Network of Remembrance and Solidarity and partners, the event explored the historical and contemporary significance of the 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).
Through panels, discussions, and site visits, participants reflected on the Spirit of Helsinki, its impact on Cold War diplomacy, human rights, and civic movements in Eastern Europe, and examined its relevance to today’s global challenges, including conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The symposium gathered historians, diplomats, educators, and cultural professionals to foster dialogue and international cooperation around memory, history, and peacebuilding.

Learn more about the 2025 event here.

The 13th European Remembrance Symposium & International Conference, held in Helsinki in June 2025, marked the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act. Organized by the European Network of Remembrance and Solidarity and partners, the event explored the historical and contemporary significance of the 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).
Through panels, discussions, and site visits, participants reflected on the Spirit of Helsinki, its impact on Cold War diplomacy, human rights, and civic movements in Eastern Europe, and examined its relevance to today’s global challenges, including conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The symposium gathered historians, diplomats, educators, and cultural professionals to foster dialogue and international cooperation around memory, history, and peacebuilding.

Learn more about the 2025 event here.

The 13th European Remembrance Symposium & International Conference, held in Helsinki in June 2025, marked the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act. Organized by the European Network of Remembrance and Solidarity and partners, the event explored the historical and contemporary significance of the 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).
Through panels, discussions, and site visits, participants reflected on the Spirit of Helsinki, its impact on Cold War diplomacy, human rights, and civic movements in Eastern Europe, and examined its relevance to today’s global challenges, including conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The symposium gathered historians, diplomats, educators, and cultural professionals to foster dialogue and international cooperation around memory, history, and peacebuilding.

Learn more about the 2025 event here.

The 13th European Remembrance Symposium & International Conference, held in Helsinki in June 2025, marked the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act. Organized by the European Network of Remembrance and Solidarity and partners, the event explored the historical and contemporary significance of the 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).
Through panels, discussions, and site visits, participants reflected on the Spirit of Helsinki, its impact on Cold War diplomacy, human rights, and civic movements in Eastern Europe, and examined its relevance to today’s global challenges, including conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The symposium gathered historians, diplomats, educators, and cultural professionals to foster dialogue and international cooperation around memory, history, and peacebuilding.

Learn more about the 2025 event here.

Recording from the 8th discussion within the To Understand Memory series, from 26 June 2025.

Do you get tired of looking at war?
Walking down the street you see: a monument commemorating fighting soldiers, a plaque commemorating murdered civilians, a billboard with a propaganda slogan. A newspaper with a photograph from the front lies on the street, someone has sent you a new meme with Putin, you are watching a recording from the trenches.
Culture reacts to catastrophe in different ways: sometimes it can distort it, sometimes it helps us understand it. The 80th anniversary of the end of World War II is a moment to reflect on what images of war we see every day and whether they talk about the past - and the present - in a responsible, accurate and important way.

Listen to the conversation with Keith Lowe, historian and author of Prisoners of History, which explores the monuments that shape our memory of World War II, and Tomasz Szerszeń, essayist and author of Being a Guest in a Catastrophe, a reflection on the visual language of war in Ukraine.

The discussion is hosted by Małgorzata Pakier, head of the Academic Department at the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity.

Learn more about the To Understand Memory series here.

Although Lidia and Jakub's grandfather Zdzisław was born after World War II, he knows a lot about it from stories, particularly those from his village, Płąchawy, where people gathered in the evenings to talk about the war. His grandfather was in the Border Protection Corps (KOP), a military unit defending Poland's border with the Soviet Union. In September 1939, the Russians attacked, outnumbering the Polish forces. The commander surrendered, but a major led an attack, and many soldiers died. His father survived by tripping and hiding in a barn for three days before being escorted to an armament bunker. A Ukrainian man helped him walk, and they found shelter in a house where his father received food. Later, during the war, his grandmother sold land to help his mother travel to the front to see his father. Despite the dangers, his father repeatedly warned her not to come, as it was too risky.

In April 1940, Józefa Bujdo was arrested by the Soviet state police (NKVD) and deported to Aktyubinsk in present day Kazakhstan. During her exile Józefa wrote to her children a collection of letters, which would eventually be found 75 years later, 5000 kms from their point of origin. An international team of translators have decoded Józefa’s last thoughts and words to reveal a compelling, hand written account of living conditions under the repressive policies of the Soviet totalitarian regime.