1956. Contexts - Impact - Remembrance
European Remembrance Symposium 2016
24-25 May 2016, Budapest
The idea behind the Symposium is based on the conviction that there is a need to have common and multidimensional reflection on the history of the last century which would take into consideration various narrations, sensitivities, historical experiences and their interpretations. This annual Symposium organised by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity together with its partners aims to facilitate and create new areas of cooperation between institutions and organisations concerned with the study of 20th-century European history and history education.
This year participants will focus on memories of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. Sixty years after the revolution we will discuss the circumstances and conditions of its outbreak as well as its impact on the history of the whole Eastern bloc and how it became a benchmark for other movements in countries under Soviet rule struggling for independence. Participants will be also confronted with the questions of what Stalinism and de-Stalinisation in Eastern Europe was like and why it differed so much from country to country. Much attention will be given to the description of societies in Eastern Europe under communist rule and the techniques that communist regimes used for handling crises in their countries.
Programme
Symposium / Budapest 2016
24/05/2016 Wednesday
13:00
Welcome note
Letter from the President of the Republic of Hungary Dr János Áder
Letter from the President of the Republic of Poland Dr Andrzej Duda
13:30
Welcome speeches
Zoltán Balog, Minister of Human Capacities of Hungary
Dr hab. Magdalena Gawin, Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland
László Regéczy-Nagy, former participant of the 1956 revolution, sentenced to prison, now chair of the Committee for Historical Justice
13:45
Opening lectures: 1956. Context, Impact, Remembrance
Dr Réka Földváryné Kiss, President of the Hungarian Committee of National Remembrance, ENRS Steering Committee
Moderator: Professor Matthias Weber, Director of the Federal Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe, ENRS Steering Committee
15:15
Coffee break
15:45
Panel 1: Stalinism and de-Stalinization in Eastern Europe: The Road to 1956
Professor Sándor M. Kiss, Research Institute and Archives for the History of the Hungarian Regime Change
Dr Łukasz Kaminski, Polish Institute of National Remembrance
Dr Alexander Stykalin, Russian Academy of Sciences
Moderator: Professor Arnold Suppan, Austrian Academy of Sciences
18:00
Turbo presentations
19:15
Reception
25/05/2016 Thursday
9:00
Introductory lectures
Professor Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski, Member of the European Parliament, ENRS Advisory Board
Markus Meckel, German War Graves Commission, ENRS Advisory Board
Host: Gergely Prőhle, Ministry of Human Capacities
9:45
Panel discussion: 1956 as a Turning-Point of History? Analysis of 1956 in terms of impact on Central Europe, the West, and the East’s policies
Professor Erwin A. Schmidl, Innsbruck University
Dr A. Ross Johnson, Wilson Center
Professor Peter Haslinger, Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe and Justus-Liebig-Univerity Giessen, ENRS Academic Council
Dr Stefano Bottoni, Institute of History, Research Centre for the Humanities, HAS
Moderator: Gergely Prőhle, Ministry of Human Capacities
11:30
Coffee break
11:45
Panel discussion: Consequences of 1956: Reprisal, Emigration, Societies under Repression’ dealing mainly with the longer-term impacts of the 1956 events
Dr Oldřich Tůma, Institute of Contemporary History at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, ENRS Academic Council
Dr Cosmin Florin Budeanca, Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile
Professor Jan Rydel, Pedagogical University, Kraków, ENRS Steering Committee
Moderator: Professor Frank Hadler, GWZO at Leipzig University
13:45
Lunch break
14:45
Workshops: Parallel Sessions I
2. Can we write the history of 1956 from a ‘“bottom up’” perspective on the basis of Regime Archives? // ORGANISERS: Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Charles University in Prague
3. Commemorative events at school – developing inquiry-based, thought-provoking, student-oriented event scenarios // ORGANISER: University of Wrocław, Institute of History
15:30
Workshops: Parallel Sessions II
2. Giving the Victims a name – Register of Resistance Fighters and Persecuted Persons in Communist Europe // ORGANISER: Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen
3. Centre for Information on the Victims of World War II. Modern tools of archival research for humanitarian purposes // ORGANISER: The Institute of National Remembrance in Poland
16:15
Visit to memorial sites
Rákoskeresztúr Cemetery Memorial Plot 301 and “Kisfogház”
20:00
Reception
26/05/2016 Friday
10:00
Contemporary Meaning and Legacies of 1956 reflected in Art and Culture
Professor Csaba Gy. Kiss, University of Warsaw, ENRS Academic Council
Professor László Csorba, Hungarian National Museum
Moderator: Dr György Schöpflin, Member of European Parliament
12:00
Coffe break
12:30
Closing lecture
Professor Andrzej Nowak, Jagiellonian University, ENRS Academic Council
Moderator: Professor Pál Fodor, Director General of Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences