Videos

A short feature made by Anna Kasperska in Gdańsk, Poland.

Anna Kasperska - born in 1986. Graduate of Master studies in filmmaking on Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. She has been involved in a film making, promotion and education since 2009. She realized three movies. One of them – “Together, written separately” – made as her diploma work this year is currently distributed for the film festivals. Between 2010 and 2013 she organized a series of independent film screenings in Warsaw cinemas. In 2013 she created and coordinated international film project focused on the topic of the border in Polish-Ukrainian cooperation.

The feature was made as a part of the Freedom Express project - an international social and educational campaign launched on the 25th anniversary of the “year of changes” – the year 1989. The project was organised by European Network Remembrance and Solidarity with the support of ministries of culture from Central European countries and in cooperation with many institutions dealing with the history of the 20th century.

A short feature by Anna Kasperska showing commemorations of the attack on the Westerplatte and the beginning of the Second World War.

Anna Kasperska - born in 1986. Graduate of Master studies in filmmaking on Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. She has been involved in a film making, promotion and education since 2009. She realized three movies. One of them – “Together, written separately” – made as her diploma work this year is currently distributed for the film festivals. Between 2010 and 2013 she organized a series of independent film screenings in Warsaw cinemas. In 2013 she created and coordinated international film project focused on the topic of the border in Polish-Ukrainian cooperation.

The feature was made as a part of the Freedom Express project - an international social and educational campaign launched on the 25th anniversary of the “year of changes” – the year 1989. The project was organised by European Network Remembrance and Solidarity with the support of ministries of culture from Central European countries and in cooperation with many institutions dealing with the history of the 20th century.

First day impressions. 'Freedom Express' is a two-week journey through six countries of the former communist block, in which 20 young artists, academics, journalists and cultural animators from all of Europe participate. Route: Gdańsk 29.08, Warsaw 2.09, Budapest 3.09, Timișoara 5.09, Sopron 7.09, Bratislava 8.09, Prague 9.09 and Berlin 11.09 - 14.09.

'Freedom Express' was a two-week journey through six countries of the former communist block, in which 20 young artists, academics, journalists and cultural animators from all of Europe participated.

Route: Gdańsk 29.08, Warsaw 2.09, Budapest 3.09, Timișoara 5.09, Sopron 7.09, Bratislava 8.09, Prague 9.09 and Berlin 11.09 - 14.09.

Freedom Express Study Trip took place in September 2014 with 20 young Europeans going in the footsteps of the events from 1989, when the communism fell in East-Central Europe. Representatives from Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Costa Rica, Moldova, Hungary and the United Kingdom undertook a two-week journey visiting six countries of the former eastern bloc. Time was spent in meetings and workshops, discussing and exchanging opinions, trying to experience the atmosphere of late 1980s. The group reported their thoughts, emotions and opinions connected with the journey on a blog, see www.1989.enrs.eu/blog.

The Study Trip was part of the socio-educational campaign organized by European Network Remembrance and Solidarity.

Mateusz Fałkowski discusses the 1989 transformation in Poland.

The video was made as a part of the Freedom Express project celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism in Europe.

Listen to Josef Höchtl - Austrian social sciences and economics scholar, and former politician - talk about the events that led to the fall of communism in Europe.

The Director of the Institute of Contemporary History at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Oldřich Tůma is one of the most renowned Czech historians focusing on the post-war history of Czechoslovakia. Listen to him discuss the fall of communism in Europe.

The video was made as a part of the Freedom Express project celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism in Europe.

Michal Kopeček since 2003 is head of the history department at the Institute of Contemporary History in Prague. Since 2010, he lectures Czech and Central European history as an assistant professor at the Institute of Czech History at Charles University in Prague.

Listen to his monologue about events which led to overthrowing the communism, his experiences connected to them, and the public awareness of them.

The video was made as a part of the Freedom Express project celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism in Europe.

Peter Jašek from the Nation's Memory Institute talks about his memories connected with the protests against communism, discusses the Velvet Revolution and what it meant for the citizens of Czechoslovakia.

This video was made as a part of the Freedom Express project celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism in Europe.

Deputy director of the Institute of History, Research Center for the Humanities at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and member of the Executive Presidium of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His scholarly interests include European and Hungarian politics, 19th- and 20th-century intellectual history, 19th- and 20th-century European historical writing, the theory and methodology of history and the history of nationalism.

Listen to his monologue about the political events in Hungary which led to overthrowing the communism regime in 1989.

The video was made as a part of the Freedom Express project celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism in Europe.

Włodzimierz Borodziej is a history professor at the History Department of University of Warsaw. Editor in chief of Polish Diplomatic Documents, published by the Polish Institute of InternationalAffairs. Chairman of Academic Committee of the House of European History in Brussels.

Listen to his statement about the changes in 1989 and what they ment for the central Europe, specifically for Poland.

The video was made as a part of the Freedom Express project celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism in Europe.

Vasil Kadrinov is the director of the Hannah Arendt Center in Sofia and a former political prisoner of the Bulgarian communist regime. Listen to him talk about his experiences and the history of the communist regime in Bulgaria.

The video was made as a part of the Freedom Express project celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism in Europe.

Stefan Troebst is Professor of East European Cultural Studies at the University of Leipzig. His fields of research are international and inter-ethnic relations in modern Eastern Europe as well as the comparative cultural history of contemporary Europe. Listen to him explain the differences between the fall of communism in different East and Central European countries.

The video was made as a part of the Freedom Express project celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism in Europe.

Sandra Vokk is a project coordinator at the Unitas Foundationin Estonia. Her academic background is a blend of cultural studies, anthropology, and governance. She organized an academic research competition as part of the Baltic Sea Region history educational project "Different Nations - Shared Experiences".

Listen to her memories connected to living in Estonia under the control of communist government, and her statement on how and why the awareness of communist history in Central Europe should be spread.

This video was made in connection with the Freedom Express project celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism in Europe.

Commentary by Piotr Kwiatkowski (University of Social Sciences and Humanities), Katarzyna Kotyńska (Jagiellonian University).

Panel ""Great History" in Collective Memory", conference "New Research on Memory in Eastern Europe (Ukraine and Belarus)".

Warsaw, 10-11 June 2014