Invitation to the discussion: “Historians at risk? Historical scholarship and politics of history in Central and Eastern Europe”
Discussion
“Historians at risk? Historical scholarship and politics of history in Central and Eastern Europe”
March 22, 2021, 2:00–3:45 pm CET
Organiser: Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe – Institute of the Leibniz Association, Marburg in cooperation with Leibniz Research Network Eastern and Central Europe, Verband der Osteuropahistorikerinnen und -historiker (VOH), German Association for East European Studies (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde, DGO) and Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena
Participants: Prof. Dr Éva Kovács, The Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies; Prof. Dr Dariusz Stola, Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw; Assoc. Prof Andrej Kotljarchuk, Södertörn University, Stockholm
Moderation: Prof. Dr Peter Haslinger (Herder Institute, Marburg)
Commentaries: Prof. DrJoachim von Puttkamer (Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena) and Dr Anna Veronika Wendland (Herder Institute, Marburg)
Organisation and idea: Prof. Dr Peter Haslinger, Dr Tatsiana Astrouskaya (Herder Institute, Marburg)
The rise of populism, attacks on democracy, human rights, and the freedom of expression have become the pressing issue today and perhaps even more so in some of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Though the transformation period is considered to be accomplished, its end has brought neither expected clarity regarding these nations’ future development, nor anticipated economic stability for all segments of society. The incautious handling of the past, when history becomes an instrument for politics, is one of the reactions to this uncertainty. This goes hand in hand with a trend for the re-nationalization of approaches and cooperation networks. In recent years, we also observe state initiatives for institution building and scandalizing or even criminalizing historical research. The new media and social networks can be instrumental in disseminating the centralizing efforts of the state, yet they also can serve effectively as the means of production and circulation of historical mythology.
This discussion aims to offer an overview of the recent developments in the politics of history in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe on the example of Belarus, Hungary and Poland. We would like to discuss the challenges, which the historians and their work face nowadays. The additional questions are: which issues, topics, an periods are regarded as the most “controversial”? What were the concepts and methods of the respective governments and which counter-strategies have been developed by historians? How does the introduction of new media affect the situation? How will this recent development re-shape trans- and international cooperation? What would the short-, mid-and long-term projection be in this respect? What does it mean for academic institutions in Germany and elsewhere in Europe and how should they deal with changing academic environments?
We are looking forward to welcome you at the discussion!
For participation please register via: https://forms.gle/wgFhS6nqMifJ28pYA
We will circulate the access link one day before the event.
For further question and inquaries please write to hira@herder-institut.de
