A new war in Europe challenges historical remembrance and official commemoration of the end of World War II in unprecedented ways. Since the onset of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, long-standing interpretive paradigms about the end of World War II have been unsettled and must be critically reassessed. The aim of the conference is to engage in a critical examination of established narratives and traditional national and international interpretations, questioning their resonance and relevance. It seeks both to interrogate the enduring power of selected traditions and to provide new impulses for democratic cultures of remembrance.
The conference will explore the end of the war through a series of thematic panels, offering perspectives from various international contexts.
Registration until 24.03.2025.
The conference will be held in English and German.
Program
Day 1 | 08.04.2025
18:00 - 19:30: Evening Lecture: The End of the War in Europe: New Perspectives on History and Memory
Day 2 | 09.04.2025
09:00 - 09:15: Opening Remarks
09:15 - 10:45: Panel I. Das lange Kriegsende, die militärische Dimension, Grenzziehungen und ihre Folgen
The panel takes various perspectives on the end of the war and discusses the events within the tension field of the military dimension. Along various fronts in Central and Eastern Europe, both long-term planning and unforeseen developments, as well as strategic border demarcations and their consequences for the reorganization of Central and Eastern Europe, will be addressed.10:45 - 11:15: Coffee Break
11:15 - 12:45: Panel II. Das lange Kriegsende in der nationalen Erinnerung: Gedächtnis, Erfahrungen, Schauplätze und historische Daten
The panel examines the long end of World War II and its consequences for historical memory in Central, Southern, and Eastern European states, the occupation of East-Central Europe by the Soviet Union, and the myth of the Red Army. It will discuss both the official propaganda that shaped the cultures of remembrance of the war's end until the collapse of communist rule, which significantly differed from interpretations in Western countries, and the period after 1990, when newly independent states developed their own perspectives on the end of the war and the postwar period, emancipating themselves from Soviet narratives.12:45 - 13:45: Lunchbreak
13:45 - 15:15: Panel III. Internment and Camps: Repression and Persecution in the Postwar Period
This panel addresses the complex of camps, repression, and persecution practices after World War II. The Panel emphasis on comparing perspectives on enemy camps in Europe. The goal is an international comparison to discuss the Soviet special camps in Germany, repression, and persecution practices in this context, and to develop new perspectives on shared experiences in Central and Eastern European countries.15:15 - 15:45: Coffee Break
15:45 - 17:15: Panel IV. Trials and Legal Accountability
The legal processing of Nazi crimes is closely linked to historical memory in Europe and shapes remembrance cultures and the handling of state violence to this day. In countries that fell under Soviet influence after the war, the trials served very different functions and became important propaganda instruments in the struggle for interpretative dominance. This panel will examine the practices and functions of these trials and discuss their impact, the associated interpretative struggles, and their transmission during the Cold War and after the 1990s.
Day 3 | 10.04.2025
09:00 - 10:30: Panel V. Show Trials and Consolidation of New Regimes
In various states under Soviet influence after 1945, Stalinist show trials were conducted immediately after the war to consolidate power. These trials often followed specific legal interpretative patterns, were antisemitic, and tied to conspiracy theories. They were frequently accompanied by violence and pogroms against specific population groups. Opposition and resistance against the new rulers were suppressed and persecuted in this way. Repression through judicial means had serious consequences for those affected and reveals characteristic features of the new state powers. The panel is dedicated to the history of these trials and their post-1990 reappraisal.10:30 - 11:00: Coffee Break
11:00 - 12:30: Panel VI. Memory and Politics of History: World War II in Debates – Contemporary History and Contested History
The memory of World War II and its end is intertwined with numerous debates in Europe. This panel examines public debates and memory conflicts. It addresses past discussions such as the theory of totalitarianism, the debate around the Black Book of Communism, and the Historikerstreit. It will also discuss conflicts after the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe up to current debates on the comparability of colonial crimes with the Holocaust.12:30 - 13:30: Lunchbreak
- 13:30 - 14:00: Closing Discussion