Remembering in Wartime – Memory in Transition. Ukrainian culture of remembrance in the context of the ongoing war.
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is not only reshaping Europe’s security architecture, but is also having a profound impact on our continent’s collective memory. Amidst this existential threat, a profound transformation is taking place in Ukraine in the way history is interpreted, preserved and utilised to shape national identity.
Whilst from a German perspective we primarily commemorate the dead of the world wars, new places of mourning and remembrance are emerging daily in the east of our continent. This circumstance has a direct impact on the work of the Volksbund, museums and memorial sites: must we perhaps redefine what a shared European remembrance might look like in times of active war, and what this means for our future culture of remembrance?
As part of our event, we would therefore like to explore the following three key themes in greater depth:
• Emancipation and identity: How is Ukrainian remembrance culture breaking away from Soviet narratives, and what place is it seeking today within a shared European canon of values?
• Commemoration on the ground: How is Ukrainian society responding to the war? What initiatives and forms of commemoration are emerging locally to document individual fates and defend their own history against the threat of obliteration?
• A commemorative landscape in flux: How are our museums and memorial sites responding to the current situation? What role can a German-Ukrainian dialogue play in this, and what can both sides currently learn from one another?
PROGRAMME
Welcome
Dr Silke Krohn, Head of Education and Outreach, Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation
Dr Kristiane Janeke, Member of the Federal Executive Committee of the German War Graves Commission
Dr Kateryna Rietz-Rakul, Director of the Ukrainian Institute in Germany
Keynote
Robin Wagener, Chair of the German-Ukrainian Parliamentary Group
Panel discussion
Bozhena Kozakevych, Research Fellow, German-Polish House
Yurii Savchuk, Director General of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine during the Second World War, Kyiv
Dr Jörg Morré, Director of the Museum Berlin-Karlshorst
Yevheniia Moliar, art historian, Technical University of Berlin
Moderated by: Dominik Tomenendal, Head of the Remembrance Culture and Networking Department, Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V.
The event will be followed by a small reception.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Admission: 5.30 pm
Languages: German and Ukrainian. Simultaneous interpretation will be provided.
FREE ADMISSION
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
A cooperation between the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V., the Ukrainian Institute in Germany and the Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation.