Memory and oblivion were key factors for moral and social reconstruction and
stability in post-war Europe. Managing recent memories was not an easy task, as it
was difficult to build a narration based on “Us” and “Others” after the German
occupation. Under this light, one of the most delicate issues that soon arose was the
erection of public monuments. Which moments of its recent history should each
nation forget, and which were worthy of remembering and celebrating in the public
domain? Decisions were tough, as recent events affected parts of the population in
different ways, even within the same nation. Things were even more complicated in
cases like Greece, where World War II was followed by a fierce Civil War (1946-
1949), which is seen today as the first act of collision between the two victorious
ideologies of Communism and Capitalism. The Cold War dynamics affected not only
Greece, but all European countries in different ways. Essentially, the national identity
of each state was renegotiated, under the light of the new international political
coalitions. The memory of the recent past was central in these procedures.
This conference aims at highlighting the processes of remembering and of forgetting
World War II in the Balkans and East-Central Europe by examining public
monuments erected since 1945. The conference is addressing, but is not limited to,
the following questions:
What were the dynamics for remembering World War II in Balkan countries and in
East-Central Europe? Which events/persons were commemorated, in which period
and why?
Which specific historical conditions and political necessities fueled the erection of
public monuments in each case?
How was the “de-Nazification” of societies reflected in monuments and the public
sphere?
When did monuments about the Holocaust begin to be erected, which
events/persons connected to it are remembered and which is the preferred style in
each case?
How are monuments of the Soviet era about World War II remembered today?
Interested contributors are invited to send proposals (500 words maximum) for a 20-
minute presentation, along with a short CV (350 words maximum) in the same
document. Proposals should be sent to the organizing committee
( ) by March 31, 2023. Selected contributors should
submit their final manuscript (5.000-7.000 words, footnotes included) and PowerPoint
presentation one week before the conference and should have acquired permission
for publication of images for an open-access digital publication by January 2024. The
conference will be conducted in English. All applicants will be notified by April 24,
2023 regarding acceptance of their proposal.
The conference will take place on November 23 and 24, 2023 in Athens, Greece. It is
part of the research project “WaRs: War and Resistance Monuments in Greece:
Documentation of and Historical Approach to Public Monuments, 1945-today” at the
University of Ioannina (Greece), funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and
Innovation.
Organizing committee:
Prof. Areti Adamopoulou, Department of Fine Arts & Art Sciences, University of
Ioannina, Greece
Assis. Prof. Alexandros Teneketzis, Department of History and Archeology,
University of Patras, Greece
Dr. Anna Maria Droumpouki, Research Associate, Institute of Eastern and South
Eastern European History, Department of History, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität,
Munich
Dr. Konstantinos Argianas, Lecturer, Post-doc Researcher, Department of Fine Arts
& Art Sciences, University of Ioannina,
Greece
Kostas Korres, PhD Candidate, Department of Primary Education, University of the
Aegean, Greece