EVZ Conversations!

An event format organized by the EVZ Academy expanded

Since February of 2022, Russia is leading a war of aggression against the Ukraine violating international law. In the shadow of the pressing humanitarian disaster in Ukraine, there is an additional threat: a fundamental instrumentalization of history. Certainties of cultures of remembrance are being called into question.

What does the war in Ukraine mean for German, Jewish und Ukrainian cultures of remembrance? Which reflexes – like for example resistance of guilt and relativization of the holocaust and of NS-injustice – are perceivable in the German public debate and how can we face them?

A debate is needed that informs, classifies and also questions how future work of remembrance and history policy can and should respond to this massive instrumentalization of history. In our new format EVZ Conversations, we talk to representatives from institutions of work of remembrance, history policy and science.

You can find a short video version of former events down below. For the complete version of the videos, have a look at our youtube-channel.

To the episodes...

Event Series

EVZ Conversations! - Episode 1: History as a Reason for War: Putin's Narrative of the "Denazification of Ukraine"

Participants on 04/21/2022:

Nikolai Klimeniouk, freelance writer
Dr. Irina Scherbakowa, historian, founding member and head of youth and educational programs, Memorial
Prof. Dr. Karl Schlögel, Eastern Europe historian and publicist

Moderator: Dr. Andrea Despot, chief executive officer of the EVZ Foundation

Panelists of episode 1

© Jens Liebchen

Nikolai Klimeniouk

Author
© Daria Krotova

Dr. Irina Sherbakova

Historian, founding member and head of the youth- and educationprogramme at Memorial
© Arno Burgi

Prof. Dr. Karl Schlögel

Easteurope-historian and publicist

Event Series

EVZ Conversations! - Episode 2: Images of history (in social media) in the war in Ukraine

Participants on 05/05/2022:

Dr. Bert Hoppe, research associate at the Institute for Contemporary History
Nataliya Pryhornytska, political consultant and political educator
Anton Himmelspach, director and political editor at dekoder

Moderator: Katrin Kowark, head of communications at EVZ Foundation

Panelists of episode 2

Event Series

EVZ Conversations! - Episode 3: What do you have to do with the war on Ukraine? Current challenges to commemorative work

Participants on 05/19/2022:

Eike Stegen, head of press and public relations at Memorial and Educational Site Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz
Prof. Dr. Jens-Christian Wagner, director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation
Oleksandra Bienert, researcher and activist

Moderator: Dr. Andrea Despot, chief executive officer of the EVZ foundation

Panelists of episode 3

© Ina Schoenenburg

Oleksandra Bienert

Researcher and activist
© Gedenkstätte Buchenwald

Prof. Dr. Jens-Christian Wagner

Director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation
© GHWK Berlin

Eike Stegen

Head of Press and public relations at Memorial and Educational Site Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz

Event Series

EVZ Conversations! - Episode 4: A panel discussion with activists from the Ukrainian civil society

Participants on 09/29/22:

Anzhelika Bielova, president, Association of Roma women "Voice of Romni"
Anna Lenchovska, executive director, Kyiv Educational Center "Tolerspace" (online participation)
Petro Rusanienko, producer and actor, Roma activist

Moderator: Mattia Nelles, Ukraine-expert

Panelists of episode 4

Event Series

EVZ Conversations meets JMB! - Episode 5: The Russian war against Ukraine. Consequences for History Politics

Participants on 02/14/2022:

Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture
Dr. Anatolii Podolskyi, Director of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies in Kyjiw
Floriane Azoulay, Director of the Arolsen Archives

Moderator: Dr. Andrea Despot, Chief Executive Officer of the EVZ Foundation

The event took place in cooperation with the Jewish Museum Berlin.