Uncategorized

1st conference in Berlin, 14–16 May 2023

The first conference in the framework of our “Wer ist Walter?”-project will take place from 14 to 16th May 2023 in Berlin. The program will include four panels on the history of resistance against Nazism and fascism during World War Two, mainly related to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France and Germany, as well as a visit of the German Resistance Memorial, and a presentation of new publications about resistance in Europe. The conference will start and end with two special events wich are open to the public: the projection of the Yugoslav partisan movie “Walter defends Sarajevo” and the lecture “Walter out of memory” on 14th May at 19:00, and a round table “Who cares about resistance today? Perspectives from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France and Germany” on 16th May at 19:00, which will close the conference.

Gathering historians, curators and other researchers from different countries, the main aims of the conference are to present and discuss new research on the history of resistance, with a specific focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France and Germany, in a comparative and European perspective, and to discuss about different understandings of resistance and about the relevance of its memory today.

The topics addressed in the four panels are:

  1. “Where to resist? Mountains, cities, villages, camps – different spaces of resistance”;
  2. “A secondary role? The place of women in resistance”;
  3. “A transnational European space of resistance? Crossborder trajectories of resistance”;
  4. “The good guys and the bad guys? Grey zones of resistance and collaboration”.

The panels will include case studies about different countries, and are gathering authors of the papers which will be published in Summer 2024 in an edited volume as one of the results of the “Wer ist Walter?”-project. These will not be full papers presentations, each panelist will rather present some main points and questions related to his / her ongoing research, followed by an interactive exchange between the panelists and the other conference participants on the topic of the panel.

The conference will take place at the Centre Marc Bloch (Friedrichstrasse 191, Berlin Mitte), with exception of the film projection on 14th May which will take place at Kino Central (Rosenthaler Strasse 39, Berlin-Mitte). In the morning of 16th May, the conference participants will visit the German Resistance Memorial.

Lecturers, panelists and moderators include: Robert Belot, Xavier Bougarel, Stevan Bozanich, Kolja Buchmeier, Boris Buden, Corine Defrance, Jelena Đureinović, Dino Dupanović, Uta Fröhlich, Yvan Gastaut, Elma Hašimbegović, Sanja Horvatinčić, Marius Hutinet, Hrvoje Klasić, Juliane Kucharzewski,  Dagmar Lieske, Ana Lovreković, Tim Lucht, Justyna Matkowska, Nicolas Moll, Christine Müller-Botsch, John Paul Newman, Robert Parzer,  Ivo Pejaković, Markus Roth, Alfredo Sasso, Ismee Tames, Fabien Théofilakis, Susanne Urban, Jakob Vogel,  Vladan Vukliš  and Matthias Waechter.

You can find the detailed program of the conference here:

The two special  events – the film screening and lecture on Sunday 14th May at 7 pm, and the public discussion on Tuesday 16th at 7pm  – are open to all interested persons, in the limit of available places, and are free of charge. If you want to attend one or both public events, please register by completing the registration form.

If you are interested in attending the conference itself, please contact the organisers by writing to info@weristwalter.eu. We will then let you know if this is possible within the limits of available places.

The conference is organised by crossborder factory, the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE) and the Jasenovac Memorial Site, in cooperation with the Centre Marc Bloch,  and is funded by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ) and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF).

The second conference in the frame of our “Wer ist Walter?”-project will take place on 2nd-3rd October 2023 in Nice, France. It will be mainly dedicated to the question of how resistance against Nazism and fascism during Secoind World War was and is represented in exhibitions, and what is the role of museums in transmitting the history and memory of this resistance.

For more information about the project “Wer ist Walter? Resistance against Nazism in Europe”, please write to info@weristwalter.eu, or consult the website: weristwalter.eu/project

Photo credit: History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina , Sarajevo. The photo shows partisans of the 10th  Krajina Brigade after the surrender of the German Wehrmacht on the road from Karlovac to Zidani Most, May 1945. Photographer unknown.

Back to list