Rethinking Violence in Communist Dictatorships in East Central Europe

Rethinking Violence in Communist Dictatorships in East Central Europe

Organizer
Institute of Oral History; Department of Contemporary History and International Relations, Babeş-Bolyai-University of Cluj-Napoca; Research Group “Socialist Dictatorship as a World of Meaning” at Institute of Contemporary History Prague & Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam
Venue
Babeş-Bolyai-University, King Ferdinand Hall, Faculty of History and Philosophy, Napoca Street, no. 11, 1st floor
Location
Cluj-Napoca
Country
Romania
From - Until
22.10.2009 - 23.10.2009
Website
By
Pavel Kolar, Ph.D.

Although coercion and open repression both by legal and physical means have had a privileged position in the studies of communist dictatorships so far, violence has been surprisingly rarely dealt with in terms of its broader social and cultural meaning. This colloquium sets out to fill in this gap by providing a perspective on practices, experiences and representations of violence in everyday life under socialism. Stressing the tension between violence, power, and legitimacy, such an approach should contribute to a better understanding of the decline of state socialism in East Central Europe. The conference is organised by the Babeş-Bolyai-University of Cluj-Napoca, in cooperation with the research group ‘Sozialistische Diktatur als Sinnwelt’, a common project of the Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and the Institute of Contemporary History Prague.

Programm

THURSDAY, 22 OCTOBER

Introduction

9.30 – 11.00
Welcome by the Babeş-Bolyai-University of Cluj-Napoca

Ovidiu Ghitta, Dean of the Faculty of History and Philosophy
Doru Radosav, Director of the Institute of Oral History
Ioan-Marius Bucur, Head of the Department of Contemporary History and International Relations

Pavel Kolář, Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam:
Socialist Dictatorship as a World of Meaning (presentation of the project)

Keynote Lecture:

Thomas Lindenberger, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for European History and Public Sphere Vienna:
From Terror to Soft Power? Some Remarks on the Role of Physical Violence during Late State Socialism

Comment: Ioan-Marius Bucur

11.00-11.30 Coffee break

11.30-13.00 Panel I: Representations of Violence

Chair & Comment:
Dennis Deletant, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London (to be confirmed)

Ciprian Cirniala, Institute of Contemporary History Prague:
Police Action against Resistance as Means of Representation in Communist Romania

Călin Morar-Vulcu, Institute of Oral History, Cluj-Napoca/ Brussels:
Patterns of Representing Violence in the Official Discourse of Communist Romania

13.00-14.30 Lunch

14.30-16.00: Panel II: Violence, Family, Sexuality

Chair & Comment:
Muriel Blaive, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for European History and Public Sphere Vienna

Claudia Kraft, Department of East Central European History, University of Erfurt:
Regulating bodies and shaping subjects: biopolitics in communist dictatorships

Corina Pălăşan, University of Bucharest:
Ceauşescu is My Father: Letters of the "Children of the Decree" at the End of the 60s

16.00-16.30: Coffee break

16.30-18.00 Panel III: Violence in Urban Space

Chair & Comment:
Cristina Petrescu, University of Bucharest

Lönhárt Tamás, Department of Contemporary History and International Relations, University of Cluj-Napoca:
Representations in the Collective Memory of the Reconfiguring Urban Landscape: The Memory of Social Engineering, Urbanization and Ethnopolicies of the Communist Regime in Romania, 1956-1989

Ana Kladnik, Institute of Contemporary History Prague:
Nationalisation as a Violent and Non-Violent Mode for National and Social Changes: A Case of the New Socialist Towns in Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia

19.00 Dinner

FRIDAY, 23 OCTOBER

9.30-11.00 Panel IV: Violence and Integration

Chair & Comment:
Ioan-Marius Bucur, Department of Contemporary History and International Relations, University of Cluj-Napoca

Matěj Spurný, Institute of Contemporary History Prague:
Between Coercion and Integration: Ethnic Minorities in the Czech Borderland 1945-1960

Virgiliu Ţârău, Department of Contemporary History and International Relations, University of Cluj-Napoca & CNSAS, Bucharest:
From a Violent Form to a Cultural One: the Re-education Process in the Romanian Penitenciary System 1948-1964

11.00-11.30 Coffee break

11.30-13.00 Panel V: Violence and the Demise of Communism

Chair & Comment:
Martin Schulze Wessel, Department of East European History, University of Munich & Collegium Carolinum

Michal Kopeček, Institute of Contemporary History Prague:
The Principle of Non-violence and Revolutions of 1989: Between Political Strategy and Historical Compromise

Dragoş Petrescu, University of Bucharest & CNSAS
Violence, Ambiguity, and Denial: Interpreting the 1989 Revolution in Romania

Michal Pullmann, Institute of Economic and Social History, Charles University Prague:
Reflections on Violence and Non-violence during the Fall of Communism

13.00-14.30 Lunch

The colloquium is supported by the VolkswagenStiftung

Contact (announcement)

Rainette Lange

ZZF Potsdam

lange@zzf-pdm.de


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