Embracing the New, Preserving the Old: Studying Fascism, Communism, and Totalitarianism in the 2020s - Keynote Events - Instytut Pileckiego

Keynote Events

Wednesday, October 14

9:30 - 10:30

Keynote Address: Prof. Juliane Fürst, Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam ZZF
"The Contemporary History of Writing Soviet and Post-Soviet History or What War Did to Our Field"

This keynote will take stock of how, since 2014, the Russian war in Ukraine has impacted on the field of Soviet studies in both Western and Eastern European academia and has shaped and framed its major debates and disagreements. While the war is undoubtedly an event of the 21st century fought with ever more contemporary weapons, it has forced a re-evaluation of the history of World War II as well as the period of state socialism and made historiography a crucial battle field not only in Ukraine and Russia but globally. A long-delayed discussion of Soviet colonialism and decolonization has erupted, finding both allies and foes and intersecting with earlier discussions of power relations between Eastern and Western epistemologies. This has questioned, subverted or overlayered the terms that underpinned previous historical debates of the Soviet field, especially historical interpretations of authoritarianism, nationalism and modernity. Rather than by binary disagreements of the totalitarian/revisionist type, the field seems destined to be shaped by fragmentation resulting from personal life experiences and convictions on the one hand and by external forces such as migration, financial funding, and state policies on the other.

livestream: https://youtube.com/live/pfLLRgV-ra4

13:00 - 14:00

Keynote Address: Dr John Connelly, University of California, Berkeley
"Unexplored Origins of Totalitarianism: Russian and German Imperialisms in Comparative Perspective"

In The Origins of Totalitarianism Hannah Arendt explored European imperialism but had little to say about the empires which produced European totalitarianism: historic Germany and Russia. I ask how these two places formed the soil from which millenarian ideologies of banishing evil from the planet sprouted and spread to smaller countries where they were foreign. Vaclav Havel said total regimes make populations live a lie. In fact, these two imperialisms caused their citizens to buy into "deeper truths" of holy missions, reaching back to supposed resurrected glories of ancient Rome. A closer look at these twin imperialisms helps us understand why their populations could subject other peoples to "fantasies of salvation" – Nazi, Soviet, and post-Soviet – with little remorse let alone empathy.

livestream: https://youtube.com/live/NjsU5Wdk1LU

Thursday, October 15

16:30 - 18:00

Keynote Discussion

"20th Century Fascism & Totalitarianism: Legacies and Challenges Today"

Keynote Panelists:

Dr Anca Diana Axinia, Independent Scholar
Prof. Nadia Boyadjieva, Davis Center; Balkan Studies Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Dr Mark Kramer, Davis Center, Harvard University
Dr Aviezer Tucker, Davis Center; University of Ostrava
Prof. Michał Wawrzonek, Ignatianum University, Cracow

Moderator: Dr Ian Garner, The Pilecki Institute

The study of totalitarianism, fascism, and communism is—after making great strides in the first decades of the 21st century—entering a period of transition. War, authoritarianism, and politics are disrupting research practices. Archives are opening and closing across the region. Simultaneously, digitization and artificial intelligence promise new ways of finding patterns, connecting sources, and asking questions at unprecedented scales—even as they open up new political and mnemonic contestation. This keynote discussion asks: what comes next for the field? Which foundations—archival expertise, language skills, close reading, historical comparison, and conceptual precision—must be preserved? Where can new methodologies genuinely transform our knowledge, and where might they erode context or reproduce biases? How should researchers respond to restricted access, dis/misinformation, political pressure, and the instrumentalization of fascist and totalitarian pasts?

livestream: https://youtube.com/live/Yszg7_z3NZQ