The third and last instalment of the “World War II: Witnesses and Memory” series organized jointly by the Pilecki Institute and the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.

The webinar will be devoted to memory culture and to the disparate narrations concerning World War II. The smoking chimneys of Auschwitz, the ruins of London, the Battle of Monte Cassino, the explosion of the atomic bomb, the Yalta Conference – is it possible to talk about a common denominator for all nations who were affected by the events from 76 years ago? TThese are some of the questions that will be posed by the moderator of the debate, Dr. Wojciech Kozłowski (Pilecki Institute), to his guests: Tomasz Stefanek (Pilecki Institute), Drs. Nick Mueller and Rob Citino (The National WWII Museum), and Dr. Alexandra Richie (historian). 

The panelists:

Tomasz Stefanek, historian of ideas, head of programming at the Pilecki Institute. Specialist in the field of public history and memory culture. He carried out research, educational and exhibition projects in cooperation with the the Polish History Museum and the Warsaw Rising Museum, among others the "Warschauer Aufstand / Warsaw Rising 1944" exhibition at the Topography of Terror in Berlin (2014). Co-creator of the permanent exhibition of the Emigration Museum in Gdynia (2015). The co-developer of the "Chronicles of Terror" digital collection (2016) and the curator of the "Raphael Lemkin: Witness to the Age of Genocide" exhibition (2018) with the Pilecki Institute. Author and editor of books and articles on political philosophy, history of ideas and memory culture.

Robert Citino, PhD, Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of War and Democracy and the Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian. Dr. Citino is an award-winning military historian and scholar who has published ten books including "The Wehrmacht Retreats: Fighting a Lost War, 1943", "Death of the Wehrmacht: The German Campaigns of 1942", and "The German Way of War: From the Thirty Years' War to the Third Reich" and numerous articles covering World War II and 20th century military history. He speaks widely and contributes regularly to general readership magazines such as "World War II". Dr. Citino enjoys close ties with the U.S. military establishment, and taught one year at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and two years at the U.S. Army War College.

Gordon H. “Nick” Mueller, PhD, is the President & CEO Emeritus of The National WWII Museum in New Orleans. Dr. Mueller assisted historian Stephen Ambrose in founding the institution, initially known as The National D-Day Museum, and led the organization as Chairman of the Board during its fundraising and construction, through its grand opening on June 6, 2000. He then served as President & CEO of the Museum from 2000 until he stepped down in 2017 to take on his current emeritus role. Before launching into a second career in the museum world, Dr. Mueller enjoyed a 33-year career as Professor of European History at the University of New Orleans. During his tenure there he also served as Dean, Vice Chancellor, and founding President of the Research and Technology Park. He created UNO’s Metropolitan College, Business-Higher Education Council, and the university’s International Study Programs. Dr. Mueller’s book, “Everything We Have” D-Day 6.6.44, was released in March 2019.

Chair:

Wojciech Kozłowski, PhD, is the director of the Pilecki Institute, a research institution based in Warsaw, and the chief editor of its scholarly journal "Totalitarian and 20th Century Studies". He holds Ph.D. in medieval studies from Central European University and M.A. in history from the University of Warsaw. He was a fellow at the New Europe College and a visiting scholar at the Department of History at Harvard.