Details
Reflecting on the end of WWII in the context of complex global transformations provides the starting point for this series of international conferences, which will take place in three different capital cities that are symbolic places of the end of the Second World War and offer complementary perspectives today, three generations later:
- Berlin, Akademie der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung : April 29th-30th 2025
- Paris, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne : June 16th-18th 2025
- New York, Columbia University : October 6th-8th 2025
This series of conferences is jointly organized by Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne University, Europa Universität Viadrina (Frankfurt / Oder), the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, and Columbia University. The events will take place in Berlin, Paris, and New York throughout 2025. The series will examine the end of the war from a comparative historical perspective, whilst defining a specific thematic outlook for each of the three cities. The Berlin conference will focus on the situation in Germany and Eastern Europe. The Paris conference will reflect on colonial spaces, including the end of conflicts in North Africa and Asia. The New York conference will adopt a comprehensive approach and will explore the institutional foundations of the post-war world order.
Adresses :
- Campus Condorcet, Auditorium 105, Place du Front Populaire, 93322 Aubervilliers cedex
- UNESCO, 7 Place Fontenoy, 75007 Paris
- Sorbonne Université, Amphithéâtre Richelieu, 17 rue de la Sorbonne, 75005 Paris
Please note that registration is only required for the UNESCO part. Please register with your name and function at the following address:
- conferenceseries4525@gmail.com
Programm
16 June 2025 - 1st day
PANEL 1 - LOCAL PERSPECTIVES: PARIS-DAKAR-HANOI 10:00-12:00 / CAMPUS CONDORCET, AUBERVILLIERS
• Guillaume Blanc (Université Rennes 2, France) “When Liberation comes, fight goes on. Seeing 1945 with an Afro-Asian perspective”
• Danelle van Zyl-Hermann (University of Basel, Switzerland) “African Resources in the Reconstruction of Europe after the Second World War”
• Karoline Postel-Vinay (Sciences Po) “Post-1945 East Asia: a longue durée perspective”
Moderation: Claudia Weber (Europa-Universität Viadrina, Germany)
Commentary: Elgas (Radio France Internationale)
PANEL 2 - VICTORS AND VANQUISHED IN THE HOMELAND AND EMPIRES 13:30-15:30 / CAMPUS CONDORCET, AUBERVILLIERS
• Danielle Beaujon (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA) “Demobilizing Violence: Conflicts between Tirailleurs sénégalais and North Africans, 1945”
• Clara M. Oberle (University of San Diego) “From War to Postwar: The Housing Crisis in Berlin, 1945-1948 and Allied Politics of Order. Between Restorative Justice, Denazification, and a Global Refugee Crisis”
• Sayaka Chatani (National University of Singapore) “Postimperial Japan in the Making: Perspectives of Resident Koreans in Postwar Japan”
Moderation: Emmanuel Kattan (Columbia University, USA)
Commentary: Elara Bertho (CNRS / Les Afriques dans le monde, France)
PANEL 3 - ASSESSING CONTEMPORARY POWER DYNAMICS IN THE RETURN AND RESTITUTIONS OF CULTURAL PROPERTY: ASPIRATIONS AND CHALLENGES 16:30-18:30 / UNESCO
• Anne Rothfeld (Independent Scholar, USA) “Eve Tucker versus Restitution Policy in U.S.-Occupied Austria”
• Angelo Dan (Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Delegate of Bénin to UNESCO) “Lessons learned from the Franco-Beninese cultural property restitution process”
• Aurore Chaigneau (Paris Nanterre University) “The new phase in restitution policies following the spoliations of the Second World War in France”
Introductory remarks: Sunna Altnoder (Head of Movable Heritage and Museums Unit at UNESCO)
Commentary: Annette Becker (Paris Nanterre University)
PUBLIC LECTURE 19:30-20:30 / UNESCO
• Eric Jennings (University of Toronto, Canada) “European Overseas Empires in the Second World War: Schisms, Contributions and Legacies”
17 June 2025 - 2nd day
PANEL 4 - DEMOBILIZATIONS, RETURNING FROM WAR, BACK TO NORMALITY? 9:30-11:30 / CAMPUS CONDORCET, AUBERVILLIERS
• Magdalena Janke (Max-Planck-Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, Germany) “Resistance fighters or common criminals? Conscientious Objectors and Soldiers in Penal Military Units in West-German Jurisprudence after 1945”
• Atina Grossmann (The Cooper Union, USA) “Constructing (Ab)Normality After Catastrophe: Jewish Survivors in Postwar Occupied Germany”
• Giovanni Cerro (Fondazione Collegio San Carlo, Modena, Italy) & Giulia Dodi (University of Bologna, Italy) “Between Memory and Oblivion: The Failed Italian Decolonization”
Moderation: Janine Fubel (Fernuniversität Hagen, Germany)
Commentary: Audrey Kichelewski (Université de Strasbourg)
PANEL 5 - REVENGE, JUSTICE, LAW: A QUESTION OF VIOLENCE ? 12:00 - 14:00 / CAMPUS CONDORCET, AUBERVILLIERS
• Lori Watt (Washington University in St. Louis) “From Empire to Internationalism: Repatriation, Sovereignty, and the Postwar Japanese State”
• Julia Roos (Indiana University, USA) “Denazification and Europe’s Colonial Pasts: Investigating Crimes Against Biracial Germans”
• Mary Fulbrook (University College London, UK) “The Long Aftermath and Controversial Memorialisation of the Holocaust in European Perspective”
Moderation: Carol Gluck (Columbia University)
Commentary: Vanessa Voisin (Università di Bologna)
PANEL 6 - FACING (IN)JUSTICE IN POSTWAR PERIODS: 15:30-17:30 VICTIMS AND PERPETRATORS - 15:30-17:30 / CAMPUS CONDORCET, AUBERVILLIERS
• Roman Syrota (Ivan Franko National University, Ukraine) “Managing ‘Undefined’ Displaced Populations in Post-War British Policy, 1945–48” • Nadège Ragaru (Sciences Po Paris, France) “Who set the Bulgarian Jewish Concentration Camp on Fire? The Failings of end-of-war Justice in Bulgaria”
• Robert Kramm (LMU Munich, Germany) “A Shared History of Race and Sex in Occupied Germany and Japan after WWII”
Moderation: Fabien Archambault (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France)
Commentary: Annette Weinke (Jena Universität)
18 June 2025 - 3rd day
PANEL 7 - D80 YEARS: PATHWAYS TO A NEW MEMORY CULTURE 9:30-11:30 / AMPHITHEATRE RICHELIEU, SORBONNE UNIVERSITE
• Denis Shedov, Memorial (Russia)
• Maciej Gugała, German Historical Museum, Berlin (Germany)
• N’Goné Fall, curator and expert in cultural project development (Senegal)
• Christine Lévy, Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace (Japan)
• Aurélien Gnat, internment and deportation memorial of Royallieu, Compiègne (France)
Moderation: Fabien Théofilakis (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France)
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