October 2, 2015

Conference to examine legacy of World War II for Eastern Europe

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EDMONTON, Alberta – Preparations for a major international conference at the University of Alberta this fall are proceeding well, report its organizers, the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies and the Center for U.S.-Ukrainian Relations at Columbia University. “Contested Ground: The Legacy of the Second World War for Eastern Europe” will be held at the Lister Hall conference center at the University of Alberta on October 23-24.

A number of scholars and experts from around the world are coming to Edmonton to give presentations on the short- and long-term effects of the second world war in countries that were taken by the Red Army and afterwards became republics, satellites, or uneasy neighbors of the Soviet Union.

The war cast a particularly long shadow over East European states that had been major battlegrounds in the conflict, which killed tens of millions, mostly civilians. After being contested militarily in the struggle to defeat Nazi Germany, territories occupied by Soviet forces became ideological fronts during the Cold War, which pitted capitalist Western democracies against Communist dictatorships with state-run economies in a strenuous competition for global influence. In Eastern Europe, official histories of the war and public commemorations of it were scripted largely in deference to the Kremlin so as to reinforce its claims to hegemony over lands effectively ceded to Moscow’s control by the Yalta and Potsdam agreements.

The conference will examine the post-war evolution of various East European societies, whose development was very different from that of the liberated states of Western Europe. Long after hostilities ceased and reconstruction had largely been completed, Eastern Europe retained its contested character as a result of the redrawing of borders, geopolitical realignments, and East-West political, military, economic, and cultural rivalries.

“The impact of the war varied from country to country, which is why the conference will feature speakers from Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Poland, as well as Finland and the Baltic republics,” explained the director of CIUS, Dr. Volodymyr Kravchenko. “The objective is to examine post-war developments in Eastern Europe in a way that encourages comparative analysis, focusing on the shared as well as distinct experiences of the states affected by the war. Of course, the post-war architecture of the region was dramatically altered by the collapse of the Soviet Union, although Russia is currently attempting to resurrect the divisions that determined East-West relations during the Cold War.”

Members of the public are welcome to attend the academic sessions, as well as the keynote banquet address by James Sherr of Britain’s Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House). As seating capacity at the conference and dinner is limited, those wishing to attend are encouraged to register and purchase banquet tickets well in advance of the two-day gathering, which will inaugurate commemorations of the 40th anniversary of CIUS.

For more information on the conference, including the program, readers may visit http://ukrainian-studies.ca/2015/08/17/contested-ground-the-legacy-of-the-second-world-war-for-eastern-europe/.
Details concerning registration and the banquet will be posted shortly on the same site.

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