Lectures and events on Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine
Event Marking the third Commemoration of Russia's War of Aggression against Ukraine
Against the backdrop of global and domestic political upheavals – from the end of the traffic light coalition and new elections in Germany to the armed conflicts in the Middle East and Donald Trump's re-election – the war-related situation in Ukraine is increasingly fading from view. The third commemoration of Russia's large-scale invasion prompted the Chair of Eastern European History at Heidelberg University's Department of History and the Ost-West-Club Heidelberg (Initiative for Cooperation with Eastern Europe) to draw attention back to the country.
On Friday, 21 February 2025, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., various actors involved in civil society engagement inside and outside Ukraine discussed developments since February 2022 in an online discussion. What initiatives have been formed? What role do they play in defending the country? How have engagement, support and the emotional situation changed in the third year of the war?
Participants included Tim Bohse, civil peace service specialist (Kyiv), Serafyma Brig, project manager and curator at Vitsche (Berlin), and Benjamin Boschmann, responsible for aid deliveries from the Mennonite community in Frankenthal to the Ternopil Oblast.
IX. Annual Conference of the German-Ukrainian Historical Commission (DUHK) in Heidelberg
On 23 and 24 September 2024, the 9th Annual Conference of the German-Ukrainian Historical Commission took place at the International Academic Forum Heidelberg under the title ‘From Soviet to Independent Ukraine: A Time of Change’. Organised by Dr Tanja Penter, PD Dr Franziska Schedewie, Prof. Dr Guido Hausmann (University of Regensburg) and Prof. Dr Gelinada Grinchenko (University of Wuppertal/University of Kharkiv), this year's conference focused on the political, social and economic transformation period of the late 1980s and 1990s, on the nationally and internationally intertwined period of upheaval from the collapse of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic to the birth of independent Ukraine and the emergence of a civil society. One of the main aims of the conference was to discuss the relevance of the experiences and expectations from this period for the current situation in Ukraine.
Monday, 21 October 2024 Lecture series on ‘Ukrainian Resistance and the Future of Europe’
On Monday, 21 October 2024, at 6 p.m., the President of Ukrainian PEN, Dr Volodymyr Yermolenko, was a guest speaker as part of a series of lectures on ‘Ukrainian Resistance and the Future of Europe’.
7 November 2024: Lecture on the Malyj Trostenez Extermination Site
On 7 November 2024, at 6 p.m., a lecture was also held on the ‘Malyj Trostenez extermination site’ in the context of history and remembrance in Belarus.
Film screening: ‘20 Days in Mariupol’
Tuesday, 23 April 2024, Lecture Hall 14, New University
The documentary film ‘20 Days in Mariupol’ by Pulitzer Prize winner Mstyslav Chernov is based on the reporter's daily news reports and his own footage from the war zone, providing harrowing insights into the suffering of the besieged civilians. The film has won several awards, most recently the 2024 Oscar in the ‘Best Documentary’ category.
What are the historical causes of Russian aggression in Donbass in eastern Ukraine? What significance does the city of Mariupol have for Ukraine? These and other questions were discussed after the screening by Prof. Dr Tanja Penter, Professor of Eastern European History at Heidelberg University, Prof. Dr Dmytro Tytarenko, Professor of Political Science and Ukrainian History, and Dr Tetiana Pastushenko from the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, moderated by Dr Bettina Kaibach (Slavic Institute, Heidelberg University).
Organised by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom and funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), this event helped to raise awareness of the goals of the 2030 Agenda adopted by the United Nations in 2015, particularly in the areas of human rights and the rule of law. It was held in cooperation between the Baden-Württemberg regional office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, the Liberal University Group Heidelberg, the German-Ukrainian Society Rhine-Neckar e. V., the Baden-Württemberg regional association of the German Society for the United Nations e. V. and the association Freundschaft kennt keine Grenzen (Friendship Knows No Borders).
Recording: Roundtable discussion on ‘Ukrainian-Russian Enmity and Entanglement’
On 22 February 2024 at 6 p.m., the ‘Ambivalent Enmity’ graduate college based at Heidelberg University and the Heidelberg College for Jewish Studies, together with the Ost-West-Club e.V. Heidelberg invited Ukrainian lawyer, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk (Centre for Civil Liberties, Kyiv) and Ukrainian sociologist Prof. Dr. Viktoriya Sereda (VUIAS) to a roundtable discussion.
The event provided insights into the relationship between Ukrainian society and its Russian neighbour. In particular, aspects of the changing perception of Russia and ‘Russianness’ within Ukraine were discussed in light of the war, which has been ongoing not only since 2022 but since 2014, and the daily human rights violations.
Lecture: Crime and Punishment in Russian Literature
On Thursday, 14 December 2023, Russian writer Mikhail Shishkin gave a lecture on the future of Russian culture entitled ‘Crime and Punishment in Russian Literature’
The event took place at 6 p.m. in the lecture hall of the History Department and was a joint event organised by the Chair of Eastern European History (Prof. Dr. Tanja Penter) and the Slavic Institute (Dr. Bettina Kaibach) in cooperation with the German Association for Eastern European Studies (DGO).
365 days of war Ukrainian perspectives on the anniversary of the Russian attack
24 February 2023, 4:00–6:00 p.m., ZOOM
On 25 February 2022, Dr Tetiana Pastushenko, Lidiia Bocharova, Rostislav Sosnovyy and others gave impressive accounts of their experiences, thoughts and feelings shortly after the outbreak of the war. 365 days later, they take stock and report on how they have fared over the past year, how they assess the current situation, and what their expectations are for their personal future and that of their homeland.
The discussion is organised by the departments of Eastern European History at the Universities of Heidelberg and Tübingen and the Ost-West-Club e.V. Heidelberg.
Culture and war: destruction and rescue of Ukrainian archives and museums after the Russian attack
31 January 2023, 6:00–8:00 p.m., Heidelberg University, Lecture Hall of the History Department, Grabengasse 3–5 (entrance on Seminarstraße)
The war against Ukraine is increasingly destroying cultural assets in Ukraine. This includes archives and museums with their relevant collections of national and international historical memory. Halyna Roshchyna reports on the destruction of archives and museums in Ukraine and on the efforts of an international network to rescue archive documents and museum collections. The case study of the archive in Chernihiv, described by Olena Lysenko, illustrates the cultural damage and consequential damage caused by the war.
The lecture is part of the event series ‘The Russian War against Ukraine. History – Politics – Remembrance,’ which is organised by the Sandbostel Memorial, the German War Graves Commission, the Max Weber Foundation and other cooperation partners. The series brings together representatives from various disciplines in varying formats to shed light on essential aspects of warfare, reporting and public discourse from a current and historical perspective. These include international humanitarian law, iconography and rhetoric of war, questions of culture and environment, the dynamics of European cultures of remembrance and problems of historical analogies.
Halyna Roshchnya, MA, research assistant at the Chair of Eastern European and East Central European History at Helmut Schmidt University of the German Armed Forces in Hamburg. Her research focuses on the history of violence and conflict, and the history of Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. She is co-coordinator of the international network for the rescue of Ukrainian archival materials.
Dr Olena Lysenko is a visiting scholar at Heidelberg University. Her research project on the ‘phenomenon of burned villages in Ukraine under Nazi occupation’ is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.
Moderator: PD Dr Andreas Hilger, historian, Deputy Director of the Max Weber Foundation. His work focuses on German-Soviet relations and the international relations of the USSR/Russia in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Welcome: Prof. Dr Tanja Penter, historian, Professor of Eastern European History, Heidelberg University
Photo: Manor house in Trostjanez, Ukraine, after the Russian invasion. This part of the building houses the local history museum of Trostjanez. © Mkip.gov.ua
Event: ‘Disinformation, social media and the role of experts’
On 15 December 2022, Lilia Sabina, PhD candidate (CEU Vienna), Prof. Dr. Martin Aust (Bonn), Prof. Dr. Klaus Gestwa (Tübingen) and Prof. Dr. Tanja Penter (Heidelberg) analysed the strategies and consequences of the Kremlin's disinformation strategies with regard to the German public. They discussed the role and responsibility of experts in the current public discourse on Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and how (supposed) experts are being deliberately exploited by Russian state propaganda. The event was held in English and German.
'Conflicts, Solidarity & Propaganda: Post-Soviet Migration and the Russian War in Ukraine'
On 12 December 2022, at 6 p.m. sharp, we are pleased to welcome Prof. Dr. Jannis Panagiotidis (Osnabrück) for a lecture. He will speak on ‘Conflict, Solidarity & Propaganda: Post-Soviet Migration and the Russian War in Ukraine’. The event will take place via ZOOM.
'War in Ukraine: Controversial historical narratives and conflicts of memory'
On 3 November 2022, at 8 p.m., Prof. Dr. Tanja Penter will speak at the municipal library on ‘War in Ukraine: Controversial Historical Narratives and Conflicts of Memory.’ Registration is required by 30 October via link. The event is linked to a fundraising campaign.
'Olga's Diary (1941-1944): Germany's War of Annihilation and a Double Experience of Dictatorship'
On 3 November 2022, at 10 a.m., Prof. Dr. Tanja Penter will give a presentation on Tanja Penter at the Ukrainian-German Writers' Meeting in Weimar during the war on ‘Olga's Diary (1941-1944): German War of Annihilation and Double Dictatorship Experience’.
‘War in Ukraine: Intertwined experiences in 2022 and 1941–1944’
On 5 October 2022, Prof. Dr. Tanja Penter spoke about ‘War in Ukraine: Intertwined Experiences 2022 and 1941-1944’ as part of the series of events accompanying the exhibition ‘The Art of Society 1900-1945. Collection of the National Gallery’.
'The war in Ukraine, historical narratives and conflicts of memory'
On 27 July 2022, Prof. Dr. Tanja Penter spoke on the topic of ‘The War in Ukraine, Historical Narratives and Conflicts of Memory’ during the memorial tour of State Parliament President Muhterem Aras.
‘The war tore my family apart!’
On 7 July 2022, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., the Chair of Eastern European History, the Slavic Institute, the Institute for Psychosocial Prevention, and the Research Centre for the History and Culture of Germans in Russia are offering a protected discussion forum for students whose family relationships have been severely affected by differing attitudes towards Russia's war in Ukraine.
Remembrance in times of crisis. On the 81st anniversary of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941
On 22 June 2022, a panel discussion on the topic of remembrance in times of crisis took place, moderated by Prof. Dr. Tanja Penter and organised by the Federal Agency for Civic Education. It marked the 81st commemoration of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
Remembering saves lives. Projects of the Foundation ‘Remembrance, Responsibility and Future’
On 30 May 2022, at 4 p.m. sharp, Dr Tetiana Pastuschenko will give a lecture as part of the lecture series ‘Endowments, Donations, Collections – a Universal Cultural and Social Practice’ on remembering as a means of saving lives. Projects of the Foundation ‘Remembrance, Responsibility and Future’ in Ukraine before and during the war. The lecture will take place in Lecture Hall 07 of the New University.
‘War in Ukraine and historical research: what next?’
On 17 May 2002, at 6 p.m. sharp, Dr Tetiana Perga, Dr Oksana Tytarenko, Dr Olena Lyssenko from Heidelberg, and Dr Vadym Zolotaryov and Dr Maria Parkhomenko from Erlangen will join us to discuss the war in Ukraine and historical research: what next? The event will be held in Russian via Webex.
‘Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine and the crisis in Eastern European history’“
On 16 May 2022, Prof. Dr. Tanja Penter will speak at the Ruperto Carola lecture series Krisenfest? (Crisis-proof?) on Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine and the crisis in Eastern European history.
Russia's war in Ukraine and history as a ‘weapon’
On 28 April 2022, at 6 p.m. sharp, Prof Dr. Tanja Penter will speak in Lecture Hall I of the New University about Russia's war in Ukraine and history as a ‘weapon’. The lecture will be complemented by a commentary by Prof. Dr. Manfred Berg and a fundraising campaign for students and academics at Heidelberg University affected by the war.
„Babyn Yar: The Final Journey of Kyiv's Jews and the Impact of the War in Ukraine“
On 26 April 2022, at 6 p.m. sharp, Dr Martin C. Dean will be our guest at our colloquium, speaking on Remembering Babyn Yar: The Final Journey of Kyiv's Jews and the Impact of the War in Ukraine. The lecture will take place via ZOOM.
Webseminar „The Russian Invasion of Ukraine: An Interdisciplinary Discussion on Occupation“
Prof Dr. Tanja Penter will participate in the webinar The Russian Invasion of Ukraine: An Interdisciplinary Discussion on Occupation, which will take place on 24 March 2022 from 5:15 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. on Zoom. Further information, including registration details, can be found on the Maastricht University website.
Russia's War in Ukraine as an Environmental, Human Rights, and Cultural Disaster
Panel discussion in English
Friday, 25 March 2022, 5 p.m. sharp, Zoom
In addition to the humanitarian catastrophe triggered by Putin's war of aggression in Ukraine, the international community is disturbed by reports of fighting in the immediate vicinity of Ukrainian nuclear power plants, fires and power outages at nuclear power plants, as well as numerous human rights violations and, to a lesser extent, the destruction of cultural property. In this panel discussion, we will talk with two colleagues about the ecological, human rights and cultural dimensions of the war.
War in Europe: Russia's attack on Ukraine. Current assessments and historical background
With contributions from Prof. Dr. Tanja Penter, Prof. Dr. Klaus Gestwa and several Ukrainian voices
Discussion panel on 25 February 2022, 6 p.m.
In a spontaneous response to the Russian attack on Ukraine, the departments of Eastern European History and Slavic Studies at the Universities of Tübingen and Heidelberg organised a Zoom discussion with historians and voices from Ukraine on 25 February. At the beginning, Professor Klaus Gestwa, Tübingen, and Professor Tanja Penter, Heidelberg, placed the shocking events in an international and contemporary historical context. Four Ukrainians – two academics, a translator and an IT specialist – then took the floor. Their accounts of the sudden, brutal outbreak of war in their everyday lives, the exodus from the cities, their precautions against attacks, their fears, but also their confidence in Ukrainian resilience visibly shook the participants of the event. The subsequent comments from the plenary expressed shock, but also bewilderment at the Russian aggression and what was perceived as an inadequate European response. However, emphasis was also placed on the ‘other’ Russia: courageous statements by journalists, scientists and private individuals against the war and thus against Putin, despite the threat of repression. The positive response, which exceeded our Zoom capacity, underscored the importance of such events and the overwhelming solidarity with Ukraine. If you are looking for specific ways to support the people of Ukraine, we have provided helpful links on our website.