Phenomenon Bratislava
Scientific Conference
The Nation´s Memory Institute in cooperation with association Nation´s Memory, Bratislava city and European Network Remembrance and Solidarity organizes a conference Phenomenon Bratislava that will take place in Mirror Hall of the Primate’s Palace on 21st – 22nd September 2010. The history of Slovak capital in the 20th century is full of dramatic changes and “historical turbulences”. Inhabitants of Bratislava and their predecessors were citizens of several states and their lives were affected by different political regimes – from Austro-Hungarian monarchy (until 1918), through Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938), Czecho-Slovak Republic (1938-1939), Slovak Republic (1939 1945), back to Czechoslovak Republic (1945-1960), Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1960-1990) and Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (1990-1992) until the independent Slovak Republic was established in 1993. The history of several city suburbs was even more difficult – they were parts of the German Reich (Devín and Petržalka from 1938 until 1945) or Hungary (Jarovce, Čunovo and Rusovce from 1918 until 1945). Anyway, it was a typical Central European multicultural and multiethnic town that the 20th century affected very intensively and which at last succeeded to end up as a modern European capital.
The goal of the conference therefore is to describe events that influenced the spirit of the city during the last century. Multiethnicity and uniqueness of the town that was home for Slovaks, Germans, Hungarians, and Jews gives good opportunity to research not only historical events and historical coherence, but also the development of social and demographic structures as well as religious and cultural heterogeneousness that gave it a very specific spirit. The history of Bratislava provides enough resources regarding repressive actions of totalitarian regimes against various groups of inhabitants. These interesting phenomena include also changes in social structure of the city – varying from deportation of Jews or action of communist regime aimed to moving out of “awkward class” (as actions “T-43” and “B”), but also resulting from quick residence constructions of cheap flat-blocked suburbs. Goals of our conference include also clarifying the impact of events on collective identities of individual groups of citizens, the level of identification of inhabitants with the town as well as other socio-historical phenomena. However, we would like to deal also with the impact of the Second World War on Bratislava, with gender studies and at last with the history of everydayness. The conference should thus be an interdisciplinary event – we plan to invite not only historians, experts on political sciences, sociologists and ethnologists, but also researchers on the history of architecture and urbanism that should describe the reasons and extant of destruction of historical centre of Bratislava. Our objective is not only to describe political, sociological, ethnological, demographical or other changes in Bratislava, however, our ambitions go even further – we would like to deal with Bratislava as the intellectual and arts centre of Slovakia in context of the Central European region.
______Ústav pamäti národa Námestie slobody 6 817 83 Bratislava 15 Slovakia
Contact person: Matej Medvecký 00421 2 593 00 337 [email protected] European Network Remembrance and Solidarity Phenomenon Bratislava
Conference panels:
1. Turning points in the political history of Bratislava (1900 – 1993) 2. Ethnic changes and cultural impact 3. Public versus private sphere? Urban development and destruction 4. Creating a new “society”: modernization, ideology and force (totalitarian Regimes) 5. Constructing national identity: art and architecture 6. Social and Everyday life in the city under different regimes
The conference languages will be Slovak and English.
In case of interest please fill in the online application on our web page www.upn.gov.sk or send your application together with a short abstract (max. 1 page) until June 30th, 2010 to e-mail address: [email protected], or by post to:
Ústav pamäti národa Námestie slobody 6 817 83 Bratislava 15 Slovakia
______Ústav pamäti národa Námestie slobody 6 817 83 Bratislava 15 Slovakia
Contact person: Matej Medvecký 00421 2 593 00 337 [email protected] European Network Remembrance and Solidarity