[spectre] CFP: (P)Ostkolonialismus - Postcolonial perspectives on Poland, Ukraine and Eastern Europe (Berlin, 24-25 Oct 24)

[Andreas Broeckmann LEU]

From: Lukas Wieczorek
Date: Jun 14, 2024
Subject: CFP: (P)Ostkolonialismus (Berlin, 24-25 Oct 24)

Berlin, Oct 24–25, 2024
Deadline: Jul 14, 2024

(P)Ostkolonialismus – Postcolonial perspectives on Poland, Ukraine and 
Eastern Europe.

In the 19th century, Poland, the so called “Wild East”, already formed 
part of Germany's colonial aspirations (Kopp 2012). Both Prussia and the 
German Empire, as well as the Nazi state, repeatedly attempted to 
fulfill their colonial settlement ambitions in Eastern Europe. This 
materialized in Bismarck's Germanization policy, the occupied territory 
“Ober Ost” during the First World War, and Nazi Germany's “Generalplan 
Ost”. The German mass crimes in the region during the Second World War 
were based on these continuities of anti-Slavic policies and 
convictions. Colonial and racist patterns of thought and behavior 
towards Eastern Europe continue to have an impact in many respects in 
the present day.

As early as the late 1990s, scholars such as Larry Wolff and Maria 
Todorova showed, in reference to Edward Said's Orientalism, how Eastern 
Europe was constructed in Western imagination as “different”, as “Europe 
but not Europe”. Colonial traditions of thought are also reflected in 
Erinnerungskultur (culture of remembrance) and historical debates. The 
gaps and absences in German collective memory of the National Socialist 
war of extermination in Eastern Europe have come to light, not only in 
the wake of 24 February 2022 and corresponding discourse on the Russian 
war of aggression in Ukraine. The Auschwitz concentration and 
extermination camp slowly but gradually found its way into German 
historical consciousness as a symbol of the industrial mass murder of 
European Jews. However, little attention is paid to the “Holocaust by 
Bullets” carried out in the territories of Ukraine and Belarus occupied 
by the Wehrmacht, or the extermination of Polish Jewry in the “Aktion 
Reinhardt” death camps. Other (Eastern) European victim groups, for 
example the Poles murdered as part of the “Intelligenzaktion”, the 
forced laborers deported from the Soviet Union or Sinti and Roma, hardly 
play roles in the German Erinnerungskultur (Davies 2023).

The aim of the two-day event (P)Ostkolonialismus - Postcolonial 
Perspectives on Poland, Ukraine and Eastern Europe, organized by the 
Pilecki Institute Berlin, is to examine and question the continuities of 
colonial traditions of thought in Germany regarding Poland, Ukraine and 
other Eastern European countries, their impact on the German history of 
violence and their influence on contemporary Erinnerungskulturen. In 
this context, the event aims at discussing the potentials and challenges 
of postcolonial and decolonial approaches with regard to addressing 
knowledge gaps and absences in memory. In lectures, panel discussions 
and interactive workshops, scholars and educators are invited to enter 
into conversation with each other.

We invite scholars and practitioners in historical-political and/or 
cultural education to submit proposals along the following questions:

- To what extent can postcolonial theoretical approaches contribute to 
new perspectives and a better understanding of the history of Germany's 
relations with Poland, Ukraine and Eastern Europe? What opportunities 
and challenges emerge from it?
- Which colonial paradigms can be found, for example, in historical 
narratives and Erinnerungskulturen, as well as in artistic approaches 
such as literature, film, etc.? And how can these be overcome?
- How can the discourse on this topic, which is usually limited to the 
academic context, be integrated into practice in the education and 
museum sector and, as such, be made accessible to a wider public? What 
challenges does this bring about?
- To what extent can postcolonial perspectives address the prevailing 
knowledge gaps and absences in German Erinnerungskultur when it comes to 
the entangled history with the region? - Which concepts and methods can 
be used in research and educational work to dismantle colonial ways of 
thinking about Eastern Europe? What possibilities arise from artistic 
approaches? - To what extent can decolonial approaches in memory and 
educational work contribute to encounters on equal terms?

Proposals for lectures (max. 20 min.), panel discussions (60-90 min.) 
and workshops (approx. 90-120 min.) may include 
theoretical-methodological reflections, innovative research approaches 
in history and cultural studies, as well as promising concepts for 
educational and outreach work, exhibition practice in museums or 
artistic approaches. The conference languages are German and English. 
The Pilecki Institute Berlin covers travel and accommodation costs for 
speakers. Participation is free of charge.

Please send your proposals in the form of an abstract in German or 
English (max. 300 words) together with a short bio (max. 200 words) with 
the subject "(P)Ostkolonialismus" to events at pileckiinstitut.de by July 
14, 2024.

contact for questions:     Lukas Wieczorek             e-mail: 
l.wieczorek at pileckiinstitut.de         phone: +49 151 646 734 67

Dr. Elisabeth Katzy
e-mail: e.katzy at pileckiinstitut.de phone: +49 157 805 822 30


Reference / Quellennachweis:
CFP: (P)Ostkolonialismus (Berlin, 24-25 Oct 24). In: ArtHist.net, Jun 
14, 2024. <https://arthist.net/archive/42124>.