Event Type: Local / Community

Takes Place: 26th June 2025

Time: 18:00 CEST

Venue: Dom w Alejach, Warsaw, Poland

Description: o you get tired of looking at war? Walking down the street you see: a monument commemorating fighting soldiers, a plaque commemorating murdered civilians, a billboard with a propaganda slogan. A newspaper with a photograph from the front lies on the street, someone has sent you a new meme with Putin, you are watching a recording from the trenches. Culture reacts to catastrophe in different ways: sometimes it can distort it, sometimes it helps us understand it. The 80th anniversary of the end of World War II is a moment to reflect on what images of war we see every day and whether they talk about the past - and the present - in a responsible, accurate and important way. We invite you to join the conversation with Keith Lowe, historian and author of Prisoners of History, which explores the monuments that shape our memory of World War II, and Tomasz Szerszeń, essayist and author of Being a Guest in a Catastrophe, a reflection on the visual language of war in Ukraine. The meeting will take place at Dom w Alejach in Warsaw, 26 June 2025, at 6:00 p.m. The meeting will be held in English with simultaneous Polish translation and broadcast online on the ENRS Facebook account. Keith Lowe, British historian and author of 'Prisoners of History: What Monuments to World War II Tell Us About Our History and Ourselves'. In his book, he examines 25 monuments from 16 countries that tell the story of war through the prism of heroes, victims, monsters, apocalypse and rebirth. He shows how monuments become political actors of memory – and how they can block our ability to think critically about the past. Tomasz Szerszeń, Polish essayist, anthropologist, author of the book 'Being a Guest in a Catastrophe'. His starting point is the question: what do we really see when we look at war? In his publication, he tries to tell the story of war through art and visuality, maneuvering between research distance and affective engagement. Małgorzata Pakier, is the host of the discussion and the head of the Academic Department at the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity. She is the co-creator of the Genealogies of Memory project and the creator of the To Understand Memory series and an alumna of Polish School of Reportage.

Price: free

Email: office@enrs.eu

Website: https://enrs.eu/edition/zrozumiec-pamiec-czerwiec

Organiser: European Network Remembrance and Solidarity