The 10th European Remembrance Symposium entitled "Reconciliation: a Long and Winding Path" takes place at Trinity College, the Burke Theatre in Dublin, between 1 and 3 June 2022.
The aim of this year’s edition of the Symposium is to discuss the meaning and role of reconciliation in the context of both historical and contemporary European internal and international conflicts.
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Venue: Trinity College, the Burke Theatre
Language: English
Valerie Bistany, originally from Lebanon, is a professional arts manager and curator with over 25 years of experience in Ireland, England and the USA. She has been the director of the Irish Writers Centre since 2013, supporting writers at all stages of their career, and acts in a voluntary capacity on the board of Dublin Book Festival and governing body of the Technological University Dublin. A certified mediator, Valerie began mediating as part of a political dialogue facilitation team working with Northern and Southern Irish politicians at Glencree Centre for Peace & Reconciliation.
Donald Bloxham is a professor of history at the University of Edinburgh. He has written widely on genocide and its punishment. In 2007–8 he was J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Senior Scholar in Residence at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Among his publications are Genocide on Trial: War Crimes Trials and the Formation of Holocaust History and Memory (Oxford, 2001); The Great Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism and the Destruction of the Ottoman Armenians (Oxford, 2005); and The Final Solution: a Genocide (Oxford, 2009). He is currently completing a book on extreme political violence worldwide since 1945.
Tiberiu Alexandru Ciorba has been a museographer at the Țării Crișurilor Museum, Oradea, Romania since 2015. He studied at Babeș-Bolyai University. Specialising in 18th and 19th-century European history, in 2016 he received an MA with a dissertation on the life of the first Greek-Catholic bishop of Oradea, Moise Dragoși (1777–87). Since 2016 he has been working on a doctoral thesis on the creation of the Greek-Catholic Bishopric of Oradea and its evolution in the 18th century.
Almudena Cruz Yábar is a state curator responsible for cultural affairs related to democratic memory at the Ministry of Presidency, Relations with the Parliament and Democratic Memory of Spain. She is a member of various advisory cultural groups, including the EU and Cultural Heritage and Integrated Approaches to Europe's Dissonant Heritage. Cruz Yábar used to work at the Contemporary Art Museum Reina Sofía and later in the Prado Museum's law department, both in Madrid. She has a law degree and an MA and doctorate in Art History. She is an associate professor in Art History at Complutense University, Madrid.
Piotr Cywiński, a medieval historian, has been the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum since 2006. He is an active participant in the Polish-Jewish and Christian-Jewish dialogue. Dr Cywiński is co-founder and chairman of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and the board of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Institute; the chief expert of the Center for Research on Economics of Memorial Sites (at SWPS University, Warsaw); and co-founder and chairman of the Society for Management of the Memorial Sites. He has written widely on medieval history and issues connected with the Shoah and memorials.
Weronika Czyżewska-Poncyljusz is a member of Borderland Foundation team. She coordinates the International Centre for Dialogue in Krasnogruda's programme of innovative art-based educational projects and socially engaged cultural practices. She trains leaders in these community-based activities and promotes good practice. Her research focuses on social engagement through art, education in the area of multiculturalism, and peace-building and reconciliation processes through culture. She is also a research fellow at the European Civilization Chair of the College of Europe in Natolin, Warsaw.
Beata Drzazga is the Head of Strategy and Development Department in the ENRS with over 8 years of work experience in the cultural sector, complemented by academic and professional accreditations. She graduated from University of Warsaw with two master's degrees in Hungarian Philology (2012) & Management (2014) with specialisation in Organisation Development Consulting. She spent two semesters at the Faculty of Humanities of the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest and completed an internship in Balassi Institute Hungarian Cultural Centre in London during the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. She joined the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity in 2013. Since 2019 she has held a role of Deputy Head of Strategy & Development Department.
Joanne Fitzpatrick brings over 15 years of experience to her role in PeacePlayers, specialising in developing curricula and delivering training to sporting governing bodies, NGOs and corporate organisations in Chicago, Hong Kong, Rwanda and Israel. She is a trained facilitator of the Arbinger Institute’s conflict resolution methods, studying under Prof. Chad Ford, author of Dangerous Love. In 2012 Joanne was nominated to carry the Olympic torch for her work with PeacePlayers. She is known for her passion for positive change and making learning fun for those around her.
Robert Gerwarth is professor of Modern History at University College Dublin and director of its Centre for War Studies. He has held research fellowships or visiting professorships at the University of Oxford, Harvard University, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and Sciences Po Paris. In 2021 he was awarded a Leverhulme Visiting Professorship at the University of Oxford. Gerwarth is the general editor of several book series: 'The Greater War' (OUP, 2015); with Jay Winter, 'Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare' (CUP, 2020); and 'Elements' on modern wars (CUP, 2019).
Karoline Gil studied cultural sciences, focusing on East and Southeast Europe and Poland, and has extensive experience in intercultural dialogue and international relations. She is deputy head of the Dialogues department and head of the Integration and Media department at the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, Stuttgart. She publishes regularly in the field of culture and history.
Jacqueline Hayden is assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Trinity College Dublin. Since 1980 she has been recording interviews with dissidents, communist leaders and Polish politicians and citizens. She is currently working on the digitisation of her Polish archive that covers the period 1989–2014. She is the author of two books: Poles Apart: Solidarity and the New Poland (Routledge, 1994) and The Collapse of Communist Power in Poland: Strategic Misperceptions and Unanticipated Outcomes (Routledge, 2004). She was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland in 2013.
Yaroslav Hrytsak is a Ukrainian historian and public intellectual. He is professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv. He has taught at Columbia and Harvard Universities, and at the Central European University. He is the author of numerous books, including his most recent Overcoming the Past: Global History of Ukraine (Kyiv, 2021; English, Italian and Polish translations are underway). Hrytsak holds various Ukrainian and foreign awards for academic achievements and public activity.
Paul Ingendaay is a writer and journalist based in Berlin. He received his PhD in American Literature from the University of Munich and has been on the staff of the Franfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from 1992, first as literary editor, then as its cultural correspondent in Madrid. Ingendaay moved back to Berlin in 2016 to serve as the paper’s European correspondent. His award-winning books include novels, stories and works of nonfiction. In 2020, he was the writer in residence at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri.
Dariusz Karłowicz is a philosopher and programme director for the John Paul II Institute of Culture at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Rome. He is the president of the Saint Nicholas Foundation, an NGO involved in charitable, educational and scientific activity. His books include The Archparadox of Death: Martyrdom as a Philosophical Category (Peter Lang, 2016); Socrates and Other Saints (Cascade Books, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017); Dionysus and Politics: Constructing Authority in The Graeco-Roman World, ed. with Filip Doroszewski (Routledge, 2021).
Juraj Marušiak is a political scientist and historian. Since 1996 he has worked at the Institute of Political Science, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, currently at the position of senior research fellow. His research is focused on the history of 20th-century Slovakia and on comparative politics and international relations in Central and Eastern Europe since 1989. Dr Marušiak is interested in the V4 countries, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. In 2002–3 Marušiak finished the Lane Kirkland Scholarship in Warsaw at Warsaw University, specialising in East European Studies. He is the author of several monographs.
Sinéad McCoole is Historian at Commemorations Unit, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sports and Media working on the women’s strand of the Irish Government Decade of Centenaries Programme 2012-2023. She is Curator of an online resource www.Mna100.ie. A specialist on the role of women in the revolutionary period, she has published extensively on Modern Irish History. She has created exhibitions on Irish history and art both at home and abroad, including the national centenary touring exhibition on the women of 1916 and a 'Pop-Up Women’s Museum – 100 years of Women in Politics and Public Life' in 2018 for Vótáil100. Dr McCoole is a member of the Irish Government Expert Advisory Group on the Decade of Centenaries.
Roisin McGlone is the programme manager in the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation. She manages the ERDF-funded PEACE IV ‘Legacy of Violence’ programme. The programme addresses the legacy and truth-recovery challenges of the conflict in Northern Ireland. Roisin has lived all her life in Belfast and has been involved with conflict transformation there for 25 years. Roisin has also designed and delivered programmes with current and emerging political and civic leaders in Croatia, Macedonia, Guyana, America, South Africa and Liberia.
Monica McWilliams is emeritus professor in the Transitional Justice Institute, Ulster University. She co-founded the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition in 1996, was elected to the multi-party peace negotiations and is a signatory to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. She served on the first Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly until 2003 and subsequently as chief commissioner of the Human Rights Commission. She was appointed as a commissioner to the Independent Reporting Commission for the disbandment of paramilitary organizations in 2017 and currently works with Syrian women involved in the Geneva negotiations. Her publications are on the impact of political conflict on women’s lives and her memoir ‘Stand Up, Speak Out’, is published by Blackstaff Press: https://blackstaffpress.com/stand-up-speak-out-9781780733227.
Teodor Meleșcanu has been a professor at the National School of Political Sciences and Public Administration in Bucharest since 2013. Previously he was a professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Bucharest (1992–2013). He holds a PhD in international law from the University of Geneva (1973). Meleșcanu's career with Romania’s public service includes serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1992–96, 2014 and 2017–19), head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (2012–14), Interim Minister for Justice (2008) and Minister for Defence (2007–8).
Markus Meckel grew up in East Germany (GDR) and studied theology and philosophy. He served as a Protestant pastor in Mecklenburg and chaired an ecumenical education centre. In the 1970s and 1980s he belonged to democratic opposition groups in the GDR, and in 1989, with his friend Martin Gutzeit, he founded the Social Democratic Party. In March 1990, he was elected a member of the East German parliament. As foreign minister of the GDR, he took part in the negotiations for German reunification and was a member of the German Bundestag from 1990 to 2009. Meckel helped found the ENRS. More information can be found on the website: www.markusmeckel.eu.
Sergei Metlev is the chief editor of the Russian desk of Estonia's media group Postimees. He studied at the University of Tartu, and specialised in criminal law. He was head of communications at the Estonian Institute of Historial Memory prior to becoming a board member. Before that, he was an advisor at the Estonian Parliament (2015–17) and a board member and CEO (2014–15) of a nationwide youth association Open Republic (2010–14). Metlev also serves as a council member of the Network of Estonian NGOs, and as a volunteer police officer.
Tamara Pomoriški graduated in Theatre Directing from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in the department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre. She's been working as a theatre director, mainly with young people, for more than ten years. In addition to theatre work, she writes radio plays for Czech Radio. Since 2019, Pomoriški has been the artistic director at the Memory of Nations Theatre, part of the non-profit organization, where she is in charge of dramaturgy and the methodology of its activities.
Valérie Rosoux is a research director at the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research. She teaches International Negotiation and Transitional Justice at the University of Louvain. She has a degree in Philosophy and a PhD in Political Sciences. She is a member of the Belgian Royal Academy. In 2010–11 she was a senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC. In 2020 Rosoux was awarded a Max Planck Law Fellowship (a multi-year project on Memory and Transitional Justice).
Peter Shirlow is the director at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies. He was formerly the deputy director of the Institute for Conflict Transformation and Social Justice, Queen's University Belfast. He is a visiting research professor at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice in Belfast. Professor Shirlow has undertaken conflict transformation work in Northern Ireland and has used that knowledge in exchanges in the former Yugoslavia, Moldova, Bahrain and Iraq. He has also presented talks to members of the US Senate and House of Representatives and is a regular media contributor.
Emir Suljagić has been the director of the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial since 2019. He worked as an English interpreter for the UN in Srebrenica and began his career as a journalist working for the weekly Dani. Suljagić worked as a correspondent for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting analysing the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He has published widely for The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Al Jazeera, El País and Die Zeit among others, and teaches international relations at the International University of Sarejevo. His memoir Postcards from the Grave (2003) is the first account of a Srebrenica survivor to be published in English.
Marek Szajda graduated in history and ethnology from the Interfaculty College of Inter-area Individual Studies and the Centre for the Culture and Languages of the Jews, both at the University of Wrocław. He has also studied in Kraków, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. He is a senior research fellow at the Remembrance and Future Centre in Wrocław and a PhD student at the University of Wrocław. Szajda is interested in Poland's contemporary history, Jewish history and culture, the history of Silesia, regional studies and oral history, and is secretary of the editorial board of the Wrocław Yearbook of Oral History.
Vesna Teršelič is the director of Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past, Zagreb. Documenta is research and advocacy institution which aims to shift disputes over facts towards a dialogue on interpretations. As one of the initiators of RECOM, a regional commission investigating the Yugoslav wars, she has long campaigned to raise awareness of war crimes and human rights' violations committed in the former Yugoslavia. Teršelič continues to champion environmental protection and promote human rights, especially women's, in Croatia, other post-Yugoslav countries and Europe.
Tibor Toró is a sociologist, political scientist and associate professor at the Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania. His main research interests are language policy, ethnopolitics, minority rights and education. He has published papers in journals such as Nationalities Papers and Language Policy and is editor and co-author of Unequal Accommodation of Minority Rights: Hungarians in Transylvania (Palgrave, 2018).
Barbara Walshe is chair of the board of directors of Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, County Wicklow: www.glencree.ie. From her role as a peace observer and envoy in the Israel/Palestine conflict to her ongoing work in the Northern Ireland conflict, Barbara has been a firm advocate for non-violent means of resolving conflict. Her engagements with peacebuilding organisations in Geneva, Normandy, Finland, Norway, and Turkey through Glencree (as the Republic’s only peace centre) has emphasised the importance of consistent and ongoing support for peace in Europe and beyond.
Agata Wąsowska-Pawlik is an art historian, cultural manager and director of the International Cultural Centre in Kraków since 2018. Her interests and research include: cultural policy on a national and municipal level, international cultural cooperation, cultural heritage management and social and self-governmental impact on the development of culture. Wąsowska-Pawlik was national coordinator of the European Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018. She is a member of the boards of Kraków's Ethnographic Museum, Museum of Photography and Museum of Kraków.
Audrey Whitty is Deputy Director and Head of Collections & Learning, National Museum of Ireland (NMI). Dr Whitty is responsible for the care and interpretation of over five million objects across all NMI sites; the four curatorial divisions, conservation, registration, education, photography, design, publications and exhibitions. Previously Dr Whitty was Keeper of the Art and Industrial Division, NMI, and former curator of European and Asian Glass at the Corning Museum of Glass, New York. In 2010 she was conferred with a doctorate from Trinity College Dublin on The Albert Bender (1866-1941) Donations of Far Eastern Art to the National Museum of Ireland.
Ernest Wyciszkiewicz is a political scientist and has been the director of the Centre for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding since 2016. Formerly Dr Wyciszkiewicz was the deputy director of the Centre, head of the International Economy and Energy Security Programme and senior research fellow at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, and managing editor of Evropa, a Russian-language quarterly on European affairs (2003–9). He was also a member of the editorial board of the 'Intersection Project' (2015–18) and is editor-in-chief of the Novaya Polsha and Nova Polshcha.
Howard Varney is a senior programme advisor with the International Center for Transitional Justice. He is also a practicing barrister in Johannesburg where he specialises in public interest litigation. Varney was an attorney with the Legal Resources Centre in South Africa where he represented victims of political violence. In the mid-1990s he led an independent criminal investigation in South Africa into organised political violence. He was the chief investigator for the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission and has worked with several truth commissions around the world.
