Freedom of Speech Beyond Borders

Freedom of Speech Beyond Borders is an interdisciplinary educational project that aims to introduce young people to the history of the struggle against censorship during the Cold War and to facilitate critical reflection on current cases where freedom of expression is being violated and access to reliable sources of information is being limited. The programme consists of an online seminar session, followed by a nine-day study visit to selected European archives and memory sites. Participants will have the opportunity to discover the legacy of underground literature and art – known as samizdat and tamizdat – that took form of typewritten, handmade magazines, photographs, poetry, books and mail art.

When?
25 – 26 August 2025 – Online seminar
1 – 10 September 2025 – Study visits

*Samizdat photos in the website banner come from the archive of the Forschungsstelle Osteuropa at the Universität Bremen

Project’s mission

Click here to read the project's mission.

Programme overview

The project offers participants the opportunity to study the history of Cold War underground publishing during field trips to the archives that preserve its legacy. Before the trips, participants will take part in online seminars that provide a historical background and prepare them for the research tasks. Assignments during the study visits in archives include researching selected archival material, analysing historical documents and preparing interviews with former dissidents involved in publishing activities as well as current human rights activists.

In this year’s edition, two parallel study visits will take place: in the archive of the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen (Germany), and in Prague (Czech Republic), in the archives of the Libri Prohibiti Library and the Václav Havel Library. Following research in these two cities, the participants will meet in Maisons-Laffitte, near Paris, at the House of the Literary Institute – a key site of Polish exile publishing. After exploring the local archive, the group will come together to process their learning experiences through hands-on artistic practice. They will take part in a zine-making workshop and, with the support of artist mentors, engage in techniques such as: creative writing, photography, drawing and collage. To conclude the project, students will create a samizdat-inspired collective journal, that will reflect the participants’ research, insights and personal experiences.

Why Join?
Participants of the Freedom of Speech Beyond Borders will have the opportunity to:
• Learn how to navigate and utilise archival resources;
• Conduct interviews with history witnesses;
• Take part in workshops on creative writing and zine-making;
• Discover the low-tech methods of samizdat production and how their distribution was carried out;
• Collaborate within an interdisciplinary team to produce a DIY publication.

Partners

Organisers

Partners

ENRS is funded by: