Videos

Join the "Grandparents. Grand Stories. The Closest Stories from World War II" contest, organized by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, in honor of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Open to secondary school students, university students, and teachers, the contest encourages participants to explore World War II history by uncovering family and local stories or firsthand accounts from witnesses.

This initiative highlights the importance of intergenerational dialogue, offering a unique opportunity to preserve authentic memories before they fade away. By connecting with loved ones and learning about local history, participants can bridge the past and present, fostering a deeper understanding of identity and social awareness.

Learn more about the contest here.

Learn more about the Second World War here.

Public task financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland within the grant competition "Public Diplomacy 2024-2025 - the European dimension and countering disinformation".

For the International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2025, the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity has prepared a short film featuring the work of Mieczysław Kościelniak—an artist who, despite the inhumane conditions of a concentration camp, created drawings that not only bore witness to unspeakable tragedy but also symbolized resilience, survival, and the power of memory.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day was designated as such by the United Nations General Assembly in 2005 in order to make future generations sensitive to the tragedy of the Holocaust and so prevent in that way any future acts of genocide. The Day is commemorated on 27 January, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi concentration camp, the site that witnessed the carnage of at least a million of Hungarian, Polish, French, Czech, Slovak and Greek Jews as well as those from other countries, and around a hundred twenty thousand other prisoners (Poles, Roma, Soviet captives and others). The European Network Remembrance and Solidarity wishes to be involved in activities commemorating the Day in public awareness.

Bardzo łatwo wyobrazić sobie pokój z meblościanką, oblepiony wyrwanymi z “Bravo” albo “Popcornu” plakatami Nirvany i Madonny. W telewizji leci „Świat według kiepskich” albo „M jak miłość”, żujemy gumę kulkę, czytamy komiks z Donaldem...
W grudniowej edycji Zrozumieć Pamięć wracamy do tego, co już znamy – Kamil Bałuk i Dariusz Piechota porozmawiają o telewizji, popkulturze i nostalgii za latami 80., 90., 00.

Kamil Bałuk w „Dawno temu w telewizj”i rozmawia z osobami, które stworzyły polską telewizję (z Cezarym Żakiem, Jackiem Kawalcem, Iloną Łepkowską...). Uchylają nam one rąbka tajemnicy na temat pracy przed kamerami, radzenia sobie z popularnością, dzielą się kulisami kręcenia seriali, teleturniejów, sitcomów.
Dariusz Piechota w swojej książce „Na fali nostalgii” opisuje tęsknienie za analogowym światem i procesy reprodukcji przeszłości we współczesnej popkulturze. Pokazuje, w jaki sposób muzyka, dania i codzienności z PRL-u do nas wracają, i dlaczego lubimy Stranger Things i Taylor Swift.

Wystąpili:
Kamil Bałuk autor publikacji „Dawno temu w telewizji”
Dr Dariusz Piechota autor publikacji „Na fali nostalgii. Lata osiemdziesiąte i dziewięćdziesiąte w najnowszej kulturze i literaturze popularnej ”
Prowadzenie: Małgorzata Pakier

Dyskusja jest tłumaczona na polski język migowy.

In October 2024, four groups of students met in Bucharest, where they learned about the Romanian 20th-century history, including the First and the Second World Wars, the communist period and the Ceaușescu era. After this, they moved to the former prison in Pitești, which was a scene of one of the most cruel experiments in the modern world, carried out between 1949 and 1951.

---

Sound in the Silence is an intercultural and international remembrance project for youth. At historically challenging locations students work with artists representing different artistic fields in order to understand how the past is connected to their questions in the present.

The participants of the 2024 edition of the ‘In Between?’ project explored the subject of invisible borders. During their study visits to Masuria in Poland and Helsinki/Tallinn along the Finnish/Estonian border, they created two audio documents that depict their findings and reflections.

This reportage follows our participants on their journey through Masuria, Poland.

---

In Between? is an educational project for students interested in exploring the history of the European borderland regions. During the 2024 edition of the programme the participants met in Warsaw and subsequently set off on study visits to Masuria and the Finish-Estonian borderland, where they interviewed members of the local community and produced a series of podcasts.

On 27 January, on the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi concentration camp, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day is commemorated. For this occasion, the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity and the House of the Wannsee Conference have prepared a short animated film entitled “Memento”, directed by the Hungarian auteur Zoltán Szilágyi Varga. The short spot is available on the organisers’ websites and it will also be shown across European TV channels. We would like to invite your institution to join our commemorative event by sharing this film on your internet platforms.
The half-a-minute-long spot based on charcoal drawings recalls one of the most tragic events in human history. As its director Zoltán Szilágyi Varga says, when trying to grapple with the Holocaust “we stand in front of human nature’s distortion without any answer despite all the research we know, the number of victims counted, the exact description of the events.” The film evokes symbolism which is easily recognised by Europeans: cattle railway cars, railway tracks, paper snippets or abandoned flats, yet it shows them from a child’s perspective, thereby posing the question whether it is possible to comprehend that tragedy and stressing the need to uphold the memory of those days.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Day was designated as such by the United Nations General Assembly in 2005 in order to make future generations sensitive to the tragedy of the Holocaust and so prevent in that way any future acts of genocide. The Day is commemorated on 27 January, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi concentration camp, the site that witnessed the carnage of at least a million of Hungarian, Polish, French, Czech, Slovak and Greek Jews as well as those from other countries, and around a hundred twenty thousand other prisoners (Poles, Roma, Soviet captives and others). The European Network Remembrance and Solidarity wishes to be involved in activities commemorating the Day in public awareness.

The partners of the campaign include such institutions as: the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Site and Museum, the Berlin-based Foundation for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Warsaw-based POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, and the Federal Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe.

Elżbieta Ficowska was born in Warsaw ghetto in 1942 to Henia and Jossel Koppel. She survived because she was smuggled to the "Aryan side" and hid from Germans by Stanisława Bussold – a 56-year-old midwife and member of the underground helping Jews. The only thing left from her Jewish parents is a little silver spoon bearing the girl's name and birth date. Her story is among those presented at the traveling exhibition "Between Life and Death".

Mala Zimetbaum and Edek Galiński's is a unique love story. After an unsuccessful attempt at escape, both perished in the Nazi German concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Sound in the Silence is an intercultural and international remembrance project for youth. At historically challenging locations students work with artists representing different artistic fields in order to understand how the past is connected to their questions in the present.

This video portrays the editions of 2022, which took place in Lithuania at the Kaunas 9th Fort and in Austria at Gusen & Mauthausen Memorial Sites, and 2023, which took place in Germany at the House of the Wannsee Conference and Croatia at the Jasenovac Memorial Site.

Sound in the Silence is co-funded by the European Union.

Co słychać na Górnym Śląsku? Czym brzmi(ała) Warszawa?
Mikrokosmosem dyskusji z cyklu “Zrozumieć Pamięć” to budynek, dom, mieszkanie; Kamil Iwanicki i Marta Michalska zabierają nas na spacer po Górnym Śląsku i Warszawie. W ślad za ich książkami zaglądamy do familoków i kamienic, ale też wyglądać z nich na place, podwórka i ulice.

Kamil Iwanicki w swojej publikacji „Familoki. Śląskie mikrokosmosy” skupia się na środowisku śląskich robotników i ich życiu domowym. Opisuje izby górników i ich rodzin, ich zachowania, przyzwyczajenia, tradycje.
Marta Michalska w swojej pracy „Dźwięki, ludzie i nasłuchiwanie miasta. Wybrane elementy fonosfery Warszawy na przełomie XIX i XX wieku” przenosi nas w czasie do dziewiętnastego wieku i uczy nas nasłuchiwania historii. Podsłuchuje grające na pianinach dziewczyny, krzyczących kupców, sprzedawców, kataryniarzy.

Wystąpili:
Kamil Iwanicki autor publikacji „Familoki. Śląskie mikrokosmosy”
Marta Michalska autorka publikacji „Dźwięki, ludzie i nasłuchiwanie miasta. Wybrane elementy fonosfery Warszawy na przełomie XIX i XX wieku”
Prowadzenie: Małgorzata Pakier

Dyskusja jest tłumaczona na polski język migowy.

Panellists:
- Filip Binder (Czech Academy of Sciences): “Castles of the 19th Century as Sites of Memory of the Aristocracy Based in the Czech Lands”
- Luděk Němec (University of Vienna): “The 'Pearl of South Bohemia': Hluboká Castle between Aristocratic Memory, Cultural Symbol, and Tourist Attraction”
- István Kollai (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship): “Genius Loci around Castles in Slovakia: Built Heritage of Feudal Past in the “Cultural Landscape” and in the ‘Social Mindscape’”

Discussant: Simon Donig (Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe) (ZOOM)
Moderation: Joanna Wawrzyniak (University of Warsaw/Memory Studies Association)

The 14th conference of the series 'Genealogies of Memory' with the theme Gentry, Nobility and Aristocracy: the Post-Feudal Perspectives.'
The conference examined the memory and legacy of Europe’s landowning elites—gentry, nobility, and aristocracy—and their role in shaping the political, economic, and cultural history of Europe. Through comparative discussions, leading academics will delve into how the post-feudal dissolution of these elites continues to influence social structures, material heritage, and memory in various European regions.

Panellists:
- Siarhei Marozau (Independent Researcher): "Aristocracy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Memory Policy of Belarus (1988–2023): Competition of Historical Narratives" (ZOOM)
- Tomasz Błaszczak (Vytautas Magnus University), Agnieszka Nowakowska (University of Warsaw): "Villains or Benefactors: Images of Nobility in Lithuanian and Polish Textbooks"
- Rafał Slaski (Zofia and Jan Włodek Foundation/Polish Gentry Association): "Educational Activities Restoring Knowledge about History and Achievements of Polish Landowners"

Discussant: Michał Łuczewski (University of Warsaw)
Moderation: Małgorzata Pakier (ENRS)

The 14th conference of the series 'Genealogies of Memory' with the theme Gentry, Nobility and Aristocracy: the Post-Feudal Perspectives.'
The conference examined the memory and legacy of Europe’s landowning elites—gentry, nobility, and aristocracy—and their role in shaping the political, economic, and cultural history of Europe. Through comparative discussions, leading academics will delve into how the post-feudal dissolution of these elites continues to influence social structures, material heritage, and memory in various European regions.

A round table discussion with discussants Tomasz Zarycki (University of Warsaw), Constantin Iordachi (Central European University) and Radmila Švaříčková Slabáková (Palacký University Olomouc).
Moderation by Anna Wylegała (Polish Academy of Sciences).

The 14th conference of the series 'Genealogies of Memory' with the theme Gentry, Nobility and Aristocracy: the Post-Feudal Perspectives.'
The conference examined the memory and legacy of Europe’s landowning elites—gentry, nobility, and aristocracy—and their role in shaping the political, economic, and cultural history of Europe. Through comparative discussions, leading academics will delve into how the post-feudal dissolution of these elites continues to influence social structures, material heritage, and memory in various European regions.

Panellists:
- Saara Tuovinen (University of Oulu): “Rare Birds, Military Heroes, and Influencers – Nobility at late 18th Century and early 19th Century Northern Finland”
- Silke Marburg (Independent Researcher): “'One Can Not Be Overlooked.' Forestal Investment and the Visibility of Aristocracy as a Memory Group After 1918”
- Róbert Szabó (Eötvös Loránd University): “Military Nation or Ultramilitarist Aristocrats? A Genealogical Analysis in The Horthy-Hungary” (ZOOM)
- Kseniya Liubaya (University of Warsaw): “Duchess Magdalena Radzivil: Construction of a Positive and Negative Image of the Aristocracy in the 20th and 21st Centuries” (ZOOM)

Discussant: Dina Guseinova (London School of Economics and Political Science) (ZOOM)
Moderation: Konrad Bielecki (ENRS)

The 14th conference of the series 'Genealogies of Memory' with the theme Gentry, Nobility and Aristocracy: the Post-Feudal Perspectives.'
The conference examined the memory and legacy of Europe’s landowning elites—gentry, nobility, and aristocracy—and their role in shaping the political, economic, and cultural history of Europe. Through comparative discussions, leading academics will delve into how the post-feudal dissolution of these elites continues to influence social structures, material heritage, and memory in various European regions.

Panellists:
- Mikołaj Getka-Kenig (Polish Academy od Sciences): "Aestheticizing the Class Enemy. The Musealization of Feudal Heritage in Post-War Poland and East Germany"
- Uladzimir Karalenak (Museum in Nieborów and Arkadia): "Dismantling the Aristocratic Legacy: The Cultural Heritage of the Radziwiłłs in the Political Landscape of the Polish People's Republic and the Soviet Union"
- Jakub Wiśniewski (Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland): "The Totalitarianism against the Gentry Heritage. The Politics of the Communist Regime in Poland Towards Manors and Manor Complexes and its Comparison to the Third Polish Republic"
- Salvijus Kulevičius (Vilnius University): "Enemy of the Nation and Class or Cultural Heritage? The Fate of Manorial Legacy in Lithuania during the Soviet Era"

Discussant: Małgorzata Łukianow (University of Warsaw)
Moderation: Bartosz Dziewanowski-Stefańczyk (ENRS)

The 14th conference of the series 'Genealogies of Memory' with the theme Gentry, Nobility and Aristocracy: the Post-Feudal Perspectives.'
The conference examined the memory and legacy of Europe’s landowning elites—gentry, nobility, and aristocracy—and their role in shaping the political, economic, and cultural history of Europe. Through comparative discussions, leading academics will delve into how the post-feudal dissolution of these elites continues to influence social structures, material heritage, and memory in various European regions.

Panellists:
- Teresa Klimowicz (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University): "Unveiling Nobility in the Myth of the One-Day Jewish King of Poland"
- Katarzyna Kuligowska (Adam Mickiewicz University): "Linguistic View of Landowning Elites in Polish Proverbs and Sayings"
- Uladzimir Kananovich (Indepentend Researcher): "King Mindowe (Mindouh) in Navahrudak. An Aristocratic Social Memory in Contemporary Society"
- Péter Erdősi (Eötvös Loránd University): "From 'Neo-Baroque Society' to Baroque Heritage: Changing Perceptions of the Hungarian Aristocracy (20th and 21st Centuries)"

Discussant: Elżbieta Kwiecińska (Polish Academy of Sciences)
Moderation: Gábor Danyi (ENRS)

The 14th conference of the series 'Genealogies of Memory' with the theme Gentry, Nobility and Aristocracy: the Post-Feudal Perspectives.'
The conference examined the memory and legacy of Europe’s landowning elites—gentry, nobility, and aristocracy—and their role in shaping the political, economic, and cultural history of Europe. Through comparative discussions, leading academics will delve into how the post-feudal dissolution of these elites continues to influence social structures, material heritage, and memory in various European regions.

Panellists:
- Cezary Lusiński (Polish Academy of Sciences): "How the Owners of Palaces are Perceived by Local Communities in the Western Part of Poland?"
- Justyna Szklarczyk (University of Warsaw): "Palace Possibilities and Potentiality of Dwelling. The History of State Farms in Socialist Poland" (ZOOM)
- Elena Gibson (University of Leeds): "Re-Imagining the Big-House - Local Community Relationship: The Case of Wentworth Woodhouse" (ZOOM)
- Yehoshua Ecker (University of Florida): "Remembering the Feudal Order in Newer Times: The Jewish Turn in Eastern Galician Landed Estates" (ZOOM)

Discussant: Marta Kurkowska-Budzan (Jagiellonian University)
Moderation: Monika Haber (ENRS)

The 14th conference of the series 'Genealogies of Memory' with the theme Gentry, Nobility and Aristocracy: the Post-Feudal Perspectives.'
The conference examined the memory and legacy of Europe’s landowning elites—gentry, nobility, and aristocracy—and their role in shaping the political, economic, and cultural history of Europe. Through comparative discussions, leading academics will delve into how the post-feudal dissolution of these elites continues to influence social structures, material heritage, and memory in various European regions.

Panellists:
- Maciej Radziwiłł (Foundation Trzy Trąby): "Polish Aristocracy after WWII. Does it still exist?"
- Ling Li (Erfurt University): "Power Continuities of Kinship Dynamics in Modern Urbanization: Comparative Perspectives from China and Europe"
- Attila Kálmán (Sapientia University): "Surviving Strategies of the Transylvanian Aristocracy during the Communist Period (1949 – 1989)"

Discussant: Sofia Tchouikina (University of Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis/Research Centre CRESPPA)
Moderation: Bartosz Dziewanowski-Stefańczyk (ENRS)

The 14th conference of the series 'Genealogies of Memory' with the theme Gentry, Nobility and Aristocracy: the Post-Feudal Perspectives.'
The conference examined the memory and legacy of Europe’s landowning elites—gentry, nobility, and aristocracy—and their role in shaping the political, economic, and cultural history of Europe. Through comparative discussions, leading academics will delve into how the post-feudal dissolution of these elites continues to influence social structures, material heritage, and memory in various European regions.