Home » Seminars and Projects » Workshop Retrospects 2018 » War and Peace Cast in Stone: Analysing and Creating Memorials

War and Peace Cast in Stone: Analysing and Creating Memorials

Photo: © Körber-Stiftung/David Ausserhofer

This content was developed during a workshop at the EUSTORY Next Generation Summit 2018 "Making Peace with History" from 14 to 19 November 2018 in Berlin. The Summit brought together 120 participants from Europe and beyond who worked together with experts from the fields of academia, journalism, education and arts to focus on the processes of making, negotiating and maintaining peace in Europe.

History is on every street corner: Monuments and memorial sites shape cities and public remembrance all over Europe. They are closely connected with the experiences from the past and are meant to keep certain memories alive. But are they truly ›set in stone‹ or does their meaning change over time?

This bilingual English-Russian workshop focused on the role and history of memorials in the cultures of remembrance all over Europe. The participants met experts working with memorials from the past and the present in Berlin: They focused also on those memorials which have been abandoned and demolished at various points in the past. These discarded memorials are part of the exhibition »Unveiled – Berlin and its Monuments« at the Zitadelle Berlin, which the participants visited. By exploring a memorial from this exhibition and one from the participants’ hometowns or region, they discovered the history behind these monuments, analysed their forms and designs, decoded their messages, placed them in their historical contexts and critically discussed their relation to and relevance for the present.

Isabel Sebeikat

Isabel Sebeikat
Artist and pedagogue
Berlin, Germany

Benjamin Zuckschwerdt

Benjamin Zuckschwerdt
Historian and museum educator
Berlin, Germany

Dina Argunova

Dina Argunova
Interpreter and translator for Russian, German and English
Berlin, Germany

Photo: © Körber-Stiftung/David Ausserhofer

Finally, the participants created their own message for the future in the shape of a memorial, which became part of exhibitions at the Zitadelle Spandau, Berlin. This workshop was implemented within the cooperation project between Körber-Stiftung and DVV International.

Photo: © Körber-Stiftung/David Ausserhofer

During the closing ceremony the participants presented the memorials they created and shared the ideas behind them with the Summit audience.

Galery of the monuments created by the participants

Benedykt, Poland

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Anzhela, Russia
Anzhela, Russia

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Neasa, Ireland
Neasa, Ireland

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Nadzeya, Belarus
Nadzeya, Belarus

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Militsa, Bulgaria
Militsa, Bulgaria

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Mariana, Moldova
Mariana, Moldova

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Ketevan, Georgia
Ketevan, Georgia

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Ivan, Ukraine
Ivan, Ukraine
Didzis, Latvia
Didzis, Latvia

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Daniela, Moldova
Daniela, Moldova

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Veranika, Belarus
Veranika, Belarus

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Valeria, Russia
Valeria, Russia

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Qasim, Italy
Qasim, Italy

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