Symposium "Violence in the European history of the 20 century: marking, documenting, education
6. European Symposium of Remembrance
The sixth consecutive symposium “Violence in European history of the 20th century: marking, documenting, education” organized by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity was held from 6 until 8 June 2017 year, in Brussels.
The symposium was organized in cooperation with the Belgian Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts as well as the European Parliament.
CHDR President Darko Gavrilović and CHDR Executive Director Svetlana Luković participated in the symposium.
The organizers and the gathered participants concluded that the 20 century in Europe can rightly be called “the century of violence”. The reason for this is the exponential increase in the number of those who were killed, imprisoned, tortured or displaced in Europe during the last century. Apart from numerous wars, including two world wars, the modern state has engaged in violence against its own citizens. The rise of state violence weakened democracy, undermined human rights and ultimately led to the creation of totalitarian regimes. Therefore, it seems vital to focus first of all on the various phenomena of violence and their consequences on the history of the 20th century. century, as well as how they are remembered.
Scientists at the conference dealt with the phenomenon of the involvement of states and ideologies in the widespread use of violence in order to form the desired society. Various experiences related to crimes and violence committed in Central and Eastern as well as Western Europe were presented. It was insisted to continue with research related to how they are remembered, learned and presented in Europe.
Scientists also asked questions that some future scientific meetings should answer. These are: is it possible to establish a common European culture of memory? Should we look for connections between them in the tangle of different memories and overcome the traumas and problems that arise with them among European nations?
