Conference - Physical Violence and State Legitimacy in Late Socialism

Conference venue: Berlin, Senatssaal, Humboldt University of Berlin (HU), Unter den Linden 6 / Auditorium, Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Centre, Humboldt University of Berlin, Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 3
Period: Feb. 27- March 1, 2014
Registration Deadline: February 13, 2014

The historical research network on violence after Stalinism is organizing the conference "Physical Violence and State Legitimacy in Late Socialism". The project is hosted by the Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam (ZZF) in cooperation with the Institute for East and Southeast European Studies in Regensburg and the European University Institute in Florence.

The network investigates the relationship between physical violence and state legitimacy after Stalinism. It addresses the following questions:

The project’s international research network is contributing to the debates about the nature of communist dictatorships, to the causes of the European revolutions of 1989 and the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. Its aim is to strengthen international cooperation and support comparative and transnational research in the field of communist studies.
Please register before 13 February 2014 by sending an email to Stephanie Karmann: karmann@zzf-pdm.de

Thursday, 27 February
Venue: Senatssaal, Humboldt University of Berlin (HU), Unter den Linden 6, HU-Main Building, First Floor

17.00
Welcome Address
Thomas Lindenberger, Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam

17.30
Key Note Speech
Jan Philipp Reemtsma, Hamburg Institute for Social Research
Was ist eigentlich "Gewaltforschung"? Einige systematische Bemerkungen

Moderator: Martin Sabrow, Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam/Humboldt University of Berlin

Friday, 28 February
Venue: Auditorium, Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Centre, Humboldt University of Berlin, Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 3, Ground Floor

9.00 - 10.30
Panel 1: Public Order I

Rasa Baločkaitė, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas
Hidden Violence of Totalitarianism: Policing Soviet Society in Lithuania

Călin Morar-Vulcu, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
Arenas of Violence in Late Socialist Romania

Radina Vučetić, University of Belgrade
The Double Game - Using Violence at the Demonstrations against the War in Vietnam in Socialist Yugoslavia

Commentator: Thomas Lindenberger, Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam

Coffee Break

11.00-12.15
Panel 2: Public Order II

Matěj Kotalík, Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam
The Interaction of Hooligans, Police and Bystanders in East German 1950s – 1970s Public Space

Sabine Rutar, Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg
On the Meaning of Violence at a Cold War Border, 1970s-1980s: Public Riots between Trieste and Rijeka

Commentator: Alf Lüdtke, University of Erfurt

Break

13.45 -15.45
Panel 3: Military, the Security Forces and Society

Jan C. Behrends, Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam
"My byli na etikh voinakh - we served in these wars." Continuities of Violence from Afghanistan to Chechnya

Alena Maklak, Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam
The Pursuit of Manliness: Justifying "Barrack Violence" in the Narratives of Former Soviet Army Soldiers

Robert Lučić, Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam
Bonded in War—The Yugoslav People’s Army and Violent Communities in East Slavonia 1991

Isabel Ströhle, University of Regensburg
Conflicting Visions of Loyalty, Legitimacy and Legality: The Story of a State Security Agent on Trial in Socialist Kosovo (1968)

Commentator: Felix Schnell, Humboldt University of Berlin

Coffee Break

16.15 - 18.15
Panel 4: Legitimacy and State Violence

Michal Kopeček, Institute of Contemporary History, Prague
Law and Order, "Civilised Violence" and the Revolutions of 1989 in East Central Europe

Michal Pullmann, Charles University in Prague
The State, the (In)Visibility of Violence and Everyday "Normalisation" in Czechoslovakia

Jens Gieseke, Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam
The Future of Torture after Stalin. Stasi Discourses on Violent Practices in the Age of "Socialist Legality”

Commentator: Ulf Brunnbauer, Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg

Saturday, 1 March
Venue: Auditorium, Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Centre, Humboldt University of Berlin, Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 3, Ground Floor

9.00 - 10.30
Panel 5: Biopolitics and Education I

Péter Apor, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest
Intimate Violence: State Legitimacy, Sexual Violence and Citizenship in Hungary 1960-1989

Jennifer Rasell, Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam
(Violent) Care Dynamics in Children’s Homes in 1980s Hungary

Barbara Klich-Kluczewska, Jagiellonian University of Krakow
The Culture of Violence, Socialist Modernity and Social Health. Domestic Violence in People’s Poland of 1970s and 1980s

Commentator: Franziska Exeler, European University Institute, Florence

Coffee Break

10.45 – 12.30
Panel 6: Biopolitics and Education II

Muriel Blaive, Charles University in Prague
Modernity and Violence: Giving Birth East and West from the 1950s to the 1990s

Pavel Kolář, European University Institute, Florence
The Death Penalty and Sacrifice after 1945

Commentator: tba

Concluding Statements

Stephanie Karmann
Am Neuen Markt 1, 14467 Potsdam
e-mail: karmann@zzf-pdm.de