13th European History Forum

Agenda

Monday, 19 May

10:00-10:15 | Welcoming speech 

• Jan Phillip Albrecht, hbs Berlin

10:15-11:15 | Introductory talk

Ending revisited: Changing commemoration of 1945

Chair: Walter Kaufmann, hbs Berlin

• Jaroslav Hrytsak, Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv
• Claudia Weber, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/O. 

11:15-11:45 | Break

11:45-13:15 | Fishbowl 1

Preparing for the post-war: political aims, successes and disavowal of the resistance

What concepts for the post-war order were advocated by the various resistance movement? Which parts of the resistance movement were subsequently praised, which forgotten or condemned? Is there a comparative history of the resistance movements against National Socialism in Europe?

Chair: Paola Petrić, hbs Sarajevo

• Elma Hašimbegović, Historical Museum of of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo
• Andi Pinari, University of Tirana
• Iryna Kashtalian, Buchenwald Memorial, Weimar

13:15-14:30 | Lunch

14:30-16:00 | Fishbowl 2

Narrating and remembering the End of the War: Stories and Myths of Liberation and Occupation from 1945 to the Present Day

What aspects of the WWII have been/are at the centre of remembrance, what has been forgotten or tabooed? What does "decolonizing WWII memory" mean in different historical and national contexts? How World War II narratives are being instrumentalized in Russia's war against Ukraine?

Chair: Eviya Hovhannisyan, hbs Yerevan

• Sergey Rumyantsev, Center for Independent Social Research (CISR), Berlin
• Oksana Khomiak, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
• Vjeran Pavlaković, University of Rijeka

16:00-16:30 | Coffee break

16:30-18:00 | Presentations: How can historical education be different

Teaching/Communicating “1945”

Chair: Nina Happe, hbs Berlin

1) “The war and its victims” project by dekoder.org
A visually appealing story telling project about interpretations of WWII and the Holocaust in the Soviet Union (DE/UKR/RU) addressing young people.

• Peggy Lohse, Dekoder, Berlin

2) Plattform Copernico
In a special thematic issue on 1945, the Copernico portal brings together 13 blog articles about different aspects of the end of the war in Eastern Europe—rooted in academic research and engagingly presented for a broad audience.

• Anne Kluger, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg

3) Light of the Fireflies - Public space interventions and mobile application
A bilateral memory culture project involving youth in Belgrade and Berlin at original sites of suffering and Nazi persecution. 

• Branka Pavlović, Free Zone Belgrade Human Rights Film Festival, Belgrade/Berlin and
• Nikola Polić, Belgrade

4) After silence
The public organization After silence works in the fields of memorial culture, public history and social anthropology to develop a critical understanding of Ukraine’s past and present.

• Daria Reznyk and Anna Yatsenko, Leipzig/Lviv

18:00 | Dinner

19:00 | Room: Foyer “Sheep Staircase”

Literary perspective: Heinrich Böll 

Introduction: Maria Birger, Heinrich Böll - Life and Work, Cologne/ Berlin
Reading: Tom Alterman, Berlin

Tuesday, May 20

10:00-12:00 | 3 parallel workshops

Room: Conference Room 1
Workshop 1: Women 1945: Roles, images, narratives

How have female perspectives and remembrance evolved since the end of the war? In how far are they represented in official/private history?
Chair and initial input: Tamar Queburia, Ilia State University Tbilisi and IOS Regensburg

Invisible Archives: Makedonka (1944-52) Organ of the Women’s Antifascist Front

• Jana Kocevska, Center for the Research of Nationalism and Culture (CINIK), Skopje 

Antifascist Women Front Albania

• Ermira Danaj, American Graduate School, Paris

Room: Great Hall 2 
Workshop 2: Returning men and women

The return of soldiers, refugees and prisoners of war did not take place on a single day, but often over a longer period of time. The experiences left wounds and traumata in the returnees. How are the encounters with relatives who have been missing for years remembered? How did integration and appreciation take place? 
Chair: Eviya Hovhannisyan, hbs Yerevan, Walter Kaufmann, hbs Berlin

A story of resilience, hope and longing: Home Soon documentary

• Seda Grigoryan, Hetq Media Factory, Yerevan

Prisoners’ experience (WWII and the aftermath)

• Korab Krasniqi, Pro Peace, Prishtina

Room: Small Hall 1
Workshop 3: Monuments

What signs did states and societies send out at the end of the war? Where is heroization to be found, where victimization? What endurance do monuments have, how have they been treated over the decades (maintained, removed, replaced)?
Chair: Kateryna Kvashnytska, hbs Kyiv

Soviet War Memorials in Germany

• Eva Yakubovska, Vitsche e.V., Berlin

The Image of Heroism during and after the War: The Case of Soviet Armenian Art

• Nare Sahakyan, Johannissyan Institute, Yerevan

12:00-14:00 | Lunch

14:00-16:00 | Fishbowl 3

Coming to terms with / processing the end of the war

What attempts, what approaches were taken in 1945 to start the legal processing of the Holocaust and other war crimes? What was the dominant pattern/goals? When did the historical and legal judgement and investigation begin - immediately after the end of the war, or only years later? Which war crimes were not dealt with judicially and in the public discourse? When, how and through which actors did these crimes begin to be discussed and processed in the societies of the various post-war countries?

Chair: Clara Frysztacka, hbs Berlin

• Sabina Ferhadbegović, Leibniz Institute for European History, Mainz
• Dominika Uczkiewicz, Pilecki Institute Warsaw
• Janine Fubel, FernUniversität in Hagen 

16:00-16:30 | Coffee Break

16:30-17:30

Working Group presentations, Joint Evaluation and Conclusion

Chair: Clara Frysztacka, hbs Berlin

18:00 | Dinner (non public)

Curricula Vitae

Amela Sejmenović studied German language and literature and postgraduate studies in linguistic disciplines at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Sarajevo. She gained her work experience as a student working for the World University Service Austria (WUS Austria) on higher education program for support in Bosnia and Herzegovina and working for several semesters as a German language lecturer at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo. Political education, culture of remembrance and translation are her fields of interest. In autumn 2002 she joined the team of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Sarajevo. She is responsible for project work of the Foundation in the field of democratization.

Dr. Andi Pinari is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Tirana, specializing in European modern history. Since 2005, he has lectured on subjects such as Western civilization and political ideologies in Europe. He has held key academic roles, including Deputy Dean of the Faculty of History and Philology and member of the Faculty Council. His research focuses on European diplomacy and Albanian history, with numerous publications and conference presentations. He has participated in international academic programs, including Erasmus+ and Jean Monnet projects. Andi has also coordinated various historical research projects and summer schools. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Tirana and a Master’s in European Studies from the University of Geneva. Additionally, he earned bachelor's degrees in both History and Law. Fluent in Albanian, English, Italian, and French, he has contributed to scholarly works in multiple languages.

Anna Antonina Łysiak holds Master`s degrees in German philology and foreign language linguistics from the Universities of Potsdam and Wrocław. 2014-2021 she coordinated TRIOYU, the funding programme for trilateral youth encounters with Ukraine at the German-Polish Youth Office. She expanded her Ukraine related expertise with Ukraine Calling 2016 and the summer programs on Ukrainian language, culture and history at the Ivan Franko National University in Lviv 2018 and 2019. Anna currently works as a project manager for Ukraine and as a gender focal point for East and Southeast Europe at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin. She is a member of MitOst Community and DGO, and volunteers as a mentor for women in transition from university to working life.

Anna Yatsenko is a cultural manager and co-founder, as well as head of the board of the NGO “After Silence.” She coordinated the exhibition “Huliaipole. Temporarily Displaced Stories”. She has produced the documentary short film Wordless and the documentary video project For Remembrance. Anna is also a co-author of the podcast How We Survived and producer of the documentary video project 24.02: Life After. She coordinated the virtual exhibition Deportations. Visual Memory and the online archive While Staying in Germany. Additionally, she serves as a co-coordinator and mentor for the summer public history workshops for youth Recall, Reflect, Retell.

Anne Kluger is a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Modern History at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. She studied History and German Studies/Cultural Poetics in Münster and Kraków, and subsequently worked at the Department of East European History in Münster and at the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO). Her research focuses on the history of science, the history of aging in modern times, entangled histories of East Central Europe, and postcolonial regional history. In addition, she works as a freelance author developing cross-media formats for communicating historical knowledge. For example, she developed scripts for social media content for the TV series Haus Kummerveldt (2023) and researched and wrote a podcast on the colonial history of Westphalia (2024). Since 2021, she has been a member of the editorial board of Copernico, and since 2023, part of the editorial team of the public history blog History Goes Public.

Branka Pavlović is a film and TV editor, video artist, and educator based in Berlin and Belgrade. She works across documentary film, theater, and participatory projects focused on memory and performance, and regularly collaborates with artists Nezaket Ekici and Elana Katz. Branka teaches film and digital media at Freie Universität Berlin and co-directs the Free Zone Film Festival in Belgrade. She is the author of Light of the Fireflies, an interactive project on memory and dialogue with youth in Serbia and Germany.

Charlotte Pöhler completed a European Solidarity Corps volunteering in the Georgian NGO "Union of Democrat Meskhs" in Akhaltsikhe (2021-2022). Then started her B.Sc. studies in Psychology and Psychotherapy in  Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz. Recently, she conducted a 3 months internship at Heinrich Böll Foundation Tbilisi - South Caucasus, in Tbilisi and Yerevan (2025).

Clara Frysztacka is currently head of the Contemporary History Division at the Heinrich Böll Foundation. She studied Modern and Contemporary History and Eastern European Studies in Milan and Berlin. Before joining Heinrich Böll Foundation, she worked on two research projects, one on history as a topic of the European press in the 19th century at the University of Siegen (2012-2015) and the other on "Ambivalences of Europeanisation" (2016/2017), and she held the position of research assistant at the Chair of European Contemporary History at the European University Viadrina (2017-2023). Her main areas of interest are the history of the 1970s with a focus on rural areas, environmental (movement) history, post- and decolonial history of Eastern Europe, the history of the category of time in modernity and postmodernity, and the history of the concept of Europe and Europeanisation.Her award-winning dissertation on notions of time and modernity in late 19th-century Polish society was published by DeGruyter 2020. She is co-editor of the Copernico portal on history and cultural heritage in Eastern Europe and author of several articles for historical blogs (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Zeitgeschichte-online, TRAFO-Blog).

Prof. Dr. Claudia Weber was born in 1969 in the former GDR and grew up in Brandenburg. She has been Professor of European Contemporary History at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) since 2014. From 2015-18, she was also Vice President for Research and Young Academics and, until 2020, Head of the university research institute “B/Orders in Motion”. Claudia Weber studied history, South Slavic studies and political science in Leipzig, Moscow, Sofia and Athens (Ohio). For her doctorate on the relationship between nation and historical memory at the University of Leipzig, she spent extended research stays in Bulgaria and at Stanford University (California). Before taking up her professorship, she worked as a historian at the Hamburg Institute for Social Research. Her research focuses on the history of violence and dictatorships in the 20th century, the cultural history of the Cold War, Europeanization processes and the history of European concepts. 

Daria Reznyk, is a doctoral researcher at the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe in Leipzig and a board member of the Ukrainian NGO “After Silence”. Born in Donetsk, Ukraine. She received her Master's degree in history at the Ukrainian Catholic University in 2020. From 2019 to 2022 Daria was head of the information sector in the memorial museum of totalitarian regimes “Territory of Terror” in Lviv, and in 2022 curator of the exhibition “Voices: A Mosaic of Ukrainian Jewish Live” in the Jewish Museum Augsburg. Topics of research: oral history; Soviet deportation; public history.

Dominika Uczkiewicz is a lawyer and historian, doing research in the field of the history of war crimes trials and transitional jutsice. Currently she is working as assistant professor at the Centre for Totalitarianism Studies at the Pilecki Institute in Warsaw, where she is co-chairing the research project (Un)tried Crimes. The Approach of the Law Enforcement Agencies and the Judiciary of the Federal Republic of Germany to German Crimes in Poland (1939–1945). Her recent publications include a monograph on the war crimes policy of the Polish government in exile in London (Problem odpowiedzialności karnej za zbrodnie wojenne w pracach rządu polskiego na emigracji 1939-1945, Warsaw 2022, English edition forthcoming) and a volume edited together with Patrycja Grzebyk The Russian-Ukrainian Conflict and War Crimes. Challenges for Documentation and International Prosecution (Routledge 2024).

Elma Hašimbegović is an historian and museum professional, born in Sarajevo in 1977. She graduated from history at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo, and holds an MA and MPhil in medieval studies from Central European University in Budapest. Since 2001 she works at the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo as a curator, and since 2013 as a museum director, developing and implementing new strategies and policies for the institution, actively promoting the museum as a place of historical research, education and constructive dialogue, and as a space open to all. She is editor-in-chief of the museum journal and other museum publications. Elma was a member of the National Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina for cooperation with UNESCO and holds a medal of the “Chevalier des arts and literature” of the Republic of France.

Dr. Ermira Danaj is a scholar and gender expert with extensive experience in research, policy analysis, and capacity building. She holds a PhD in Human and Social Sciences from the University of Neuchâtel, specializing in gender, migration, and transnational studies. A Fulbright Visiting Scholar and recipient of the 2022 Stavro Skendi Book Prize, she has over 20 years of research expertise in gender-based violence, migration, and intersectionality. She has worked with the UN, EU, and other international organizations, providing policy recommendations and training on gender mainstreaming. Currently an Associate Professor at the American Graduate School in Paris, she teaches gender and human rights. She has contributed to key EU and UN reports on women’s rights and gender policies. Fluent in six languages, she has extensive experience in public speaking and international conferences. Her work spans post-socialist contexts, integrating a human rights-based approach in policy development. She is a consultant for global institutions, shaping gender equality strategies worldwide.

Eva Yakubovska is a curator and researcher focusing on the memory culture of Eastern Europe. She is one of the co-founders of Vitsche e.V., where she curates the Truth to Justice platform, organizing events on Russian disinformation, hybrid warfare, and decolonization. Also, she works at the Pilecki Institute Berlin, developing programs on remembrance and decolonization. Her research explores Soviet war memorials and the rituals that shaped collective identity. She has organized exhibitions and discussions on Ukrainian dissident history and artistic resistance. She collaborates with institutions across Europe to foster dialogue on historical justice. Her background is in history and media studies and her recent projects address the role of artistic practices in societal resilience.

Evelina Rudenko is a historian and project manager at "Zukunft Memorial" in Berlin. Her research focuses on the everyday discrimination faced by female victims of National Socialism in the Soviet Union and its impact on their life trajectories.

Eviya Hovhannisyan is a Programme Coordinator at the Yerevan office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation South Caucasus Regional Office. She holds a Master's degree in Social Anthropology from the European University at St. Petersburg (Russia) and a Master's degree in Medieval Studies from the Yerevan State University (Armenia). Eviya's research interests include issues of identity and nationalism, ethno-political conflict, migration and refugee studies. She is the author of a number of academic articles and book chapters published in Armenia and abroad.

Irina Ghulinyan-Gerz is a project officer at Heinrich Böll Foundation in the Department of Eastern and South Eastern Europe. She holds Master's degrees in journalism, philology and administrative sciences. For several years, she worked as a journalist and then in the field of press relation and also currently publishes articles in German and Armenian. Her thematic focus is on Armenia and its relations with Russia, the EU and Turkey. She is also the co-author of the book "The European Union and its Eastern Neighbours: New Partners, the Role of Russia and Armenia's Failed Association".

Dr. Iryna Kashtalian is a Belarusian historian. In 2001, she completed her studies at the Belarusian State University in Minsk. In 2011, together with colleagues, she founded the Belarusian Oral History Archive. In 2012, she defended her dissertation “Repressive Factors of USSR's internal policy and everyday life of Belarusian society (1944-1953)” at the Free University of Berlin. 2018-2021 Head of the Minsk History Workshop at the International Education and Meeting Center “Johannes Rau”. December 2021-October 2023 Visiting researcher at the University of Bremen. Since November 2023 research assistant at the Buchenwald Memorial. Main research areas: Soviet post-war history, Soviet repression, history of everyday life, oral history research, World War II and the Holocaust in the occupied Soviet Union.

Jana Falkenroth is a Project Manager for the Western Balkans at the Heinrich Böll Foundation, with a background in Political Science and Arts Management. She has over 20 years of experience in international cultural exchange, with a focus on the former Yugoslav region. Jana has lived, studied, or worked in Germany, Sweden, Austria, Italy, Australia, Croatia, and the USA. She is the founder of the SEE Film Club and co-director of (p)ostkarte(ll), an institute for applied cultural research. Her interests lie in contemporary film and memory culture.

Jana Kocevska graduated from the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology in Skopje. She founded the Association for the Promotion of Women's activity "Tiiiit! Inc." and is one of the founders of the "Firstborn Girl" (Prvo pa žensko) feminist arts and culture festival. She is also one of the founders of CINIK, the Center for Research of Nationalism and Culture. In the past decade, she has been active on the independent cultural scene through KRIK - the Festival of Critical Culture in Skopje, organized by "Kontrapunkt", the Skopje Pride Weekend and others. At the moment, she is the President of the Management Board of the Cultural and Social Space Center Jadro – a hybrid institution of the independent culture in North Macedonia. Kocevska is the chief editor of the literary edition "Vagina Dentata" within Tiiiit! Inc. She is interested in feminist practices in culture and art, as well as gender perspectives in theory, policies and the everyday life.

Janine Fubel, historian and research associate at the Public History department at Germany’s State Distant-University in Hagen, Germany. Her main research interests are history of concentration camps and the end of World War II as well as the Holocaust in South and Eastern Europe. She completed her doctoral studies at the Department of History at the Humboldt-University in Berlin in 2023. For her research on the final phase of Sachsenhausen concentration camp she received several grants (Hans Böckler Foundation Germany, Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah Paris, Zeitlehren Foundation Germany, among others) and has completed extensive research periods in Great Britain, Israel, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic and the United States of America. Recent publications include: Krieg, Bewegung und extreme Gewalt im Raum Berlin-Brandenburg: Die Auflösung des Konzentrationslagers Sachsenhausen 1945, Göttingen: Wallstein 2025; Space in Holocaust-Research. A Transdisciplinary Approach to Spatial Thinking, Berlin: De Gruyter 2024 (ed. with Alexandra Klei and Annika Wienert).

Kateryna Kvashnytska is the Democracy Support Programme Coordinator at the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Kyiv office. She holds a Bachelor's degree in environmental studies from Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and is pursuing a Master's degree in Public Policy and Governance at the Kyiv School of Economics. Kateryna has extensive experience working with NGOs on projects related to capacity building, education, and environmental protection.

Katie Sartania, a Soviet history scholar at Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), is pursuing her PhD at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. Her research focuses on Georgian perspectives on Soviet legality, dissident movements, and Stalin’s legacy in the late Soviet era. She earned her Master’s in Modern Georgian History from Ilia State University in 2023. Her academic interests include late Soviet-era protest, socialist law, justice, legality and nationalism.

Katja Giebel is senior program officer for East and South East Europe at Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin, focusing on the Western Balkans. She graduated from Freie Universität Berlin and holds a Magister degree in East European Studies, Sociology and Literature. Before joining hbf in 2013 she coordinated training programs for journalists from CIS countries.

Korab Krasniqi is a Project Manager at forumZFD (ProPeace) in Kosovo, working on conflict transformation, memory activism, and transitional justice. With a background in psychology and political science, he focuses on interethnic dialogue and documenting civilian experiences through oral histories. He recently co-led the publication Prisoners of Conscience, featuring memoirs of political prisoners in Kosovo (1945–1999).

Lilia Chikhladze has been working at the hbs Tbilisi since July 2017. Before joining the hbs, she worked as Organizational Development Manager at the Social Justice Center and as Long-term Analyst Assistant at the National Democratic Institute Georgia. She completed her BA studies in Social Sciences at the University of Georgia. She got her M.A. Degree in Global Political Economy from the University of Kassel, Germany.

Linda Kelmendi serves as the Communications Coordinator at the Heinrich Böll Stiftung office in Tirana. She holds a Master’s degree in Strategic Communications from King’s College London and has over five years of experience across the business and non-profit sectors, with a focus on communications, public relations, and project management.

Marion Kraske is a political scientist, journalist and expert on the Balkans. She has worked for the German Press Agency, the ARD news programme Tagesschau and as a correspondent for Southeast Europe for the news magazine Der Spiegel. From 2015-21, she headed the Heinrich Böll Foundation's office in Sarajevo, responsible for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and North Macedonia. One of her main topics is the aftermath of the Balkan wars and the role of the international community in the process of reconciliation and peacebuilding. 

Milan Bogdanović has been a program coordinator with the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Belgrade office since 2016, some of his main points of engagement being democratization of post-conflict societies, culture of remembrance, and independent cultural initiatives.  Previous professional engagement includes a decade-long career as translator/interpreter. Academic credentials include BA in art history (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade).

Nare Sahakyan is an art historian, curator and researcher at the Ashot Johannissyan Research Institute in the Humanities. She received her MA degree in American University of Beirut defending the thesis "The Late Soviet Charm of Kantianism: Wilhelm Matevosyan's Art History." Since 2021 she teaches several courses at the Yerevan State Academy of Fine Arts. Currently she is a researcher at the Johannissyan Institute and is involved in the project Culture and Modernization with the theme “The Holy War and the State: The Invocations of the Battle of Avarayr at the Foundations of the Nation State”. Her research interests include the history of the discipline of Art History and the formation of Armenian Studies in Eastern Armenia.

Nikola Polić, Director and video artist. He graduated and mastered film and TV directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. In his works he explores minorities and sensitive social groups, their virtues and flaws, his films "The Invisibles", "The Wall", "On my own", "Unique", "Hooked On" were shown and awarded at many festivals in Serbia and abroad. He currently works as a freelance film director, editor and video artist and is completing his PhD studies at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts. Nikola lives and works in Belgrade.

Nina Happe (MA) studied Slavonic and Roman Languages and Modern History in Tübingen, Bochum, Berlin and Jaroslavl'. Varied professional and voluntary working experience in non-profit organizations dealing with Eastern Europe, e.g. Transparency International (2000-2002) and the Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" (2002-2007). Currently project manager for Eastern and Southeast Europe at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin.

Nuriya Fatykhova is the Head of the Democracy Programme at the Dialog Office for Civil Society Cooperation (Vienna, Austria). She studied journalism, philology, and philosophy in Chelyabinsk, Tübingen, and Berlin, completing her graduate studies in philosophy. As a curator of educational programs, she focuses on critical thinking, decolonial perspectives on Russian and European history, democratic theory, gender equality, and non-discriminatory discourse. As a journalist and publicist, she has contributed to several independent media outlets. Her writings explore issues of gender equality, women's rights, the care economy, and colonial legacies in Russian culture and politics.

Oksana Khomiak is a senior lecturer at the National University of "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy," where she teaches oral history and WWII history. She holds a PhD in History, with research focused on the memory of Ukrainian Waffen-SS "Galicia" Division veterans. From 2013 to 2023, she was a senior research associate at the Museum of Kyiv History. Oksana coordinates the project Voices of the Russo-Ukrainian War and is involved in several international initiatives on memory, environment, and post-socialist societies. She is a board member of the Ukrainian Oral History Association and lives in Kyiv.

Oksana Stavrou studied law and economics in Ukraine and Austria. She has lived in Vienna since 2003 and has worked as a lawyer in a Viennese law firm and in the private sector. Stavrou publishes on human rights issues, international relations, and the history and present of Ukraine. She is the author of the book "Russlands Krieg gegen die Ukraine. Worum geht es? Fakten und Perspektiven" (Russia's War Against Ukraine: What Is It About? Facts and Perspectives).

Paola Petrić studied German Language and Literature at the University of Belgrade, where she also obtained her Master's degree. She successfully completed the Diplomatic Academy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and Montenegro and the Carl Friedrich Goerdeler College for Good Governance. She worked as a teaching assistant for German language and culture at the Faculty of Law of the Union University in Belgrade, and as a cognitive councilor for civil society organizations and political parties. Since 2007, she has worked at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Belgrade as a program coordinator for democracy and human rights and since 2012 as the deputy director of the office. She is currently the director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Office in Sarajevo.

Peggy Lohse is a journalist, writer, and translator based in Frankfurt (Oder), reporting on social issues across Eastern Germany, Poland, Ukraine, and Central Eastern Europe. She works as a freelance reporter for various German and European media and regularly travels to Ukraine. Previously, she was an editor for German-language foreign media and East German local journalism. Since 2024, she has been co-editor of war.dekoder.org and Ukraine editor at dekoder.org.

Petar Todorov is a historian at the Institute of National History in Skopje, specializing in 19th- and 20th-century Ottoman and Southeastern European history. He holds degrees from Saints Cyril and Methodius University and the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris. His work also focuses on history education and the role of historiography in contemporary societies. Petar has held fellowships in Vienna, Sofia, and Braunschweig, and was a visiting professor at Istanbul Şehir University. He has published scholarly and educational materials and contributed to projects on dealing with the past and reconciliation.

Robert Sperfeld is Senior Programme Officer for East and South East Europe at the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin - working mainly on Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. He holds a German diploma degree in Public Administration from Potsdam University, with fellowships in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Tel Aviv, Israel.

Dr. Sabina Ferhadbegović is a historian and Heisenberg Fellow at the Leibniz Institute for European History in Mainz. She received her PhD  from the University of Freiburg. From 2007 to 2010, she coordinated the research area "Civil War" at the Cluster of Excellence "Cultural Foundations of Integration" at the University of Konstanz. From 2010 to 2016, she was a research fellow at the Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena, where she was responsible for the research area "Statehood". From 2016 to 2022 she led the DFG-funded project "Tribunals. War Crimes Trials in Socialist Yugoslavia" at the University of Jena. Sabina Ferhadbegović has published on civil wars, humanitarian law, architectural history, as well as on the culture of remembrance and Yugoslav history.

Seda Grigoryan is a documentary filmmaker and media professional based in Yerevan. She holds an educational background from Florida State University (USA) and the University of West London (UK). She is the former video production manager at CivilNet TV, a pioneering online media in Armenia. Currently, Seda holds the position of the video producer at Hetq, a leading platform for investigative journalism. Additionally, she is the video storytelling lecturer at Hetq Media Factory which produces the Home Soon documentary about the WWII POWs in Armenia.

Dr Sergey Rumyantsev is a sociologist. In 2003-2014, he was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy, Sociology and Law of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (Baku). 2014-2015, he was a Visiting Research Professor at the Georg-Eckert-Institute for International Textbooks Research (Braunschweig). Since 2015, he is a co-founder of Centre for Independent Social Research (CISR Berlin) and leads projects on peaceful conflict transformation. His main areas of research include diaspora and migration, nationalism, politics of memory, history politics, Soviet studies, conflicts in the post-Soviet space. Among other publications, he is the author of Migration and Diaspora-Building in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan: Main Tendencies and Dominant Discourses (2014); the editor of Non-Objective Conflicts: Political Practices of Sharing the Common Past. Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Transnistria (2017); Education and the Politics of Memory in Russia and Eastern Europe. Infested with History (2025).

Dr. Sonja Schiffers has been Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Tbilisi Office – South Caucasus Region since 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from Freie Universität Berlin, where she researched Russian and Turkish illiberal external influence in Bosnia and Georgia. Previously, she worked at the German Bundestag as an advisor on Eastern Europe and foreign policy and was a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). She also served as a member of the German Government’s Advisory Board for Civilian Crisis Prevention and Peacebuilding (2018-2024). Dr. Schiffers led programs at the Berlin-based grassroots think tank Polis180, including with a focus on gender, Ukraine, and Georgia, and gained experience in Russia through teaching and study at MGIMO and Saint Petersburg State University.

Srđan Hercigonja is a program coordinator at Heinrich Böll Foundation's Office in Belgrade. He completed his undergraduate and master studies in International Security at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade. His previous work experience was mainly in civil society, dealing with the issues of human and regional security, transitional justice and issues of democratization of society and the state.

Dr. Srđan Milošević is Assistant Professor at Union University Law School in Belgrade, with doctorates in both History and Law. His research focuses on legal and constitutional history, memory studies, and post-socialist transformations in Southeastern Europe. He has held fellowships in Jena and Leipzig and participated in international projects on transnational memory and agrarian legacies. He is the author of History Before the Court and co-editor of The Political Use of the Past. Dr. Milošević also leads the Center for Studies of History and Dialogue, promoting critical historical scholarship in the region.

Stefan Melle is the Director of the Dialogue Office for Civil Society Cooperation (Dialogbuero) based in Vienna. It was founded in 2022 and works with a focus on Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Stefan Melle is an Eastern Europe specialist and journalist. From 2006 till 2023 he headed the Berlin based international NGO Austausch e.V. (formerly German-Russian Exchange) and multilateral programs and projects in the realm of strengthening civil society, conflict resolution, education, remembrance, and ecological issues. He was a co-initiator and head of the civic education and research program “Transition Dialogue” on the 90-ies in the post-socialist countries (2015-2019). Also, he was one of the initiators, founders and co-coordinators of the EU Russia Civil Society Forum, the platform CivilM+ on peaceful reintegration of Eastern Ukraine, and the Platform of Russian Anti-war initiatives (today: Platforma).

Tamar Qeburia is a historian and postdoctoral researcher at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) in Regensburg. She holds a PhD in Eastern European History from Ilia State University and the University of Göttingen, with a dissertation on industrialization and working-class formation in Soviet Georgia. Her research focuses on labor and economic history, Soviet WWII, and the South Caucasus. Tamar is involved in several projects, including studies on global commodity frontiers and everyday life in Soviet Georgia during WWII.

Vjeran Pavlaković, PhD is a professor of History and Cultural Studies at the University of Rijeka, Croatia. He received his Ph.D. in History in 2005 from the University of Washington and has published articles on memory politics in Southeastern Europe, transitional justice in the former Yugoslavia, and Yugoslav volunteers in the Spanish Civil War. He is a co-editor of the volume Framing the Nation and Collective Identity in Croatia (Routledge, 2019), which was re-issued in Croatian in 2022. Current research includes graffiti and murals as sites of memory, Balkan memoryscapes, and a history of Dalmatian immigrants in Arizona.

Walter Kaufmann – born 1966 – M.A., studied East European History and Slavic Literatures in Tübingen, Berlin and Wolgograd. Has worked at the Heinrich Böll Foundation since 1995. 2002 - 2008 director of the South Caucasus Regional Office of the foundation in Tbilisi/Georgia. Currently Head of Department for East and Southeast Europe and the Caucasus at the foundations’ headquarters in Berlin.

Yaroslav Hrytsak is professor of history at the Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv, Ukraine). He is founding editor of “Ukraina Moderna” journal and author of numerous publications including Prophet in his Native Land: Ivan Franko and His Community (2006-2018) and Global History of Ukraine (2021-2024) – both in various translations. He has several Ukrainian and foreign awards for his academic achievements, and is a correspondent member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and a full member of Polish Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts (Krakow, Poland), and European Academy of Sciences and Arts.