20 years after… / 24 noiembrie / Institutul Cultural Roman
An international symposium organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute. The Czech Republic will be represented by Prof. Jan Rychlik.
JAN RYCHLIK was born 1954 in Prague. He graduated in history and ethnology at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, in Prague in 1979 and obtained PhD in ethnology and folklore at the St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1985. In 1998 he obtained the doctorate of science (DrSc) in history in the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Jan Rychlik is currently Professor of modern Czech and Slovak history at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Prague and Professor of modern European history at St. Cyril and Methodius University in Trnava, Slovakia. Simultaneously he is working at the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague.
Reviewing the chronology of events that took place in the East-Central European countries in 1989 should make one not only remember (or, rather: not to forget), but also think back critically to the political and social transformations we experienced. It should mean evaluating where we started from, where we stand now, and where are we heading to.
By listening to prominent actors of events reminisce after two decades, what is their personal view regarding the consequences of their actions, in what way do they reflect on them, we hope to get new and interesting insights in our recent histories.
The symposium will also try to discuss what made the events that took place in 1989 so unique in history? What are the specific features of the overturn of the systems in different countries both in terms of the actual events and their premises? In what way did these features affect the political systems instituted afterwards, which was the nature and impact of change in only a couple of months? How strong were the underground movements in different Central and Eastern European countries, and how did they eventually led to the rehabilitation of a multiparty system?
Main actors in 1989, journalists, political scientists, historians, sociologists from Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Romania will be invited to share their thoughts and experiences about the radical transformations that took place two decades ago. The symposium will be paired with a photo exposition in homage to the 1989 events.
© ICR, Szentannai Agota, Oana-Valentina Suciu
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