Stories - Transition Dialogue

Article: Why Should Museums Workshop Memories of Postsocialist “Transitions”

By Andrei Zavadski In the late 1980s–1990s, radical political, economic, and cultural changes took place across the Soviet and Soviet-affiliated parts of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Following the collapse of state socialism, the newly postsocialist states began to transition towards democracy and implemented a series of neoliberal reforms. Often referred to as “postsocialist transitions,” this epoch was eventful, experientially diverse, and often rather intense. Even today, a quarter-century after it de facto ended, this

Seminar “Understanding and Teaching Transformation after 1989” – Methodology, Perspectives, and Lesson Design

The seminar “Understanding and Teaching Transformation after 1989” took place at the Berlin educational center Zeitgeist and brought together 25 educators across Germany. The focus was on teaching the period of transition after the fall of the Berlin Wall in an increasingly polarized society. Participants worked with teaching materials from the Transition Dialogue project and engaged intensively with concepts of multiperspective and the analysis of different transformation experiences. Diversity of Perspectives A distinctive feature of the seminar was the diversity of

Article: “A ‘reunification’ of memories? An analysis of German media’s coverage of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

In their article “A ‘reunification’ of memories? An analysis of German media’s coverage of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall,” authors Andrei Zavadski and Anna Litvinenko delve into German media narratives around the 30-year milestone since the fall of the Berlin Wall to understand prevailing attitudes towards ‘reunification.’ Through an exploration of mainstream newspapers across the political spectrum, they unearth a diverse range of perspectives that highlight the ongoing challenges in

Workshop on Dialogic Memory: Memories of Transition in Germany

On Saturday, 6th May 2023, we had the honour of hosting a workshop at the Humboldt Labor in the Humboldt Forum in cooperation with an international team from the research group “Reconstituting Publics through Remembering Transitions”. Our workshop titled “Memories of the Transition Period” provided a platform for sharing and understanding diverse experiences of the transformative times in Eastern Germany, and was attended by a wide range of participants spanning different age groups, professions, and

Transition Talk: “Crystal Swan” Film Screening and Public Discussion

On Friday, 5th May 2023, we hosted a special screening of the film “Crystal Swan” at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin in collaboration with the international research group “Reconstituting Publics through Remembering Transitions”. This was part of our Transition Talks: a series of dialogic remembrance events designed to critically engage with the 1980-1990s transition period on local and transnational scales. The film’s protagonist, Evelina, guides us through the tumultuous Belarusian transition period, and the film

Public discussion event in Warsaw: “Teaching Post-Socialist Transition: the challenges facing museums, schools and non-formal educators.”

On 6th December 2022, we gathered in Warsaw for a public discussion event on “Teaching Post-Socialist Transition: the challenges facing museums, schools and non-formal educators.” This discussion was hosted in partnership with Stowarzyszenie 61 at their base and held with experts from museum education departments, teachers from schools, and educators from NGOs and other organisations. We were also joined by our partners from our Transition Dialogue network, comprising education experts and NGO coordinators from Sofia

Presentation of results of Transition Dialogue at Zagreb School of Economics and Management

The results of the international project Transition Dialogue 2019-2022 – Dealing with change in democratic ways were presented on 23 November 2022 at a gathering of experts and media representatives at the Zagreb School of Economics and Management. The project started with a mapping of how the political, economic and sociocultural dimensions of the transition after the fall of communist regimes in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe were taught in modern history classes in schools.

The exhibition LOST IN TIME

The exhibition LOST IN TIME is about objects and people who have lost their past and cannot move forward into the future. The discussion “Transition Dialogue for Democratic Change. Art in times of turbulence” was held alongside the exhibition, where different paintings, photos and videos have been showcased. Throughout time, we can see that turbulence, changes and uncertainty towards the future have all served as a source of artistic inspiration. More and more, such transition

An online expert workshop “Transition Dialogue 2019 – 2021”

On Wednesday, March 17, 2021, an online expert workshop was held for members of project groups within the international project “Transition Dialogue 2019 – 2021 – Dealing with Change in Democratic Ways.” The Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar led the Croatian team, in cooperation with the Znanje na djelu / Wissen am Werk Foundation. The meeting dealt with the challenges of transition in education and how the history of economic, political and socio-cultural transformations

Approaching the German unification process using the example of history teaching in Bavaria and Saxony

Jan Dreyer, history teacher, has been examining and researching the ways in which the transition process and reunification period is approached German history text books and has written this report that compares his findings across textbooks in Bavaria and Saxony. Within the short period of time between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, the Peaceful Revolution eliminated without violence the SED dictatorship, and for the East German population a new

Launch of new phase of Transition Dialogue 2022-2024 – watch this space!

The completion of the handbook marks the end of its first phase, the project “Transition Dialogue” has now been extended from 2022-2024. In this new phase of the project, the Transition Dialogue network seeks to open a transnational and differentiated debate on transformation processes and experiences that makes memory discourses more visible and contributes to better understanding between European neighbours. The young generation must be explicitly brought into focus and addressed. To this end, following

Closing conference of Transition Dialogue 2019-2021

On Thursday 31st March and Friday 1st April, we gathered both online and in the Rotes Rathaus in the centre of Berlin to mark the closing of the programme “Transition Dialogue” and to present the handbook that has been the result of the hard work of the project and its coordinators. Our conference was particularly significant given the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, and this background remained present and poignant throughout each of our speakers’