Stories - Transition Dialogue

Closed Borders: Then and Now

The first of our talks Through the Lens of Transition, “Closed Borders: Then and Now,” took place in our new online format on 14th May. We welcomed as speakers at this event: Alicja Pacewicz, economist, social and educational activist and co-founder of the Center for Citizenship Education in Warsaw; Alexander Morozov, political scientist, publicist, and co-director of the Boris Nemtsov Academic Centre for the Study of Russia in Prague; and Momchil Metodiev, editor-in-chief of the

Second book on Transition Dialogue online

In “Challenges of Transition in Eastern Europe: Lessons for Civic Education” eleven experts from Germany, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Croatia, Lithuania, Romania and Hungary share their observations on the biggest challenges and obstacles in dealing with the past of transition in democratic ways today. The compilation is based on the outcomes of a conference that took place in Sofia on 22nd-23rd of November in 2019. It entails contributions from Thomas Krüger, director of the German

New round for Transition Dialogue!

The project “Transition Dialogue” gets off to a new start for the project cycle 2019-2020. More than 20 events are planned in Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Latvia, Ukraine, Russia and Germany. experts from seven countries will analyse history textbooks on the periode of transition and give recommendations for civic education on methods and new approaches on the topic. More detailed information will follow here shortly!

Transition Dialogue – Konferenz in Sofia / Conference in Sofia

Transition Dialogue – Konferenz in Sofia Am 22. und 23. November fand in Sofia eine Konferenz zur Vorbereitung der weiteren Arbeit zum Thema “Transition Dialogue” statt – eine Kooperation von Sofia Platform und DRA mit Unterstützung der Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb). Von den Konferenzteilnehmern – Experten, Vertreter der Bildungseinrichtungen und NGOs – wurde erörtert, wie sich die oft traumatische Erlebnisse der Menschen aus den Transformationsjahren nach 1990 in den früheren sozialistischen Ländern Mittel-, Ost-

Transition Dialogue – What Next?

Our Transition Dialogue has been a bit silent for the last year, however the next period of our the Dialogue ist about to start. What’s next? That’s what we discuss right now. “The Generation of Transition in Eastern Europe: A Generation of Uncertainty – a Generation of Distrust?” This question was the main focus of the workshop the DRA organized together with its Bulgarian partner organization “Sofia Platform” with the support of the Federal Agency

Mapping Transition: E-Book out now

Two years of research, six countries, six different histories of transition, lots of shared stories and many lessons learned about democracy and how to bring about change. We are happy to present our Book: “MAPPING TRANSITION IN EASTERN EUROPE” – out now online! The book is the final publication of the first project period of “Transition Dialogue” from 2015 – 2017. Project Coordinator: Christine Wetzel About the Book “Mapping Tranistion in Eastern Europe” “Mapping Transition

What Women got from Change: Interview with Mihaela Miroiu

Mihaela Miroiu (born in 1955), Professor at the National University of Political and Administrative Studies Bucharest, is one of the most important feminist scholars in the Eastern Europe. She initiated the first courses of Gender Studies in Romania, contributed to the feminism activism movement and published noumerous volumes on feminist ethics and philosophy. In the most famous book of her, “The road to autonomy. Feminist Political Theories”, she expounds the historical evolution of feminism and

Contested Memories – or Where does Nostalgia Lead us?

The transition dialogues are about experiences and memories about the very recent history. For Ukraine, the communist past is a taboo issue, only fragments appear on the surface, but trigger conflicts in families and entire regions. Clashing beliefs about the past are not new and and have become an obstacle to mutual understanding within society – as you can read from the voices below. We were diving into the see of thoughts of the Ukrainians

Interview with Adrian Schiop

Adrian Schiop (born in 1973) is writer and independent journalist. He published three novels and has a doctoral degree in manele music, a genre that is rather associated with Roma people and lower social class and rarely finds its place in the academic environment. Adrian has a fine anthropological eye, sensitive to social changes of the generations and on how impact of economic changes on the society and individuals. His latest novel ‘Soldații. Poveste de

Dividing Memories – on a Generation

For Ukraine, the issue of knowledge communist past is a taboo topic. While only fragments of the issue appear on the surface, it divides families and entire regions in conflict. Dealing with beliefs about the past has become an obstacle to mutual understanding within society. We therefore propose to dive into the thoughts of the Ukrainians about Soviet times. This post collects thoughts, memories and statements taken from a discussion that took place on the

Interview Andreea Petrut

Andreea Petruț (born in 1990) is a young and talented researcher working in the field of public policies for higher education. Her academic background is in Political Science and Management of Organisation. She is active in several non governamental organisation and civic actions that promote integrity, equality of opportunities, participative democracy and protection of the environment. What has the transition meant to you, your family and for the community you used to live in? Well,

Interview with Adrian Szelmenczi

Adrian Szelmenczi (born in 1979) grew up in a multicultural environment in Nord East of Romania, in a Hungarian-Romanian family. He is human rights activist working for Active Watch NGO. He is highly engaged into defending national minorities’ rights and the implementation of the legislation in this matter in Romania. What did the transition mean to you? First of all, when we commenced with the T-zero moment of the transition, I had turned 10