Architecture as a tool of violence: research on Central and Eastern Europe from a postcolonial perspective’
Panel discussion: ‘Architecture as a tool of violence: research on Central and Eastern Europe from a postcolonial perspective’
Participants in the discussion:
Prof. Dr. phil. habil. Max Welch Guerra – Bauhaus Universität Weimar
dr Mykola Riabchuk – Deutsches Historisches Institut Warschau
Dr Jacek Małczyński – University of Wrocław
Moderator: Dr Tomasz Kurianowicz, Berliner Zeitung.
Time: 6 p.m.
Pilecki Institute Berlin
Pariser Platz 4A
10117 Berlin
Registration: https://forms.gle/rhJi2ShdpJ5H5Wg79
The event will focus on the postcolonial approach in research on Central and Eastern Europe. The starting point for the discussion will be the question of how architecture and urban planning were used by the Third Reich and other European dictatorships of the 20th century as tools of control, violence and political domination.
We will discuss both the large-scale Nazi projects to rebuild cities in occupied Poland and the projects that shaped everyday life, public space and social relations: spatial planning, housing construction and the reorganisation of villages. Instead of looking at buildings solely through the prism of their aesthetics or function, we will examine them as elements of a system of power and actions aimed at erasing local cultural identity. The event will show how these practices were rooted in the broader history of European colonialism and how they fit into the ideology of ‘internal colonisation’.
The event will also address the topic of ‘difficult heritage’: contemporary questions and challenges concerning how to deal with architecture and space that bear traces of violence and difficult memories.
The event will take the form of 3-4 short lectures followed by a concluding panel discussion.