Conferences and summer schools

International conference, 15 - 17 October 2025

Henryk Bereska is a still underestimated East German translator and poet, critical thinker and creator of the foundations of the intellectual debate on Polish literature in Germany. Despite his extensive oeuvre, which has been honoured with the Transatlantyk Prize of the Polish Book Institute, among others, his translational and literary work remains little known and has not yet been systematically researched.

The year 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of the translator and poet's death, and one year later will be the centenary of his birth: a fitting occasion to examine his wide-ranging oeuvre at an academic conference, to discuss the topicality of his work as a "silent mediator in the dialogue between Eastern and Western Europe", his role in German-Polish knowledge exchange and his significance for current academic research.

The conference will open with a lecture by the German author, dramaturge and radio director Matthias Thalheim, who worked as head of the artistic word at MDR Kultur from 1992 to 2020 in the areas of radio plays, features, readings, cabaret and children's radio.

After the conference, the publication of a conference volume (edited by Prof Anna Małgorzewicz, Dr Małgorzata Szajbel-Keck and Dr Ilona Czechowska) is planned in the series "Studies on Multiculturalism" of the University of Wrocław by Harrassowitz Verlag (in print and OA). The selection of contributions (in Polish or German) will be based on a double-blind peer review process.

Deadline for the submission of conference contributions: 30 April 2025

Location: European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder) and Collegium Polonicum, Słubice

Languages: German, Polish, English (without simultaneous interpreting)

ERUA Winter School, Oktober / November 2025

Diese Winter School bietet eine einzigartige akademische und praktische Erfahrung, die Online-Vorlesungen mit Aktivitäten in Zypern kombiniert. Sie ist eine außergewöhnliche Gelegenheit, um das Verständnis für rechtliche, politische und menschenrechtliche Fragen in Territorialkonflikten zu vertiefen, in internationalen Teams mit Studierenden von Partneruniversitäten zusammenzuarbeiten und direkte Erfahrungen durch Verhandlungen und Moot-Court-Simulationen zu sammeln.
Die Winter School bietet zudem die Möglichkeit wichtige Orte der Teilung Zyperns zu besuchen, wie die UN-Pufferzone in Nikosia und den geschlossenen Bezirk Varosha in Famagusta, sowie fortgeschrittene Kenntnisse im Völkerrecht zu erwerben, die auf reale Fälle angewendet werden. Die Winter School wird von der Warschauer University of Social Sciences and Humanities und der Europa-Universität Viadrina im Rahmen der European University Reform Alliance (ERUA) organisiert. Die Anmeldung ist bis zum 30. September möglich.

Ort: online und auf Zypern

Sprache: Englisch

Conference, 13 - 14 November 2025

The doctoral students of the Professorship of Economic Sociology are organising a conference at the European University Viadrina in November.

The conference will deal with the topic "Transformations of Capitalism - Perspectives of Economic Sociology in Times of Polycrisis". It will focus on the challenges and contributions of economic sociology in the current global crisis, including topics such as the fragility of socio-economic systems, sustainable economic models and the dynamics of social inequalities. The conference is particularly aimed at doctoral students in economic sociology in German-speaking countries; English contributions are also welcome.

Keynote speaker Dr Marcin Serafin (IFiS PAN, Warsaw) will open the discussion.

The call for papers is online. Abstracts (max. 500 words) can be submitted until 15 July 2025.

Location: European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

32nd Conference of the German-Polish Working Group for Art History and Monument Conservation, 4 to 6 December 2025

The interest in disused, decaying building structures seems to have a long history. This is evidenced by examples of archaeological tourism since ancient times. At certain times, the contemplation of ruins played a formative role in European culture, as evidenced by the pictorial worlds of Panini, Piranesi, C.D. Friedrich, Pompeian salons and artificial ruins in the gardens of European residences.

In late modernism, not least as part of the "spatial turn", the ruin returns as a metaphor for contingency. This time it does not primarily stand for endurance and the timelessness of the imperial or sublime. Rather, it functions - in line with the acceleration of world events - as a symbol for the changing times of modernity, for transformations, shrinking processes and for the destructive violence of wars.

While the preservation of monuments in Western countries is concerned with the legal protection of disused railway stations, industrial complexes, barracks, churches and, most recently, department stores, something else is going on under the radar of institutions. The processes of decay have long since become a source of fascination for the globally networked Urbex scene. The morbid aura of modern ruins is perceived as an expression of the "authentic" and as an antithesis to the all-encompassing economisation of cultural assets. Entering abandoned building complexes is a special kind of physical experience, a savouring of atmospheres. The immersive experience is processed photographically and disseminated to the relevant communities via social media. But beyond our reality, the theme of ruin is also utilised by the virtual games and entertainment industry: AI-generated films and games deliver the coveted, post-apocalyptic scenarios to order. The ruin is therefore a metaphor for the state of the planet in the age of the Anthropocene.

Unfortunately, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe were and are currently confronted with war ruins to a particular extent. In this respect, the topic offers numerous approaches as a leitmotif for this year's conference of the German-Polish Working Group for Art History and Monument Conservation.
It is intended to pursue a comparative objective in terms of time and space, illuminating connecting lines and ruptures in the reflection on ruins.

The following aspects could play a role:

• Spatial and temporal varieties of ruin reflection
• War ruins and questions of identity
• Post-transformational landscapes of decay
• Atmospheres and bodily experience of "lost places"
• Mediality and semiotics of ruins
• Imagined / dystopian ruinscapes in the arts and popular culture

In addition to the thematic presentations (speaking time max. 20 min.), the information exchange of the working group offers a forum for the presentation of current individual or institutional research projects (short presentations, max. 10 min.) on issues of common cultural heritage in Eastern Europe.

Conference languages are German and English (possibly also Polish, if funds are available for simultaneous translation).

Please send a synopsis of your (unpublished) contribution (2,400 characters), a short CV and details of your current position by 15 September 2025 to:

Europa-Universitaet Viadrina
Prof. Dr Paul Zalewski
Grosse Scharrnstrasse 57
15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
Email: zalewski@europa-uni.de

Location: European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)