The project History as an Instrument of Contemporary Conflicts was launched in 2018. Its aim is to analyze phenomena related to the treatment of history as an object or a tool in contemporary disputes and conflicts between states and nations.
So far, the key institutional partners of the project have included the Global Dynamics Research Center (ReCentGlobe) at the University of Leipzig, the Institute of the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity in Warsaw, the Polish-German Science Foundation, the Paweł Włodkowic Institute, and the Institute of Journalism and International Relations at the University of the National Education Commission in Kraków, Poland, which serves as the host institution. The project has been financed by the Ministry of Education and Science under the Excellent Science II program.
The results of the project will be presented as part of a multi-volume publication series. Some volumes will address disputes and conflicts between states and nations in particular regions of the world. The publications will also include the results of comparative analyses of the discussed conflicts, including recommendations regarding conflict prevention and resolution.
Disputes between states and conflicts concerning interpretations of the past are among the key sources of serious international tensions. Such controversies may be defined as situations of political and social stress connected with significant and active divergences in judgments concerning the shared past of the disputing parties. These may include disputes regarding borders, past armed conflicts, occupation, annexation, war crimes and crimes against humanity, oppression, discrimination, responsibility for international crises and humanitarian disasters, as well as conflicts over cultural heritage and historical achievements.
During successive editions of the conference History as an Instrument of Contemporary International Conflicts, we have sought to present new and insightful analyses of the most significant international disputes and conflicts in which history serves as either a subject or an instrument. In this context, the organizers have aimed to:
- identify and compare conflicts of this kind;
- propose a typology of such conflicts;
- verify and interpret the thesis concerning the alleged increase in the number of such conflicts worldwide today;
- understand the political, social, and psychological functions of historical conflicts;
- analyze these conflicts using methods drawn from the social sciences;
- examine methods of resolving conflicts in which history is used as an instrument;
- indicate ways of overcoming traumatic historical experiences that continue to burden international relations even decades later;
- discuss future directions for the development of research on conflicts in which history is employed as an instrument.
The project has so far resulted in four scientific conferences and the following publications:
- Instrumentalizing the Past: The Impact of History on Contemporary International Conflicts, eds. Jan Rydel and Stefan Troebst, Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2022.
- Different Shades of the Past: History as an Instrument of Contemporary International Conflicts, eds. Mateusz Kamionka and Przemysław Łukasik, Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2023.
- Historical Memory in Crisis: The Role of Memory in War Politics and Post-Conflict Reconciliation, eds. Lily Hamourtziadou and Przemysław Łukasik, London: Routledge, 2026.
We are currently in the process of editing the next volume:
- Empire of Memory: Historical Narratives, Geopolitics, and the Legacy of Russian Imperialism, eds. Stefan Troebst, Jan Rydel, and Przemysław Łukasik, Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2026.
Key Figures of the Project
The key figures of the project are Professor Jan Rydel, Professor Stefan Troebst, and Dr. Przemysław Łukasik.
Prof. Jan Rydel is a historian whose research focuses on Central and Eastern Europe and Polish–German relations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Until 2010 he was a researcher and professor at the Jagiellonian University. He is currently a professor at the University of the National Education Commission in Kraków.
Between 2001 and 2005 he headed the Office of Culture, Science and Information at the Polish Embassy in Berlin. Since 2008 he has served as Poland’s representative on the board of the Polish-German Science Foundation. He is also the voluntary custodian of the Rydlówka Manor Museum of Young Poland in Kraków and the Polish representative in the assemblies of the memorial sites at Bergen-Belsen and Mauthausen.
Prof. Rydel is a member of the Steering Committee of the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (ENRS) and coordinates the Polish participation in this network. He is the originator of the project History as an Instrument of Contemporary International Conflicts, a convenor of the project conferences, and an editor and author of the project’s publications.
Prof. Stefan Troebst is a historian and Slavicist. From 1984 to 1992 he served as assistant and associate professor of history at the Free University of Berlin. Between 1992 and 1995 he was a member of the missions of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to Macedonia and Moldova. From 1996 to 1998 he was the founding director of the Danish-German European Centre for Minority Issues in Flensburg.
Since 1999 he has been Professor of East European Cultural History at Leipzig University and Deputy Director of the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) in Leipzig. Until March 2019 he was a member of the Academic Council of the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity.
Prof. Troebst was a co-initiator of subsequent editions of the project History as an Instrument of Contemporary International Conflicts. He has served as a keynote speaker at the project conferences and as an editor and author of the project’s publications.
Dr. Przemysław Łukasik is a graduate of history and international relations. He received his Ph.D. in political studies from the Department of American Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He was a visiting fellow in the Scholar in Residence program of the Goethe-Institut and the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) in Essen, Germany.
Between 2011 and 2015 he served as editorial secretary of the English-language scholarly journal Remembrance and Solidarity Studies in 20th Century European History, published by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity. He is currently an assistant professor at the Institute of Journalism and International Relations at the University of the National Education Commission in Kraków. He has lectured at universities in Germany, Spain, Greece, and Italy, among others.
From the beginning of the project he has served as a co-initiator, coordinator, and researcher. He is also an editor and author of the project’s publications. Since 2023 he has headed the international research team History as an Instrument of Contemporary International Conflicts.