Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena

Cultures of History Forum

Here we provide a preview of our latest publications. Follow this link to the Cultures of History Forum's website to get access to all our articles.


Saint Volodymyr Monument in Kyiv, 1975

Politics of History

Vladimir versus Volodymyr

Conflicting Russian and Ukrainian Application of Rus’ Heritage

Jeremy Cohen ·


Putin justified his invasion of peaceful Ukraine in February 2022 by questioning the very idea that Ukraine has a national history distinct from Russia. At the core of this claim is the shared history of the Kievan Rus'. The article provides a critical analysis of the uses and abuses of Rus' history by both states and of their strategies to craft that history into a national narrative and weapon in the current war.

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Installation representing the Bohemian Parliament of the late 19th and early 20th century

Exhibiting 20th Century History

Localizing “Our Germans”

The New Permanent Exhibition in Ústí nad Labem

Patrick Metzler ·


The opening of this exhibition in the city museum of the small Czech town of Ústi nad Labem in November 2021 was as much a political milestone as it was a curatorial achievement: for the first time, the long and painful history of Germans and Czechs in Bohemia and Moravia is being displayed in form of a permanent exhibition. The curators succeed to approach the shared past with an openness towards the complex relational history and sometimes surprising technological interventions.

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Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders in Riga, ca. 2017

Politics of History

Toppling Monuments

How Russia's War against Ukraine has Changed Latvia’s Memory Politics

Mārtiņš Kaprāns ·


Since Russia started its war, Latvia has shown much solidarity with Ukraine - in military, humanitarian and symbolic ways. The latter involved the political decision to demolish Soviet-era Second World War monuments all across the country. The most important of them, the so called Victory Monument in Riga, was toppled on 22 August. The article discusses how it came to this and what it means for the future of Latvia's relations to its Russian-speaking population for whom this monument had great meaning.

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