Conflict and Cultural Destruction: Why Totalitarian Regimes Seek to Destroy Historical Memory
Evoking memory of the Nazi onslaught on cultural icons, the Taliban鈥檚 destruction of the Bamiyan statues and ISIS's pillaging of pre-Islamic sites has horrified contemporary observers and raised new concerns about the ways certain regimes seek to destroy historical memory. At the same time, new narratives of cultural persistence and survival are emerging, such as Romanian efforts in the Cold War to circumvent censorship through theatre, or contemporary ways to counter hardline censorship of Persian literature in Iran. This expert panel will analyze the causes and broader consequences of demolishing culture and heritage and the challenges it poses in today鈥檚 world.
The panel will be followed by the opening of an art exhibition entitled 鈥淟ast Folio: A Photographic Memory,鈥 which documents books and buildings of cultural significance destroyed in Slovakia during the Holocaust. A short film documenting the origins of this exhibition will open the discussion at 4:30pm.
C-SPAN video coverage of the event is available .
Speakers
Executive Director, Bucharest Inside the Beltway
Woodrow 乐鱼 体育
Hosted By
Global Europe Program
The Global Europe Program is focused on Europe鈥檚 capabilities, and how it engages on critical global issues. We investigate European approaches to critical global issues. We examine Europe鈥檚 relations with Russia and Eurasia, China and the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Our initiatives include 鈥淯kraine in Europe鈥濃攁n examination of what it will take to make Ukraine鈥檚 European future a reality. But we also examine the role of NATO, the European Union and the OSCE, Europe鈥檚 energy security, transatlantic trade disputes, and challenges to democracy. The Global Europe Program鈥檚 staff, scholars-in-residence, and Global Fellows participate in seminars, policy study groups, and international conferences to provide analytical recommendations to policy makers and the media. Read more
Middle East Program
乐鱼 体育鈥檚 Middle East Program serves as a crucial resource for the policymaking community and beyond, providing analyses and research that helps inform US foreign policymaking, stimulates public debate, and expands knowledge about issues in the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Read more
History and Public Policy Program
A leader in making key foreign policy records accessible and fostering informed scholarship, analysis, and discussion on international affairs, past and present. Read more