Agata Wąsowska-Pawlik in Dublin

The ICC Director, Agata Wąsowska-Pawlik, took part in the debate entitled "Reconciliation: a Long and Winding Path", taking place within the frameworks of the European Remembrance Symposium, organised this year for the tenth time. The conference took place in Dublin on 1–3 June.

The European Remembrance Symposium is a project of the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, which addresses the question whether there is one culture of memory in contemporary Europe and is it possible to build a common historical narrative?

Trauma and painful past are extremely important aspects of national identities and collective memories, requiring appropriate commemoration and reverence to the victims. However, if the politics of remembrance is not accompanied by informed acts of reconciliation, these difficult experiences can have a devastating effect on the relationship between conflicting countries and nations. Reconciliation between states not only makes all sides of traumatic past events capable of commemorating them together, but also paves the way for harmonious relationships in the future.

The Dublin conference brought together politicians, historians, researchers, members of non-governmental organisations, as well as heads of cultural institutions coming from Ireland, Germany, Romania, Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, and Serbia.

Agata Wąsowska-Pawlik participated in the panel discussion, "Actors and multilevel processes leading to reconciliation", together with Dr Juraj Marušiak from the Slovak Academy of Sciences and Dr Sinéad McCoole from the Irish Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, moderated by Prof. Valérie Rosoux from the Catholic University of Louvain.