Two Wars in Eastern Europe: The German-Soviet War 1941-1945 in the Perspective of the Current Ukrainian War

Two Wars in Eastern Europe: The German-Soviet War 1941-1945 in the Perspective of the current Ukrainian War Lecture by Prof. Dr. Dieter Pohl followed by discussion

2022 marked the 81st anniversary of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. In connection with the General Plan East, huge population displacements on this territory were also planned as war aims at the time.

The current Russian attack on Ukraine inevitably evokes associations with the German-Soviet War of 1941-1945. Against this background, Dieter Pohl seeks answers in his lecture to questions that fundamentally affect national and international cultures of remembrance: How does the new conflict change the view of 1941? How did the German war of extermination affect Ukraine and the Russian Federation at that time? How did memory disintegrate in the post-Soviet space? What effects does the current Ukrainian war have on the memory of the German war of extermination against the Soviet Union and what analogies between then and now appear meaningful from the perspective of historical scholarship? The aim is to enable a reflection on the current situation.

Dieter Pohl, born in 1964, received his doctorate in 1995 with a thesis on "National Socialist Persecution of Jews in Eastern Galicia 1941-1944", habilitation in modern and contemporary history in Munich in 2007.Since September 2010, university professor for contemporary history with a special focus on Eastern and South-Eastern Europe at the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt. Among other things, he is chairman of the scientific advisory board of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. (German War Graves Commission).

Moderation: Dr. Heike Dörrenbächer

Admission free

An event in cooperation with the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the German War Graves Commission.

For your and our safety, we recommend wearing an FFP2 mask during the event.