From the poison cabinets of communism

From the poison cabinets of communism
Methodological questions on working with surveillance files
in Southeastern and Central Europe
Conference
Berlin, 28–30 April 2015
Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum,
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Tuesday, 28. April 2015
9.00–9.30 Welcome
Prof. Dr. Roland Berbig, Institut für deutsche Literatur, HU zu Berlin
Hon.-Prof. Dr. Konrad Gündisch, director of the IKGS München,
Prof. Dr. Matthias Weber, Steering committee of the ENRS, director of the BKGE Oldenburg
Björn Deicke, director of the BStU
9.30–10.00 Introduction: Michaela Nowotnick, Institut für deutsche Literatur, HU Berlin
9.30–12.30 Country Reports I
Chair: Dr. Hubertus Knabe, director of the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen memorial
10.00–10.30 Marianne Birthler, former Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records, Berlin: Germany
10.30–11.00 Dr. Krisztián Ungváry, contemporary historian, Budapest: Hungary
Break
11.30–12.00 Martin Pražák, Security Services Archive, Prague: Czech Republic
12.00–12.30 Dr. Peter Jašek, Nation’s Memory Institute, Bratislava: Slovakia
Lunch Break
14.00–16.30 Country Reports II
Chair: Prof. Dr. Attila Pók, Institute of History, Center for Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences,
Budapest
14.00–14.30 Dr. Dragoş Petrescu, President of the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives,
Bucharest: Romania
14.30–15.00 Egin Ceka, political scientist, former diplomat, Vienna: Albania
15.00–15.30 Dr. Igor Caşu, director of the Center for the Study of Totalitarianism, State University of Moldova;
deputy chair of the Commission for the analysis of the totalitarian communist regime in the Republic of
Moldova: Moldova
16.00–16.30 Discussion
Break
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17.00–18.30 Surveillance files as a scientific source
Chair: Dr. Burkhard Olschowsky, BKGE Oldenburg
Dr. Florin Abraham, ENRS, CNSAS, Bucharest: Archives of Secret Communist Police: Sources of Alternative
History?
Dr. Matthias Braun, Berlin: The Value of Stasi Files as a Source of Literary History
Dr. Corneliu Pintilescu, Lucian Blaga-Universität Sibiu: “Matryoshka Dolls”: Dealing with the Institutional
Practices and Encapsulated Discourses of the Securitate
19.30 Panel discussion
Opfer! Täter! Volksverräter!
Die Aufarbeitung geheimdienstlicher Archivbestände in Ostmittel- und Südosteuropa
Uwe Kolbe (writer, Hamburg)
Michaela Nowotnick (literary scholar, Berlin)
Ulrike Poppe (civil-rights activist, Brandenburger Landesbeauftragte zur Aufarbeitung der Folgen der
kommunistischen Diktatur, Potsdam)
Radu Preda (theologian, Executive President of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and
Memory of the Romanian Exile, Bucharest)
Krisztián Ungváry (Contemporay historian, publicist, Budapest)
Chair: Dr. Florian Kührer-Wielach, IKGS München
Wednesday, 29. April 2015
9.00–10.30 Transfers and Entanglements
Chair: Dr. Dr. Gerald Volkmer, BKGE Oldenburg
Dr. Georg Herbstritt, BStU: From allies to adversaries? Relations between the Securitate and the Stasi.
1950–1989
Dr. Ágnes Kiss, Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities, Cluj-Napoca: Censorship between
Ambiguity and Effectiveness: Rules, Trust and Informal Practices in Romania (1949–1989)
William Totok, writer and publicist, Berlin: The political shaping of historiography abroad by the Securitate
(1956–1989)
Break
2/4
11.00–12.30
Minorities and fringe groups I
Chair: Hon.-Prof. Dr. Konrad Gündisch, IKGS München
Prof. Dr. Ágnes Tóth, research fellow, Institute for Minority Studies, Center for Humanities, Hungarian
Academy of Sciences, Budapest; senior lecturer at the Stiftungslehrstuhl für deutsche Geschichte und Kultur
im südöstlichen Mitteleuropa, University of Pécs: The Aspects of Political Surveillance and its Subjects in a
Multiethnic Village. Vaskút, 1950–1957
Dr. Laura Laza, Department for German Language and Literature, Faculty of Letters, Babeş-Bolyai-University
Cluj-Napoca/Klausenburg: The unresearched literary estate of von Aichelburg in the CNSAS archive
Dr. Krisztina Slachta, Historisches Archiv der Staatssicherheitsdienste Ungarns, Budapest; Stiftungslehrstuhl
für deutsche Geschichte und Kultur im südöstlichen Mitteleuropa, Universität Pécs/Fünfkirchen: Hungarian
Germans, the Stasi and the Hungarian Secret Service
Lunch Break
14.00–15.00 Keynote Lecture
Chair: Dr. Enikő Dácz, IKGS München
Prof. Dr. Gabriel Andreescu, dissident, political scientist, publicist, Bucharest:
The Manipulation of the Political Police Archive – Why and How?
Break
15.30–17.00 Biographical Approaches
Chair: Dr. Valentina Glajar, University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Corina Petrescu, University of Mississippi: While Reading a File: Securitate Files as (Hi)Story
Dr. Stefano Bottoni, Institute of History, Center for Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest:
Mikó Imre in the light of his records
Hon.-Prof. Dr. Stefan Sienerth, Pfaffenhofen/Ilm: A reliable source for literary history or a mere tissue of lies?
On the authenticity of Securitate files on Romanian German writers
19.00 Book reading at the Literaturhaus Berlin
Susanne Schädlich
reads from her novel
„Herr Hübner und die sibirische Nachtigall“
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Thursday, 30. April 2015
9.00–10.30 Workshop discussion: Practical questions about working with surveillance files by the
example of the Romanian-German Aufarbeitung
Chair: Michaela Nowotnick, Institut für deutsche Literatur, HU Berlin
Thomas Şindilariu (historian, Honterus Archive, Braşov)
Hannelore Baier (journalist, historian, Sibiu)
Joachim Wittstock (writer, literary scholar, Sibiu)
Gerhardt Csejka (literary critic, essayist, translator, Berlin)
Break
11.00–12.00 Minorities and fringe groups II
Chair: Helmuth Frauendorfer, Berlin-Hohenschönhausen memorial
Barbara Wallbraun, Leipzig: Lesbians as a target of the Stasi
Andra Drăghiciu, Andrássy Universität Budapest: “Dansuri excentrice pe scaune” (Wild dances on chairs).
The Romanian youth in the eyes of the Securitate
12.00–12.30 Final discussion and concluding remarks, Dr. Florian Kührer-Wielach, IKGS München
***
13.30–18.30 ESR Workshops (only for scholarship holders)
- Guided archive tour: Dr. Axel Janowitz, BStU
- Workshops
Instructors: Dr. Anita Krätzner-Ebert, BStU; Dr. Georg Herbstritt, BStU
- Short presentations of research topics
Instructors: Michaela Nowotnick, Dr. Florian Kührer-Wielach
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