UDINE – The history of the twentieth century reread through the scars imprinted on its territory and the years of the Cold War as a potential widespread museum, from Central Europe to the Adriatic regionsthanks to the legacy that that period leaves us: a historical heritage to be recomposed, catalogued, explored and promoted, through itineraries that connect museums and archives, bunkers and other military structures which become just as many stages in a formidable historical tourism circuit. It is dedicated to “Commemorating the Cold War in Europe – On the trail of the Cold War in Europe” there second edition of the international Forum, scheduled in Udine from Thursday 13th to Saturday 15th Junewhich renews the partnership between the University of Udine, Harvard University – Center for Cold War Studies e L’Friuli History Association. The initiative, for the scientific direction of Thomas Piffer – professor at the University of Udine – aims to consolidate an international network of scholars, lead by the University of Udine, focused on the history of borders and borderlands in the Cold War. A international think tank of Cold War studies, therefore, who returns to Udine one year after the 2023 conference “Border lands. From the Cold War to the conflicts of today”: The Forum promoted this yearfinanced by the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia and by the PRIN PRNN project “Cultural heritage of war on the borderland”, will feature some of the most famous historians of our time, from Mark KramerDirector of the Center for Cold War Studies at Harvard University, a David Reynolds, Emeritus Professor of International History at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of the British Academy. And they will be there too other historical references in the network that has grown alongside these initiatives: Nadia Boyadjieva (visiting Harvard University), Hope Harrison (George Washington University), Patrick Karlsen (University of Trieste), Paweł Machcewicz (University of Warsaw), Christian Ostermann (Director Wilson Center’s History Washington), Molly Pucci (Trinity College, Dublin) e Peter Ruggenthaler (University of Graz). The project will open on Thursday 13 June at 6.30 pm in the Fondazione Friuli Hall in Udine, withthe greeting of Magnificent Rector of the University of Udine, Roberto Pinton, and with the masterly lesson of the historian Andrea Graziosi, one of the most authoritative voices of contemporary historical investigation, professor at the University of Naples Federico II, on “The legacy of the Cold War in Europe”. During his speech, Andrea Graziosi rwill first recall the memory and the political and cultural legacy of the great fault lines that have crossed European history – that between Arabs and then Turks and Christians, between the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, and between its nationalisms – to then focus on the Cold War and on what that experience has left an impression on in the European Unionin some of its Member States, in the Catholic Church and finally nei Post-Soviet countriesstarting from Russia.
This public event will be followed by two days of study, Friday 14 and Saturday 15 June, full of interventions and reports, in Udine and Malborghetto, with 30 scholars from all over the world discussing the heritage of the Cold War: from central Europe to the Adriatic region, from museums to archives, to bunkers, to other military structures which are potential stops in a formidable historical tourism circuit. The impact of the Cold War on the border areas lasted well beyond the collapse of the Berlin Walland with Hope Harrison participants will be able to venture into the memories that have survived in Germany, rediscover the atmosphere of the legendary Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, to rediscover it today as a site of pulsating memory of those years together with the historic Susanne Muhle explore the history of the Berlin Wall and a city divided with Gerhard Sälter, learn about the German History Museum in the story of Katharina Zeiher. The memory of the victims of those years suspended between East and West also echoes around the Monument to the CIA Agents who died on missions on the Iron Curtain, the historian will talk about it Richard Cummingsand it will be interesting to explore the papers of the State Security Archives declassified in Romania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and above all with Andriy Kohut delve into what remains of the KGB Archives preserved in Ukraine, testimony to decades of violation of personal freedoms and rights by totalitarian states. An important part of the exploration will be dedicated to memory centers in the central European area: with Dieter Bacher And Julia Köstenberger we will travel among monuments and museums of the Cold War in Austria, Tvrtko Jakovina will guide us through the vestiges of the Cold War in Tito’s former Yugoslavia, Rok Bavčar will focus on the border museum in Nova Gorica and Giulia Caccamo will be a guide along the “Alla Soglia di Gorizia” paths. The conclusion will be dedicated to the heritage of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, which will come to life at the end of the study day when the participants will have the opportunity to visit the Opera 4 bunker in Malborghetto Valbruna. The bunker, managed by the Landscapes Association, is included in the Eastern Frontier project started byUniversity of Udine, always in synergy with the Harvard Cold War Studies Center: a portal dedicated to mapping and systematization of defensive structures built on the eastern border during the 20th century, over 1300, completely abandoned with the end of the Cold War
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