Rethinking Violence in Communist Dictatorships in East Central Europe

Although coercion and open repression both by legal and physical means have had a privileged position in the studies of communist dictatorships so far, violence has been surprisingly rarely dealt with in terms of its broader social and cultural meaning. This colloquium sets out to fill in this gap by providing a perspective on practices, experiences and representations of violence in everyday life under socialism. Stressing the tension between violence, power, and legitimacy, such an approach should contribute to a better understanding of the decline of state socialism in East Central Europe. The conference is organised by the Babes-Bolyai-University of Cluj-Napoca, in cooperation with the research group ‘Sozialistische Diktatur als Sinnwelt’, a common project of the Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and the Institute of Contemporary History Prague.

Programme