KFG Lecture Series with Paul Betts (Oxford)

Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung, Südliches Schloßrondell 23
Lecture Series “Europe’s History of the Present: Universalism and Particularism”

The KFG opens this winter term’s lecture series on Friday November 15 at 5 pm with a lecture by Paul Betts on ‘Walls, Doors and Bridges: A Changing Legacy of 1989 for Our Time’. 

Paul Betts is Professor of Modern European History at Oxford University; he has published widely on Modern European and German history, including most recently Ruin and Renewal: Civilising Europe after 1945 (2020) (German Edition Ullstein) and Within Walls: Private Life in the GDR (2010). He has also co-edited 8 volumes, most recently a book (with Marcus Colla) on socialist space (2024).

Abstract: “It has been widely remarked that the 21st century has become a New Age of Walls, and not just in Europe. Its emergence seems to spell the end of the open and cosmopolitan spirit of 1989 in Central Europe and across the world. By contrast our era is often described as an illiberal “counter-revolution” that explicitly rejects the hopes and values of the annus mirabilis 35 years ago. My presentation will address this interpretation in several ways. First, I hope to show that many of the aspects that we associate with the more recent populist rejection of liberalism is not a new response to the economic and migration crises of the early 21st century, but in fact started much earlier. Secondly, there was a good amount of border-crossing in 1989, but much of it was neither voluntary nor welcome. Thirdly and perhaps most importantly: while many barriers have been constructed to keep unwanted peoples from entering various territories, wall construction has not only been physical. We have done the same with the inheritance of 1989 itself, erecting a set of conceptual walls, doors and bridges that have prevented us from acknowledging the shadowsides of 1989 and its aftermath. In this regard, I will revisit some of the forgotten lessons and legacies of that revolutionary year, and why its evolving relevance has become a new foundational past for our own time.”

Participation is possible in person or via zoom after registration under the following link.

For further information, please refer to the poster below.

To get the reading material for each session, please contact us: kfg20@lrz.uni-muenchen.de.

If you want to receive regularly information on the colloquium and other KFG events, please register for the newsletter by writing to kfg20@lrz.uni-muenchen.de.

Please register by November 4th!