Experiencing Eastern and Central Europe (including Witnessing Auschwitz)” Conference 2025

Image Attribution: Kaveri Somaiah

Attend the annual “Experiencing Eastern and Central Europe (including Witnessing Auschwitz)” Conference this September, 2025.

This year’s program will feature discussions on:

• Auschwitz legacies and memory,

• Changing definitions of Central and Eastern Europe,

• Broader European issues of climate change and political influences.

Program of Events

9:45 – 10:00

• Coffee, cookies

10:00-10:50

• Land Acknowledgement
• Introduction & Opening Remarks
  • Dr. Bozena Karwowska
    Mrs. Aleksandra Kucy, Consul General
    of the Republic of Poland
• Panel 1: Auschwitz
  • Paradoxes of Auschwitz Prisoner Labour – Karen Howatson
  • Deception and Hope in Auschwitz Literature – Nikolai Sundstrom

10:50 – 11:00

• Coffee break (Drinks, cookies provided)

11:00-11:50

• Keynote Speaker:
  • Prisoners’ Orchestras in Auschwitz – Dr. Jacek Lachendro

12:00-1:00

• Lunch break (Pizza and drinks provided)

1:00-1:50

• Panel 2: Eastern, Central, and Northern Europe – Definitions Redefined
  • Regional Identities in Flux: Rethinking Eastern, Central, and Northern Europe – Dr. Ibrahim Muradov
  • Cultures of Climate Risk Response –Eastern, Northern & Central Europe – Bryan McEwen, Climatologist

1:50 – 2:00

• Coffee break (Drinks, cookies provided)

2:00 – 2:50

• Panel 3: Eastern, Central, and Northern Europe – Definitions Redefined
  • Discovering Lost Legacies from a Polish Heritage – Margaret Ostrowski
  • Waning Kremlin Shadows: The Decline of Russian Influence in the Baltic States (1991-2025) – Şerif Sav
  • Resilience and Self-Determination: Ukraine’s Psychological Journey Toward Europe – Tomas Vanderkam

2:50 – 3:00

• Coffee break (Drinks, cookies provided)

3:00-3:40

• Panel 4: Eastern, Central, and Northern Europe – Definitions Redefined
• Croatia – The Most Mediterranean of the Slavic Nations – Marko Dekovic
• Private Lives, Public Upheavals: Relationships as Mirrors of Post-Yugoslav Change in Perisic’s Our Man in Iraq – Nargiz Piriyeva
• Closing remarks – Dasha McEwen

How to Attend

This event will be held in the Dodson Room (302) in the IKB Learning Centre on UBC Vancouver Campus, from 9:00am – 4:00pm on September 15.

The event is open to students, faculty, and the wider community. Everyone is welcome to join the conversation!