Łukasz Kiełpiński is one of the beneficiaries of the competition for funding student and PhD candidates mobility within the HarSval project. He received 4030 PLN funding for the Summer School: The Return of History: Memory War and the End of the ‘Post’ which took place at Södertörn University, Stockholm.

Enjoy reading his report below:

“From August 11-17, 2024, thanks to funding obtained through the HarSval project, I participated in a summer school entitled The Return of History: Memory War and the End of the ‘Post’ organized by the Center for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES), Södertörn University in Sigtuna. The summer school took the form of a week-long specialized course. The main theme of the summer school appeared to be the turn in memory policies in the Baltic and Eastern European countries after February 24, 2022.

At this year’s summer school, I presented a research project entitled Remembering Eastern Europe Through the Motion Pictures: Polish and Lithuanian Film Diaries in Exile. During the workshop part, I gave a presentation on Lithuanian and Polish film diaries from the mid-20th century. The object of my research was primarily two films – Reminiscences from a Trip to Lithuania (1972) by Jonas Mekas and Return to Poland (1981) by Marian Marzynski. The comparative approach of the two works allowed me to explore how the individual work of memory recorded on film enters into a dialogue with the general history of the Central and Eastern European region. The opportunity to present my project and exchange information in an international environment, allowed me to better reflect on the construction of the research plan and made me pay attention to the important aspects of the films I analyzed. The presentation was met with great appreciation and interest from the audience.

The summer school in Sigtuna also consisted of a lecture part, which included such presentations as Populism in Memory Discourses in Contemporary Central. Eastern and Southeastern Europe (Barbara Törnquist-Plewa, Lund University), Historical truth and competing memories. Baltic and East-European perspectives (Florence Fröhlig, Södertörn University).

The guided tour of Sigtuna, in turn, was a great opportunity to look at how the politics of memory operate in a place that provided us with a space to discuss the topic.”