The Platform of European Memory and Conscience and the Hungarian Committee of National Remembrance cordially invite to an international symposium with the title “The year 1956 and the non-reformability of Communism” which will take place on Wednesday, 15 June 2016 from 10.00-12.00 in the European Parliament in Brussels under the auspices of Mr László Tőkés, MEP.
The symposium will focus on events triggered by the secret speech of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at the XXth congress of the Communist party of the USSR in March 1956. Attempts at de-Stalinisation and revolutionary movements toward freedom and democracy which followed in the Eastern bloc were thwarted by force. Speakers will be historians and activists of 1956 from Romania, Poland, Hungary, former East Germany and Czechoslovakia.
THE YEAR 1956 AND THE NON-REFORMABILITY OF COMMUNISM
International symposium
15 June 2016 10.00-12.00
European Parliament, Brussels, room József Antall 6Q1
under the auspices of Mr László Tőkés, MEP
PROGRAMME:
Moderator: Dr. Neela Winkelmann, Managing Director, Platform of European Memory and Conscience, CZ
- 10.00 – 10.10
Welcome and introduction – 1956 as a symbol
Rev. László Tőkés, Member of the European Parliament, RO
- 10.10 – 10.30
Rehabilitation during Communism. Problems of de-Stalinization in Hungary
Dr. István Ötvös, Member, Committee of National Remembrance, HU
- 10.30 – 10.50
The Poznan uprising
Dr. Paweł Ukielski, Deputy Director, Institute of National Remembrance, PL
- 10.50 – 11.10
The Hungarian revolution
Dr. Réka Földváryné Kiss, Chairwoman, Committee of National Remembrance, HU
- 11.10 – 11.50
Experience of activists of 1956:
The April 1956 Student resolutions in Prague, then Czechoslovakia – Dr. Michael Heyrovský (*1932)
The 1956 “Physicist Ball“ in Jena, former East Germany – Peter Herrmann (*1934)
- 11.50 – 12.00
Concluding remarks
Göyrgy Schöpflin, Member of the European Parliament, HU and Göran Lindblad, President, Platform of European Memory and Conscience, SE
Refreshments
