The participants of the workshop about Italy and 1945.Photo by Thomas Abel

From 29 to 30 January 2018, a workshop took place at the BGHS, titled “Challenging 1945 as a ‘caesura’. New perspectives on transitions, continuity and change in Italy and beyond”. Young researchers from German, Italian, French and Scottish universities discussed aspects of their research that were connected to ‘1945’. 1945 was understood both as the very year and as cipher for processes connected to it (end of World War II; postwar; beginning of the Cold War, e.g.).

Teresa Malice and Stefan Laffin, doctoral researchers at the BGHS and the workshop organizers, gave the introduction to the topic. They pointed out that ‘1945’ needs to be seen as a decisive experience set piece of the international historiography of the 20th Century, and in many respects as epoch-making. In his keynote, Professor Heinz-Gerhard Haupt further stressed this aspect and put it into perspective, highlighting the value of caesurae and the establishment of caesurae – in historical writing.

Afterwards, the mentioned aspects were discussed in four different panels.

A summary in detail by Stefan Laffin and Teresa Malice can be found here:
Report about the workshop (pdf)

More information about the BGHS workshops:
www.uni-bielefeld.de/bghs/Programm/Workshops