The conference series The Justice of Memory organized by the Civic Academy Foundation – the Memorial to the Victims of Communism and to the Resistance, and the Spandugino Foundation, coordinated and moderated by journalist and essayist Cristian Pătrășconiu endeavours to present and to foster debates on pressing matters, while underscoring the pivotal role and profound significance of remembrance in evoking and comprehending the events that transpired during the era of communism, the political system with the greatest number of casualties in the annals of human history.
The events are held in the conference room of the Bucharest office of the Memorial to the Victims of Communism and to the Resistance, which also hosts the seat of the Civic Academy Foundation.
What contributing factors brought on the establishment of communist rule in certain countries of the world? What are the underlying causes of its downfall? In what manifestations does it continue to exert its influence upon the contemporary global landscape? What behaviours, ideologies, and policies that characterised communism throughout its nearly seven-decade domination of Europe endure in modern-day society? How can contemporary events be comprehended through the lens of the world history of communism, and what are the profound connections that interweave the past and the present?
These are (merely) some of the questions that the distinguished guest speakers of this conference series wish to address through the insightful lectures they have delivered or are yet to deliver.
The conference series organised jointly by the Civic Academy Foundation – the Memorial to the Victims of Communism and to the Resistance, and the Spandugino Foundation derives its title from Ana Blandiana’s famous words: “When justice does not succeed in being a form of remembrance, remembrance alone can be a form of justice”.
October 2022: Thierry Wolton, Communism and its Consequences
November 2022: Sever Voinescu, Vaclav Havel: They Were Lucky to Have Had Him
December 2022: Ioan Stanomir, Russia, the Soviet Union and us: Totalitarianism, Models, Remembrance
January 2023 – Adrian Papahagi, Christianity vs. communism, or the lesson of Professor Woland
February 2023 – Armand Goșu, A year of war. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
March 2023 – Andrei Pleșu, Memory Exercises
April 2023 – Dennis Deletant, The Importance of the Past
May 2023 – Stéphane Courtois, Putin’s Russia and the criminal legacy of the Soviet communism
June 2023 – Martin S. Martin, Political correctness and neocommunism in America today
October 2023 – Teodor Baconschi, Christianity’s End. Thoughts on the apostolic model of faith
November 2023 – Andrei Ursu, „D” (Disinformation) as a form of suppression of memory and justice
December 2023 – Ioan Stanomir, Iuliu Maniu or about Romania dignity
January 2024 – Cristian Preda, Four Democratic Romanians
February 2024 – Armand Goșu, Two years of war. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
