Grimond Lecture Theatre 2
Friday 30 May 2014
An event organised by the German Department in the School for European Culture and Languages and the School of History at the University of Kent
Why and how should we commemorate the centenary of the First World War?
During this event at the UK’s European university, we will compare the symbolic importance attached to the First World War across Europe using the examples of the UK, Austria and Belgium. What do governments, archives and museums hope to achieve with their commemoration programmes over the next four years and are European trends discernible across national borders?
You are warmly invited to attend a discussion with our panel of international experts, followed by an illustrated lecture presenting visual documents from both sides of the conflict. This aims illustrate what we can learn from the similarities between these artefacts, and how family and public histories are linked in the ‘great seminal catastrophe’ (Kennan) of the twentieth century.
The event will end with the launch of Gateways to the First World War, an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded centre for public engagement with the First World War.
3.00-4.30pm: Panel Discussion – Grimond Lecture Theatre 2
Dr Emil Brix (Austrian Ambassador to the United Kingdom)
Prof Wolfgang Maderthaner (General Director of the Austrian State Archive, Vienna)
Dr Suzanne Bardgett (Director of Research, Imperial War Museum, London)
Dominieck Dendoveen (Flanders Fields Museum, Belgium)
Chaired by Dr Deborah Holmes, Head of German at the University of Kent
5-6.30pm: Illustrated lecture – Grimond Lecture Theatre 2
Prof Mark Connelly (School of History, University of Kent)
Dr Heide Kunzelmann (Lecturer in German, University of Kent)
6.30-7.30: Drinks reception
Launch of Gateways to the First World War, the AHRC World War One Engagement Centre hosted by the School of History at the University of Kent (director: Prof Mark Connelly)
For more details and to register, please visit: https://alumni.kent.ac.uk/events/ww1-open-lecture-2014
If you require any further information please email: events@kent.ac.uk
This event is also supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum and the Ingeborg Bachmann Centre for Austrian Literature (Institute of Modern Languages Research, University of London).