The Russian section invites you to the international conference titled ‚Escaped Memory: Transmitting Narratives, Images and Technologies‘ taking place at the Campus Germersheim of Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz from Thursday, 5 February 2026 to Saturday, 7 February 2026.

War not only kills; it also displaces—and, in doing so, reshapes how uprooted societies and individuals engage in mnemonic practices. Since February 2022, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine has generated new waves of Russian and Ukrainian emigration, dispersing people across Europe and beyond. In such a context, memory has functioned as a shared language, bringing together actors from diverse social, cultural, and political backgrounds. Remembrance practices have become a central arena for meaning-making, community-building, grief, protest, and political positioning.

‚Escaped Memory‘ will be the first scholarly gathering to systematically examine the theoretical, conceptual, and practical dimensions of commemorative practices initiated by this emerging diaspora in response to the ongoing war against Ukraine. Bringing together memory narratives and practices, digital spaces, and artistic forms within an innovative and dynamic analytical framework, the conference investigates which memory modes – antagonistic, agonistic, or cosmopolitan – have come to shape the mnemonic practices having escaped since 2022. It positions emigrants’ remembrance as a crucial site for understanding how war-related trauma is (re)created, performed, and contested across transnational contexts, and how these processes actively shape societies beyond the boundaries of the nation-state.

On the evening of 5 February 2026, conference participants and guests are kindly invited to join the public conversation ‚Escaped Memory: Who Chooses to Remember?‘ with Professor Mischa Gabowitsch (JGU Mainz) Professor Vjeran Pavlaković (Univ of Rijeka) moderated by Dr Inna Berezkina (IWM Vienna). Conference Participants: Nino Aivazishvili-Gehne, Inna Berezkina, Zuzanna Bogumił, Iuliia Eremenko, Dinara Gagarina, Mischa Gabowitsch, Anna Gaynutdinova, Tetiana Havlin, Laura Innocenti, Arseniy Kumankov, Jan Kusber, Ksenia Kuznetsova, Alexander Makhov, Vjeran Pavlaković, Oleg Reut, Veronika Sharova, Ilya Solomeshch, Daria Stopicheva.

Duration: Thursday, 5 February 2026 to Saturday, 7 February 2026
Location: Campus Germersheim of Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Conference Language: English