International Conference Series: Berlin - Paris - New York
"1945-2025. War and Post-War(s). Contemporary Perspectives on the Post WWII World"
Postwar Worlds, Past, Present, and Future
The year 2025 will mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. The brutal destruction of entire states, the tragedy of death, the wounds of survivors and, most importantly, the knowledge of the civilizational breakdown represented by the Holocaust and the Nazi ideology of extermination, have profoundly shaped our world. The complex heritage of WWII and its aftermath is reflected in current crises and conflicts; these conflicts, in turn, alter our historical perspective on the end of the Second World War. The 80th anniversary comes at a critical juncture. We are facing the end of the post-Cold War world order, which marks the end of the liberal and Western vision of the future. The promise of a new – and more just – world seems to have vanished for many generations, while wars and conflicts are at the forefront of our minds, often mobilizing military personnel and economic resources in the West.
Reflecting on the end of WWII in the context of complex global transformations provides the starting point for this series of international conferences, which will take place in three different capital cities that are symbolic places of the end of the Second World War and offer complementary perspectives today, three generations later: Berlin, Paris, and New York City.
This series of conferences is jointly organized by Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne University, Europa Universität Viadrina (Frankfurt / Oder), the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, and Columbia University.
The series will examine the end of the war from a comparative historical perspective, whilst defining a specific thematic outlook for each of the three cities. The Berlin conference will focus on the situation in Germany and Eastern Europe. The Paris conference will reflect on colonial spaces, including the end of conflicts in North Africa and Asia. The New York conference will adopt a comprehensive approach and will explore the institutional foundations of the post-war world order.
Location(s):
Conference Day 1: Oct. 7th, 2025
International Affairs Building
420 West 118th Street 1512 New York, NY 10027, Room 1512
Conference Day 2: Oct. 8th, 2025
Maison Française
Buell Hall, 515 W 116th St, New York, NY 10027
Program:
Tuesday, October 7th
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, IAB (1512)
420 W 118th St, New York, NY 10027
9:00 – 9:45 Registration and Coffee
9:45 – 10:00 Opening Remarks
Emmanuel Kattan, Director, Alliance Program
Carol Gluck, George Sansom Professor of History Emerita, Columbia University
Fabien Théofilakis, Professor of History, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, Paris
10:00 - 11:00 Keynote
Mark Mazower (Columbia University), “Anniversaries, Generations and the Memory of 1945”
11:00 - 13:00 Panel 1 – Immediate Postwar Issues
Chair & Commentator: Fabien Théofilakis (Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne)
Norman Dormeier (Univerzita Karlova, Czech republic), “Germany will try it again. Fears of a "Third World War" after 1945 among former American foreign correspondents in Nazi Germany”
Jan Lambertz (USHMM), “From Social Death to Legal Death: Legislating the End of the Holocaust
Gerhard Wolf (University of Sussex), “Foundational violence: Ethnic interventions for a new European order”
Matthew Augustine (Kyushu University), “Occupying an Empire: Decolonization, Nationalization, and the Hegemonic Reordering of Northeast Asia”
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch Break
14:00 -16:00 Panel 2 – The US and the Postwar World
Chair & Commentator: Emmanuel Kattan (Alliance Program)
Paul Chamberlin (Columbia University),”US and the world”
Ayumi Teraoka (Brandeis University), “The Postwar Order in Asia: Built to Last?”
Ruth Lawlor (Cornell University), “The Good Neighbour, the Global War and the Problem of 1945”
Penny Von Eschen (The University of Virginia), “Roads Not Taken: the end of the age of three worlds”
Wednesday, October 8th
Maison Française, Columbia University
Buell Hall, 515 W 116th St, New York, NY 10027
8:30 – 9:00 Registration and Coffee
9:00 – 11:00 Panel 3 – Justice, Human Rights and International Relations
Chair: Carol Gluck (Columbia University)
Vanessa Voisin (University of Bologna), “The case that must not be lost: Fëdor Fedorenko, US denaturalization trials, and civil society”
Franziska Seraphim, (Boston College), “Conjunctures in Righting Historical Wrongs at the Turn of the Millennium”
Valerie Rosoux (UCLouvain), “Memory versus Reconciliation: Dilemma of Post-Conflict Peacebuilding”
Oleksandra Matviitchouk (Head of the Center for civil Liberties), “International Human Rights and Ukraine across 80 Years: A Defender's Perspective »
Commentator: Graeme Simpson (Columbia University)
11:00 – 11:15 Coffee Break
11:15 – 13:15 Panel 4 – Legacies of the War, 1945-2025
Chair & Commentator: Annette Weinke (Jena Universität)
Michele Mioni (Ca’ Foscari University – Venice), “The Rise (and Fall?) of Social Security as a Universalist Vision of the Post-War International Order, 1940s-1970s”
Caroline Perret (University of Westminster), “War and Nature: Environmental Impacts of the Second World War on French Land, Forests and Marshlands - From Its Aftermath to Today”
Burcu Miraç Diraor Aydin (Gedik University, Turkey), “International Funding and Development Cooperation: The Role of Post-WWII Reconstruction Aid in Shaping Modern Funding Mechanisms”
Christopher J. Lee (Independent Scholar), “Bandung Historicism: Diplomacy and Realignment after the Second World War”
13:15 – 14:30 Break for Lunch
14:30 – 16:15 Panel 5 - The World Order, 2025 and Beyond
Elisabeth Saunders (Columbia University) "The Unconstrained Future of World Order: The Assault on Democratic Constraint and Implications for U.S. Global Leadership"
Adam Tooze (Columbia University), “The Future of the World Economy”
Julian Gewirtz (SIPA), “China and "Great Changes Not Seen in a Century"”
Arne Westad (Yale University)
16:15 – 16:30 Concluding Remarks
Emmanuel Kattan, Director, Alliance Program
Carol Gluck, George Sansom Professor of History Emerita, Columbia University
Fabien Théofilakis, Professor of History, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, Paris
This event is organized by Alliance Program. For any inquires related to this event, please contact: [email protected]
