International Conference
organised by Institute for Studies of the Recent Past and
Maison des Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société, Sofia
with the support of East – East Program: Partnership Beyond Borders
and French Institute, Sofia
The Silence about Communism in Central and Southeastern Europe
18 years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall
December 01 – 02, 2007 Sofia
Arena di Serdica Hotel
December 01, Saturday
09.30 – 10.00 - Opening address by Ivaylo Znepolski, Director of the Institute and Lenko Lenkov, co-founder.
1st Panel: How does the Communist State Function?
10.00 – 10.30 - Roumen Daskalov (New Bulgarian University, Sofia)
‘People’s Democracy’ as a Conceptual Affair
10.30 – 11.00 - Mihail Gruev (Sofia University)
Collectivization in Bulgaria as a Social and Demographic Cataclysm
11.00 – 11.30 - Alexander Vezenkov (Sofia)
On a New BCP History
11.30 – 12.0 - Discussion
12.00 – 12.30 - Momchil Metodiev (Christianity and Culture Journal, Sofia)
State Security as an Institutional Tool for Communist Political Legitimization
12.30 – 13.00 - Anne Marie Losonczy (L'École pratique des hautes études, Brussels)
Silence or Creak: Musical Dramatization of Communism in the House of Terror, Budapest
13.00 – 13.30 - Discussion
13.30 – 14.30 - Lunch Break
2nd Panel: To Live in Communism
14.30 – 15.00 - Daniela Koleva (Sofia University)
Biography Narratives and Memory about Communism
15.00 – 15.30 - Georgi Gospodinov (Institute for Literature, Sofia)
Collecting the Absent: Everyday Stories and Objects from the Communist Times
15.30 – 16.00 - Francoise Mayer (L'École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris)
The Image of the State Security Agents and Informers in the Czech Public Space after 1989
16.00 – 16.30 Discussion
16.30 – 17.00 Coffee Break
17.00 – 17.30 - Ivan Elenkov (Sofia University)
Cultural Policy of the Real Socialism
17.30 – 18.00 - Deyan Deyanov (Plovdiv University)
Economy of the Symbolic Deficit
18.00 – 18.30 - Mikhail Ryklin (Institute for Philosophy, Moscow)
The Debate about Communism in Post-Soviet Russia. Why is so Difficult to Deconstruct Communism?
18.30 – 19.00 Discussion
December 02, Sunday
4th Panel: The Political Economy of Communism: Economy of Shortage
09.00 – 09.30 - Martin Ivanov (History Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
Reformation without Reforms. Political Economy of Bulgarian Communism (1963 - 1989)
09.30 – 10.00 - Daniel Vachkov (History Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
Bulgaria and the Financial Problems of the Socialist Bloc
10.00 – 10.30 - Roumen Avramov (Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia)
The Terminal Economic Crisis of Bulgarian Communism from the Perspective of the ‘informed elites’ and their critics
10.30 – 11.0 Discussion
11.00 – 11.30 Coffee Break
11.30 – 12.00 - Ivaylo Znepolski (Institute for Studies of the Recent Past, Sofia)
Social Policy of the Communist Regime: A Comparative Analysis
12.00 – 12.30 - Pawel Sowinski (Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw)
Polish Shopping Tourism to the Black Sea Coast and Shortage Culture 1956-1970
12.30 – 13.00 - Emilia Karaboeva (Technological Universty, Eindhoven)
The Invisible Faces of the Socialist Everyday Life: the International Track-drivers Case
13.00 – 13.30 Discussion
13.30 – 15.00 Lunch
5th Panel: Communism and Terror: The Hungarian Revolution 1956
15.00 – 15.30 - Gabor Gyani (Institute of History, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest)
Revolution, Uprising, Civil War. The Conceptual Dilemmas of 1956
15.30 – 16.00 - Boris Popivanov ("Ivan Hadjiyski" Institute for Social Values & Structures, Sofia)
The Hungarian 1956 from Bulgarian Perspective – Historical and Political Recourses
16.00 – 16.30 Discussion
16.30 – 17.00 Coffee Break
17.00 – 17.30 Closing