Dear visitors,
Welcome to the official info about the ”First World War in the collective memory – Exchange of experiences in the Balkans” conference. On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we were pleased to share with you the information about this international conference composed of lectures, panel discussion and exhibition.
Eastern Front, known under many names in historical records, has great importance for the history of Macedonia and the Balkans. Especially, at the modern territory of the Republic of Macedonia took place some of the biggest battles that killed thousands of soldiers of many nationalities and religions, which are buried on more conceptual organized necropolises/cemeteries. The architectonic remains in places where battles took place, includes parts of the destroyed complexes of bunkers, positions, machine gun nests and trenches that can be seen today. They comprise the physical remains of significant points in European and world history in order to explain the reasons that led to the creation of ‘Modern Europe’.
The main aim of the conference is the preservation and valuation of the cultural heritage of the First World War in the Balkans, including Macedonia. To emphasize the importance of this period, an international conference on “First World War in the collective memory – Exchange of experiences in the Balkans” is organized. Considering the experience with the memorial tourism of some European countries, this conference will allow the exchange of ideas regarding the WWI topic on the Balkans, which will open and allow new opportunities for cooperation. We do hope that this will create new knowledge about the WWI in Macedonia, a period for which there are hardly domestic scientific records.
A specific aim of this conference is to strengthen the capacity of local authorities to present the cultural heritage from WWI; raising awareness of the importance of the WWI and its role in the collective memory and intercultural dialog for peace and reconciliation of the Balkan countries.
The main topics of the conference are:
• Landscape and human interaction
• Material culture
• Managing heritage
• Memorial tourism
• Current research
Partners
The conference was organized by HAEMUS – Center for scientific research and promotion of culture and the project is implemented with financial support by the region of Lower Normandy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, in cooperation with the Association of Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA) and the Program for decentralized cooperation between the Region Lower Normandy and Republic of Macedonia, as well as the support by theMinistry of Local Self Government of the Republic of Macedonia.
In the framework of the programme
for decentralized cooperation between Lower Normandy and Macedonia