The Conference focuses on the latest and often neglected chapter in the history of European conservation: the time after 1945 on both sides of the iron curtain. The conference papers will demonstrate the significance of this period for today’s heritage assets and for our understanding of history. The identity-giving role of monuments for specific groups of the population, religions and countries as well as the ideological misuse of monuments, shall be an area under discussion.

The conference is based on a multiannual research project, that more than twenty years after the reunification of Germany has been exploring basic considerations and the practice of conservation and restoration in the former GDR and the pre-1990s Federal Republic of Germany and its impact on conservation and restoration practice in the reunified Germany.

In addition to the paper presentations there will be a panel discussion with contemporary witnesses of heritage preservation in the old Federal Republic of Germany and in the former German Democratic Republic.

A study tour leads to monuments and memorial sites of the late 19th and 20th century around the Harz Mountains: KZ memorial Mittelbau Dora and Kyffhäuser Monument.

Please note:

Registration deadline: 15 September 2013
Applications are considered in the order they are received and are subject to the availability of adequate space.