The Impact of the War in Ukraine on Central Europe
October 5, 2023 | 2:00PM - 4:00PM
|
In-person
This event took place in-person at Room 108N, North House, Munk School, 1 Devonshire Place, Toronto, ON
The policies of Central European states are the opposite of what one might conclude on the basis of their past relations with Ukraine and the Ukrainians. The Polish-Ukrainian and Romanian-Ukrainian history is burdened by ethnic cleansing, territorial claims/disputes, repression. The Czech Republic and Slovakia were traditionally pro-Russians. Despite the burdened history and the pro-Russian traditions these countries have been able to overcome the shadow of the past and now stand by Ukraine. In Hungary, anti-Russian sentiments were deeply rooted, with two revolutions and freedom struggles being defeated by the Russian/Soviet army, while Hungarians have had no conflict with Ukrainians in the past. Despite this historical past, the Hungarian government is the only one in Central Europe and the European Union that pursues a pro-Russian policy. In this presentation, our speakers explained what has caused these changes and the possible reasons for the Hungarian government's hostile policy towards Ukraine.
About the Speaker
Tamas Stark received his PhD from the Eötvös Loránd University in 1993. From 1983 he was a researcher at the Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and in 2000 he was appointed a senior research fellow. In 2014 he was Fulbright visiting professor at the Nazareth College in Rochester NY. His specialization is forced population movement in East-Central Europe in the period 1938-1956, with special regard to the history of the Holocaust, the fate of prisoners of war and civilian internees and postwar migrations. Since 2020, he is the chairman of the subcommittee on the History of World War II of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His main publications include: Hungarian Jews During the Holocaust and After the Second World War, 1939–1949; A Statistical Review ( Boulder CO, 2000), Magyar foglyok a Szovjetunióban (Budapest 2006) and „...akkor aszt mondták kicsi robot” – A magyar polgári lakosság elhurcolása a Szovjetunióba korabeli dokumentumok tükrében. (Budapest 2017).
Susan M. Papp was awarded a Ph.D. in Modern European History at the University of Toronto in 2019, specializing in east-central Europe and Holocaust Studies. Dr. Papp is widely published (both scholarly works and historical fiction) in several languages. She is an award-winning documentary filmmaker.
Her dissertation, The Politics of Exclusion in the Hungarian film industry: Jews, Fascists, Communists and the path to Hollywood will be published shortly.
Sponsored by CERES, Hungarian Studies Program, and Hungarian Research Institute of Canada
Co-Sponsor:
Hungarian Studies Program
Co-Sponsor:
Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies
Co-Sponsor:
Hungarian Research Institute of Canada