Soviet War Memorials in Berlin: Dismantle or Preserve? - Instytut Pileckiego

An event organised by Vitsche e.V. & Pilecki Institute as part of this year's edition of Cafe Kyiv, arguably the most important European event on Ukraine organised by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation

Public debates on Soviet war memorials in Berlin often remain polarized, with arguments voiced either for preservation or for dismantling, leaving little room for genuine exchange. This panel opens a space for a critical and grounded discussion on the future of these memorials as contested sites of memory - shaped by postwar politics, Cold War legacies, and today by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

The conversation will open with a keynote by Oleksandra Matviichuk, Head of the Center for Civil Liberties and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (2022), framing memory as a central element of transitional justice. The panel brings together Dr. Andrii Portnov, expert in memory studies and post-Soviet history, and Dr. Christoph Rauhut, State Conservator, Berlin State Office for the Preservation of Monuments, to discuss preservation, reinterpretation, and possible transformation of Soviet memorials in Berlin. The discussion will be moderated by Yeva Yakubovska, a board member of Vitsche e.V. and a curator at the Pilecki Institute Berlin.

Organisers: Vitsche e.V., Pilecki-Institut Berlin