Conferences

On September 28-29, 2025, the tenth annual international scientific conference of the Ukrainian-German Commission of Historians (DUHK) – “Lenses on Agency: The Ukrainian Lands under Imperial Rule, 18th–19th Centuries” was held in Chernivtsi. The event was supported by DAAD and the German Foreign Ministry, with the assistance of Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, “Tkuma” Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies, as well as other partners.

This year's conference brought together historians, cultural experts and researchers from Ukraine, Germany, Poland and other countries. The participants aimed to look at the past through the prism of subjectivity – that is, through the interaction of centers and peripheries, authorities and local communities. This approach allows us to rethink the complex relationships between imperial centers and Ukrainian regions, the processes of creation and reinterpretation of border spaces, as well as the social and cultural transformations of the time. Among the issues that were in the focus of the participants' attention were:

-        local activism and everyday practices of life under imperial rule;

-        formation and transformation of spatial relations;

-        vision of imperial orders through the prism of Ukrainian lands;

-        the place of empires in Ukrainian history, etc.

During the conference, Dr. Ihor Shchupak moderated the panel “Representations of Ukrainianness in the Arts.” The participants of the section discussed how the image of Ukrainianness was reflected in the art, literature, and culture of the 18th–19th centuries, and how imperial contexts influenced the formation of national identity.

And on September 30, the annual meeting of the Ukrainian-German Commission of Historians took place, during which the participants summed up the activities for the year, discussed the results of the conference and outlined further areas of cooperation - from joint publications to workshops for young scientists and public discussions.

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