Pact for War – International Conference in Gdansk on the anniversary of Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
On the 80. anniversary of signing the Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact of agression against Central and Eastern European countries (23rd of August 1939), the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk together with the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity are pleased to invite you to participate in the International Scientific Conference: Pact for War. Hitler–Stalin Collusion of 23rd of August 1939 from the Perspective of 80 Years since the Outbreak of WWII.
In addition to participants representing Poland, the conference will be attended by historians and museologists from the United States of America, Great Britain, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine.
The official Molotow- Ribbentrop agreement was annexed with a secret protocol in which Hitler and Stalin agreed to divide the Central-Eastern European region into their spheres of influence. The importance of this document for the discussion of genesis of WWII cannot be underrestimated. The Kremlin collusion of August 23, 1939 between the two dictators, changed the fate of the entire world. The Pact confirmed prior arrangements made to cut Poland into two parts, and sealed the fates of countries like Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Besarabia belonging to Romania at the time. The Soviet-German pact of nonagression meant that both Hitler and Stalin’s aggresive plans to subjugate indepented states entered the implementation stage.
The conference will primarily focus on the ramifications of the secret Hitler-Stalin collusion for the world. However, this is not the only goal the hosts set for the Conference. An international meeting of historians and museologists in the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk, on the 80th anniversary of the Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact, will provide an important forum for discussions of the far-reaching effects of the collusion for individual Central and Eastern European with regard to their gruesome WWII experiences.Shaping contemporaty museum narratives about the genesis of the outbreak ofWWII and the related issue of attempts to distort the truth about the war alliance between the Soviet Union and the Third Reich between 1939-1941 will also become key discussion points during the Conference
The conference is open for the public.
Date: August 23-14, 2019 (Friday-Saturday)
10.00 AM
Jan Olszewski Conference Hall
Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk
pl. W. Bartoszewskiego 1, 80-862 Gdańsk
Conference program here:
