In this episode, the first of the mini series "Fights for Freedom", EUROPAST team heads Violeta Davoliūtė and Juliane Fürst join the podcast to introduce a new thematic mini-series on the contested memories of uprisings against Soviet rule in Eastern Europe. They discuss how memory, already a sensitive and contested terrain, has become an increasingly politicised battleground in light of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The conversation highlights how the EUROPAST project navigates these challenges and explores how the past is remembered, forgotten, or strategically reshaped.

The episode also features an interview with Jens Schöne (Deputy Berlin Commissioner for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship and Department Head at the Leibniz-Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam), who guides listeners through the history of the first major uprising against Soviet rule in Eastern Europe: the events of June 17, 1953, in East Germany.

Together, the guests reflect on what makes memories of resistance so powerful and so contested - and why these historical debates matter urgently today.

Host: Janine Funke
Guests: Violeta Davoliūtė, Juliane Fürst, Jens Schöne
Production: Tim Schleinitz