- Date
- 18 November 2025, 09:00-18:00 (CET)
- Location
- House of European History, Rue Belliard/straat 135, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
This event is part of the initiative “Spain in Freedom. 50 years” and is co-organised by the European Observatory on Memories (EUROM), the House of European History , and the Spanish Ministry of Democratic Memory.
Fifty years after the death of Francisco Franco — marking the end of the last authoritarian regime in Southern Europe — the memory of the dictatorship remains a deeply contested terrain.
- How can we communicate the violence and repression of the past to new generations?
- What role does dissonant heritage play in shaping democratic memory today?
- How can European experiences inspire renewed strategies for remembrance?
Join the event to discuss these questions through the lens of transnational historical perspectives and artistic interventions.
Programme
9: 30 – Welcome words
Constanze Itzel (House of European History), Jordi Guixé (EUROM), Carmina Gustrán (Ministry for Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Spain).
10:00 – The Spanish dictatorship in a comparative perspective
With Angel Viñas, Laure Neumayer and Victor Fernández Soriano. Chaired by Sigfrido Ramirez (MMC-ULB).
11:30 – Communicating memories of dictatorships and public crimes - Art as a medium
With artists Fernando Sánchez Castillo and Cristina Lucas. Chaired by Anna Tilroe (Art critic and curator).
1:45 – Visit of Presence of the past – a European Album
With Simina Bădică (House of European History) Dora Ivanova, Marije Hristova, Anne Thomas and Chantal Kesteloot (Cegesoma/State Archives).
3:00 – Re-signifying European dissonant heritage. Lessons to be learned for Spain
With Ayoko Mensah (House of European History), Rita Rato (Museu do Aljube), Christian Dürr (Mauthausen Memorial) and Magdalini Fytili (Contemporary Social History Archives of Greece). Chaired by Paco Ferrándiz (Spanish National Research Council).
5:00 – Exilio, a multilingual performance on historical and contemporary exile in Europe.
With Nora Buschmann and Alex Brendemühl.
Universidad Autónoma, Madrid, May 10, 1976.
The image is part of the exhibition “Winds of the People. On Iberian Revolutions and Transitions (1974–1977)”, organised by the Spanish Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the Portuguese Ministry of Culture and the Commissioner for the Celebration of 50 Years of Freedom in Spain.