Panel discussion: Understanding the past in order to form the future
Die Vergangenheit verstehen, um Zukunft zu gestalten
Munich, 21 November 2024
Early this year we were invited by the Cultural Centre of Danube Swabians of Bavaria from Haar and the Cultural Centre Haus der Donauschwaben to participate in a panel discussion they were organising. It was organised as part of a series of events to commemorate “80 years of flight, expulsion, new beginnings”. This was a way to mark the expulsion of Danube Swabians from areas of Southeast Europe. The panel was opened by Gabriele Schilcher and Kristina Pepgjonoviq who was particularly engaged in having us there, and CNA was represented by Nenad and Helena. Karl-Heinz Wendel, president of the Association, was an active participant and also provided help as an interpreter.
During the panel discussion, we talked about our work, the book, research study and exhibition “On the Trail of the Danube Swabians in Vojvodina”. We looked to the past (or to a multitude of different pasts, those more recent and those further away) and connected it to the present, we examined mechanisms that seem universal. We had support from the audience who listened intently and later joined the discussion, asking questions and giving comments. The panel discussion did not end with this formal part, it seems, because we continued discussing these topics informally. The people who came to the panel discussion brought a diversity of experiences, ranging from the time of the Second World War to the wars of the 1990s in former Yugoslavia. We were touched by their stories, the experiences they had, and we also shared our experiences.
We had the feeling that for all of us in that room – the organisers and the people from the audience and those of us speaking on the panel – injustice and violence struck us in the same way; we felt connected, supported and that we felt solidarity. If we could just take this energy further, out there into the world, who knows what we could achieve.