Call for Papers – Actors, Witnesses or Subjects? Children in Post-war Central and Eastern Europe, 1945–89

A Child in the Labyrinth of 20th Century History: A Multi-year Academic and Educational Project Organised by The European Network Remembrance and Solidarity

Organisers: European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (ENRS), Federal Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (BKGE)

The conference invites scholars to reconsider the history of post-war Central and Eastern Europe through children’s experiences and perspectives. It will explore children not only as witnesses or subjects of political and social change, but also as historical actors who interpreted, negotiated and responded to the world around them.

Keynote lectures will be delivered by Dr Friederike Kind-Kovács and Prof. Barbara Klich-Kluczewska.

We welcome proposals from scholars at all career stages working in history, childhood and youth studies, sociology, memory studies, literary and cultural studies, and related fields. Interdisciplinary and comparative approaches are particularly encouraged.

Key information:
Conference: Warsaw, 19–20 November 2026
Abstract deadline: 18 September 2026
Language: English
Paper: 20 minutes
Submission: abstract of up to 350 words + short biography of up to 150 words
Contact: childreninhistory@enrs.eu

Selected papers will be considered for publication in the ENRS book series, and the organisers will contribute towards the travel and accommodation costs of accepted participants.

The full Call for Papers, including conference themes and submission details, is available on the ENRS website.