Image credit: OSCE/Eleonora Lotti
2 October 2025, Siena University
The Siena Symposium on Contested Histories: Challenges and Opportunities in Building More Cohesive Societies, co-organised by EuroClio, IHJR and OSCE-HCNM brought together practitioners, scholars, educators, and policymakers to exchange experiences on how societies remember and represent their past.In his keynote address, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Christophe Kamp emphasized the importance of inclusive approaches to historical memory, noting that “[i]nvolving different communities in shaping multi-perspective narratives of history strengthens democratic processes, builds trust and contributes to long-term cohesion and conflict prevention.”The Symposium explored how decisions around monuments, street names, and education influence unity and inclusion, and how dialogue around history can promote mutual understanding rather than division.EuroClio Executive Director Steven Stegers and Marie-Louise Jansen, representing the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation (IHJR)–EuroClio Project on Contested Histories, also participated and co-organized this event, contributing insights from the project’s ongoing work to address contested legacies through dialogue and education.
Read the full speech by High Commissioner on National Minorities Christophe Kamp here.
