Webinar: The Experience of Women and Children During Wartime

This panel discussion will help us reflect on the experience of women and children during wartime in Europe, in particular during the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War, and the 1990s wars in the Western Balkans.

Accompanied by our experts, we will tackle three main guiding questions:

• what do we know about the experience of women and children during the war?
• where is our information about this coming from? where can we integrate this information with new sources?
• how does the experience of women and children during wartime influence the conversations about the past and the present that we have today?

The questions will allow us to journey into our shared European past, to reflect on topics of trauma, survival, activism, and remembrance, and to create meaningful connections between the stories we tell about the past and our collective behavior as a society today.

This webinar follows the session on the Use of Video Testimonies in the classroom, and takes place within the framework of our partner project Rememchild on 08 June 2023 at 16:30 CEST.

Andrea Pető is Professor in the Department of Gender Studies at Central European University, Vienna Austria, where she teaches courses on European comparative social and gender history, gender and politics, women’s movements, qualitative methods, oral history, and the Holocaust. She was one of the editors and external reviewers of our toolkit on Who Were the Victims of the National Socialists, and will be bringing in the perspective of the experience of women and children during WW2. You can access a detail biography of Andrea Pető here.

Dunia Etura is a Professor in the field of Journalism and a specialist in Gender Studies and Equality Policy Management at the University of Valladolid and the Millán Santos Permanent University. Among other roles, she is a member of the Gender Studies Chair of UVa, which investigates on gender equality and violence, inclusion of feminism in television in Spain, narrative in television series. She will help us navigate the experience of women and children during and after the Spanish Civil War. Further details on Dunia Etura are available (in Spanish) here.

Elma Hasimbegovic is s a historian and museum professional, born in Sarajevo. She holds MA and MPhil in medieval studies from Central European University (Budapest). From 2001 she works at the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 2013 holding the position of the museum director. She is actively promoting the museum as a place of constructive dialogue and dealing with the past. She is a member of the National Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina for Cooperation with UNESCO and member of the steering board of the Balkan Museum Network. She will be joining us to bring the perspective of women and children during the 1990s wars.