We cordially invite you to the Tuesday Lectures of the German Historical Institute Warsaw. The semester topic is “Toxic Relations: Histories of Violence”. All events take place in English at the University of Warsaw, Faculty of History, room A, at 6 p.m.

• 10.03. | 18:00 Uhr
  Prof. Julia Burkhardt (Munich): Femicide in the Middle Ages. Norms and Narratives
  
  Over the centuries, women have been (and still are) killed by men because of their gender, gender-specific roles, or social expectations. Such acts were expressions of individual claims to control over other people's bodies and lives or of feelings of superiority. Consequently, the motives, constellations of individuals, sanctions, and assessments differed.
  But there are more fundamental questions to be posed: What were the structural social conditions that enabled or sanctioned the killing of women? What do we learn from the systematic analysis of these killings about social hierarchies and gender relations during a particular period? How were gender-specific killings described and evaluated by contemporary or later observers? Drawing from these questions, the lecture uses selected examples from the (Polish) Middle Ages to explore the analytical application of the term and concept of femicide in the context of pre-modern history.

  Moderator: Prof. Grzegorz Pac

• 28.04. | 18:00 Uhr
  Prof. Claudia Jarzebowski (Bonn): Violence and Emotion. Children and Youth in Early Modern Europe and beyond

  Children are among the most vulnerable groups in society. Throughout history they have been exposed to violence: in times of war, on migration routes, in their working environments, in slavery and serfdom, boys and girls alike. In addition, children also experienced direct physical violence in everyday life.
  The contexts and practices of violence against children raise two main questions: Did people in the early modern period have any idea of the emotional impact of violence on children? And, from a methodological point of view: How can historians study such a vulnerable and often abused social group that has left behind hardly any sources about their experiences with emotional and physical violence?
  This lecture advocates for a shift in perspective in the history of childhood, one that focuses more on children and their emotional capacities.
  
  Moderator: Prof. Tomasz Wiślicz

• 12.05. | 18:00 Uhr
  Prof. Maren Röger (Leipzig) & Prof. Barbara Klich-Kluczewska (Krakau): Abusive Homes. Histories of Domestic Violence — an Intersectional Perspective
  
  Domestic violence in European countries of the 20th century is a complex and ambiguous phenomenon. The boundaries between different behaviors, from those that were accepted and commonly practiced, through violence shamefully hidden at home, to acts that were universally condemned, all evolved, although the tempo and direction of change were different. The social assessment of acts of domestic violence depended on state policy on the one hand, and on the other hand on historical actors, both victims and perpetrators.
  Maren Röger and Barbara Klich-Kluczewska will talk about the different faces of domestic violence, local particularities, the role of the state, and the significance of bottom-up initiatives.

  Moderator: Prof. Dobrochna Kałwa

• 02.06. | 18:00 Uhr
  Prof. Ota Konrád (Prague): Histories without History? How to Write and Research the History of Domestic Violence in the Modern Era

  How can historians study domestic violence in societies where it had no legal category, name, or clear archival trace? Drawing on research from postwar Czechoslovakia and West Germany, this lecture explores how private suffering could (not) become socially recognized. The lecture challenges linear narratives of progress and reveals how political regimes, social norms, and intimate life intersected across the Iron Curtain.

  Moderator: Prof. Piotr Majewski

Please find the full lecture program here.

The lectures are organized by the German Historical Institute Warsaw in cooperation with the Faculty of History at Warsaw University.