Memory studies

RESEARCH CENTRE FOR MEMORY STUDIES (RCMS)

Leader: Kateřina Králová

The Research Center for Memory Studies (RCMS) at Charles University´s Institute of International Studies deals with a wide range of topics in the field of memory studies and (non)hegemonic narratives: from memory politics and the representation of memory in public spaces to ways of processing traumatic memories. One of the main aims of the RCMS is to stimulate and develop discussion on new research questions and methodological approaches in memory studies. The center has successfully built an international academic community within which it promotes international dialogue on memory. The RCMS is part of a network of memory centers within the Association for Memory Studies. In 2025, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation supported RCMS with the Humboldt Alumni Award, thanks to which we have established the international Humboldt MemoNet network, which connects important research centers in Europe and enables more effective exchange of knowledge and development of mentoring.

Members

Members of the Humboldt MemoNet

      Advisory Board

Selected projects

Selected publications

  • Králová, K. (2025). Homecoming: Holocaust Survivors and Greece, 1941–46 (The Tauber Institute Series for the Study of European Jewry). Brandeis University Press.
  • Asavei, M. (2024). Flawed sainthood in popular culture: Maradona's culture of commemoration in Naples. Religions, 15(8), 981.
  • Roginer Hofmeister, K. (2024). Remembering suffering and resistance: Memory politics and the Serbian Orthodox Church. CEU Press.
  • Asavei, M. & Králová, K. (2023). Beyond the national museum paradigm: Troubled past vernacular representations in Central and Southeastern Europe. Nationalities Papers, 51(3), 512–517.
  • Králová, K. (2023). Memory landscapes in ruins: The example of the Hirsch Quarter in Thessaloniki. In Memory cultures in Southeast Europe since 1945: Proceedings of the International Academic Week at Tutzing, October 2021 (pp. 35–49).
  • Asavei, M. (2023). Engraving portraits in the skin: Vernacular commemorative tattoos for Ceausescu, Tito and Stalin. Nationalities Papers, 51(3), 563–582.
  • Smith, R. (2022). The museal production of Hungary’s inorganic past and Poland’s postponed victory: The case of the House of Terror and the Warsaw Rising Museum. Soudobé Dějiny, 29(3), 825–851. https://doi.org/10.51134/sod.2022.042
  • Juhászová, T. (2022). Post-WWII migration flows in micro-perspective: The case of the East Slovak small town Medzev. Individual and Society | Človek a spoločnosť, 25(1). https://doi.org/10.31577/cas.2022.01.598
  • Juhászová, T. (2023). ʻBien Mantaaknʼ: The manifestation of identity in cemeteries in the Eastern Slovak town of Medzev. In F. Kühnel, S. Mikulová, & S. Stanković (Eds.), East Central European cemeteries: Ethnic, linguistic, and narrative aspects of sepulchral culture and the commemoration of the dead in borderlands (pp. 77–106). Peter Lang.
  • Králová, K. (2021). Breaking out of silence: Victims of the 1944 Distomo massacre in Greek-German relations. Suedosteuropa-Mitteilungen, 61(2–3), 81–91.
  • Asavei, M. (2021). Cultural memory and political resistance through religious/spiritual art in (post)communist Romania. In M. Draga-Alexandru & D. Manea (Eds.), Religious narratives in contemporary culture: Between cultural memory and transmediality (pp. 73–94). Brill.
  • Asavei, M. (2021). The artistic memory of the Holocaust as a new direction in commemorative practices in Central and South-East Europe. In R. Bouchet, H. Lecossois, D. Letort, & S. Tison (Eds.), Résurgences conflictuelles: Le travail de mémoire entre arts et histoire (pp. 329–347). Presses Universitaires de Rennes.
  • Němeček, J., Koutníková, I., & Šitler, J., et al. (2020). Sweden’s WWII dilemmas: Case study – Czechoslovakia. Institute of History Prague/Paideia Stockholm.

Past events

Walkability between the Past and Present Workshop

The workshop, held in Prague from September 11–14, 2024, was co-organized by the Research Centre for Memory Studies and CTU Prague. It focused on sensory walking, mapping, and digital humanities as methodological approaches for slow memory, contributing to the development of educational materials on walkability.

“Borderlands of Memory” 4EU+ Spring School 2024 

The spring school, organised at the Charles University (CUNI), took place from April 15-19, 2024. It was organised by the 4EU+ Alliance “Plurality of Memories in Europe in a Global Perspective” Consortium, formed by CUNI, the University of Warsaw, Sorbonne University, the University of Copenhagen, Heidelberg University and the University of Milan.

4EU+ Online Seminar. Twentieth Century in European Memory

The online seminar was co-led by researchers from the Universities of Prague, Warsaw, Sorbonne, Milan, Heidelberg and Copenhagen in collaboration with COST CA20105 Slow Memory and the Centre for Social Memory Research (Warsaw). The course was taught in the spring of 2024.

Transformation of Memory Cultures and Politics Workshop

The workshop, held at Humboldt University Berlin from February 29 to March 1, 2024, was co-organized by CENTRAL partners from Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Vienna, and Budapest universities. It focused on transformations in memory cultures and politics across post-Yugoslav, post-WWII, and post-communist contexts, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration among researchers.

Social Memories and Historical Narratives: Sources & Methodology

On Friday, 15 September 2023, the Research Centre held an internal workshop entitled "Social Memories and Historical Narratives: Sources & Methodology". The workshop featured presentations by junior and senior members of the Center. 

Borderworlds: Temporal, Geographical and Psychosocial Exploration of Symbolic Border Conference

The conference took place from 7-10 June 2023. It was held as part of the Borderwords project, funded by the St Andrews Joint Seed Funding. It enables participants to create new forms of collaboration and discuss the boundaries of migration, memory and narratives of the past and present.

Train to Freedom Project's Bloc Seminar & Fieldwork

The seminar and fieldwork are being conducted in June 2023 as part of the Train to Freedom project, initiated by the Berlin-based Mamlock Foundation and the Department for Democracy Education and Human Rights and now jointly implemented by Charles University in Prague and Freie Universität Berlin.

CENTRAL-Workshop 2025: “Materialities of memory in Central, East and South-East Europe”

Workshop in Warsaw (11-14 September 2025), where RCMS members participated and chaired pannels on how memory takes shape through monuments, archives, literature, urban spaces, and everyday objects.

MSA Conference, Prague 2025: Beyond Crises: Resilience and (In)stability

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