“From Soviet to Independent Ukraine: A Time of Change” - Conference 2024

Heidelberg

In September 2024, an international academic conference was held in Heidelberg, focusing on the transformation of Ukrainian society during the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of independent Ukraine. The event was organized by the German-Ukrainian Historical Commission.

The conference took place at the International Academic Forum Heidelberg (IWH).

The event was organized in cooperation with:

• the International Academic Forum Heidelberg,
• Heidelberg University.The conference was funded by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.

The aim of the conference was to explore the late 1980s and 1990s as a crucial period in the formation of independent Ukraine, particularly in the context of the collapse of the Soviet Union, political transformations, and social change. Special attention was paid to grassroots activism (“perestroika from below”), transnational entanglements, changing historical narratives and memory, and the long-term consequences of this period for contemporary Ukraine.

The programme included thematic panels on:

• democratic processes and nation-building in the late Soviet period,
• everyday life and the transformation of Soviet social norms,
• changes in rural society and local identities,
• the role of academia during political transformation,
• transnational interactions and cultural processes of the transition period.

A special part of the programme was a discussion with the Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, addressing contemporary political challenges in historical perspective.

The conference brought together leading international scholars, including Franziska Davies, Anna Veronika Wendland, Yurii Shapoval, Guido Hausmann, Gelinada Grinchenko and others.

The conference provided an important platform for international academic dialogue on post-Soviet transformations and their significance for contemporary Ukraine.