• Date: November 20, 2025, 2:00 p.m.

• Location: University of Regensburg, Campus Sammelgebäude R. 214

• Lecturer: Franziska Davies (Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam)

• Organized by: Chair of Southeast and Eastern European History at the University of Regensburg, Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg, in cooperation with the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies, the Leibniz ScienceCampus “Europe and America in the Modern World,” and the “Denkraum Ukraine” at the University of Regensburg, funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) with funds from the Federal Foreign Office (AA)

• Language: German

Abstract

Western European memories of the end of the Soviet Union tend to focus on events in Moscow and the figure of Mikhail Gorbachev. This lecture highlights the decisive role played by Ukraine and Ukrainian-Polish relations in the collapse of the Soviet empire - a story that continues to shape our present day.

Franziska Davies

Dr. Franziska Davies is an Eastern European historian at the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam. Her research and publications focus on the modern history of Ukraine, Russia, and Poland. In 2023, she published the anthology “Ukraine in Europe: Dream and Trauma of a Nation” and in 2025, the monograph “Muslims in the Russian Army: Colonial Accommodation and the Limits of Empire, 1875-1917”. In her current research project, she examines the collapse of the Soviet Union from a Polish-Ukrainian perspective, thereby contributing to the decentralization of imperial perspectives in historical research.

Research Colloquium “History and Social Anthropology of Southeast and Eastern Europe”

The lecture “Liberation from the Empire: Ukraine, Poland, and the End of the Soviet Union” is  part of the research colloquium “History and Social Anthropology of Southeast and Eastern Europe,” organized by the Chair of Southeast and Eastern European History at the University of Regensburg, Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg, in cooperation with the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies, the Leibniz Science Campus “Europe and America in the Modern World” and the “Denkraum Ukraine” at the University of Regensburg, funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) through the funds from the Federal Foreign Office (AA).

The program of the colloquium is available  under the link. 

Photo credits: Nathan Murrell.