Seminar: “Commemoration of World War II in the Context of the Russo-Ukrainian War”. Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair in conversation with Mischa Gabowitsch
At this PoSoCoMeS seminar, Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair discusses her book Commemoration of World War II in the Context of the Russo-Ukrainian War (transcript, 2024) with Mischa Gabowitsch.
Zoom link: https://lmu-munich.zoom-x.de/j/61182078743?pwd=TEpTM1BGRGZueXkyekpTaGpvU2tMUT09
About the book
Ritualized commemorations, spontaneous demonstrations, and political actions: this book examines public assemblies that took place in the urban space of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv from the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014 until its escalation in February 2022 and that recalled World War II. As condensed forms of communication, these events reveal how various populations and interest groups negotiate Ukraine’s complex history. By immersing readers in specific situations, moods, and representations, the book offers insights into contemporary Ukrainian identities rooted in the idea of a shared past.
Beyond analyzing the local context, the author identifies two divergent interpretive approaches established during the post-war period by opposing political systems to address the extreme violence of World War II. Central to this ideological divide is the question of how the Holocaust—as a specific event directed against Jews—was treated and integrated into historiographical frameworks. By focusing on how different groups in Lviv address Holocaust memory, the study illuminates how these Cold War legacies continue to influence the present.
The first outcome of the research was the film “de facto” (2018). It was shot in Lviv between 2016 and 2017 and is the result of a collaboration between Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair and historian Alexandra Wachter. Structured like a calendar of annual commemorations of events from World War II, it traces how various political, social, and ethnic groups negotiate an intertwined Ukrainian history. You can watch it here: https://vimeo.com/277143754
Author
Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair is a visual artist, curator, and researcher based in Vienna. She studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg, the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and received her PhD from the Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (2022). Her doctoral thesis examines public commemorations of events linked to World War II in post-Soviet Europe using the city of Lviv, in western Ukraine, as a case study. Her broader research interests lie in the (post-)Soviet region and focus on architecture, city planning, and visual and memory cultures. In her projects, Shapiro-Obermair combines a variety of social and anthropological research methods, such as interviews and participant observation, with artistic strategies that strongly benefit from visual analyses. Beyond her artistic practice, she has been involved in several large-scale research projects, including Lviv. Museum of War (with Alexandra Wachter, 2015–2017) and the exhibition Soviet Modernism 1955–1991. Unknown Stories at the Architekturzentrum Vienna (2012). She is the author of Geschichte performen (2024), editor of History and Other Objects (2020), and co-editor of Soviet Modernism 1955–1991: Unknown History (with Dietmar Steiner, Katharina Ritter, and Alexandra Wachter, 2012) and Das große Moskau, das es niemals gab (with Wolfgang Obermair, 2008). Shapiro-Obermair has received numerous awards, including the main prize for the best scientific work (doctoral thesis) from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (2022) and the Theodor Körner Prize (2017).
Discussant
Mischa Gabowitsch, historian and sociologist, is Professor of Multilingual and Transnational Post-Soviet Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. He holds a BA and MA from the University of Oxford and a DEA and PhD from the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris, and previously held positions at the Universities of Princeton and Vienna as well as the Einstein Forum in Potsdam. He is the author, editor, or co-editor of numerous books and thematic journal issues in various languages on protest and social movements as well as memory and commemoration. These include, in English, The Russian Field: Views from Abroad (2011), Protest in Putin’s Russia (2016), Replicating Atonement: Foreign Models in the Commemoration of Atrocities (2017), The Sociology of Belarusian Protest (2021), Beyond Representation: The Visual Analysis of History Textbooks and Other Educational Media (2023), and Protest and Authoritarian Reaction in Belarus (2023). His latest book, co-authored with Mykola Homanyuk, is Monuments and Territory: War Memorials in Russian-Occupied Ukraine (2025).