“Eighty years after the end of the Second World War, memories in Europe and across the Atlantic are divided. While the three Western Allies were long accustomed to jointly celebrate the victory over Nazi Germany and honor their dead, the established link between victory, peace, and ‘Western’ values seems fragile in 2025. The fourth former ally, Russia, will be altogether absent from the celebrations,” write the authors Gregor Feindt, Félix Krawatzek, Friedemann Pestel, and Rieke Trimçev on the blog of Cornell University Press about their joint book “Shades of Blue” and about today’s commemoration marking the end of the Second World War.
Book presentation as part of “Let’s Talk About Europe!” on June 26, 6 p.m., at the IEG
The authors of the book “Shades of Blue: Claiming Europe in the Age of Disintegration” examine competing conceptions of Europe in public discourse across Europe and relate them to national, regional, and ideological divides.
On June 26 at 6 p.m., Gregor Feindt, research associate at the IEG, will present the book in conversation with Constanze Itzel, Director of the House of European History in Brussels, and Matthias Beermann, spokesperson of the European Court of Auditors. As part of their joint event series “Let’s Talk About Europe!”, the IEG and the State Agency for Civic Education (LpB) invite you to the discussion evening “Many Ideas of Europe. History, Belonging, and the European Project in Crisis” with the author Gregor Feindt. Johannes Paulmann, Director of the IEG, will moderate.
