Communism for Young People. Passing on the Recent Past in Central and Eastern Europe.

The conference organized by the Nicolae Iorga Institute of History in partnership with the National Museum of History of Moldova, held between May 28–29, 2026, explores the legacy of communism and its transmission to younger generations. Communism continues to constitute an important frame of reference within the memory cultures of countries in Central and Eastern Europe, while still exerting a significant influence on their political, social, and cultural life.

Over the past decades, political actors have sought to shape these memory cultures through commemorative and compensatory legislation, as well as through monuments, memorials, museums, textbooks, and school curricula. At the same time, European memory policies and laws, together with pro-Russian discourses, have introduced new dimensions to the ways in which the communist and Soviet past is remembered across the region.

The conference aims to examine the impact of these politics of memory and of alternative public discourses in creating and disseminating diverse representations of the communist/Soviet past. Particular attention will be devoted to the ways members of Generation Z receive, interpret, and incorporate these representations while constructing their own understandings of the recent past.