Dr. Nicolas Moll
Historian and freelance consultant / trainer in the field of intercultural cooperation and dealing with the past.
- Former activities:
Professor for German Cultural Studies at the Institutd’EtudesPolitiques de Paris (1992–1996), PhD in Contemporary History at the University of Freiburg (2002), Head of Department “Intercultural Pedagogical Training and Research” at the French German Youth Office (Berlin, 2001–2007), Deputy Director of the Centre Malraux Sarajevo (2009-2010)
- Examples of concrete activities I have organized/am organizing in the field of “dealing with the past”:
- Coordination, since 2010, of the transeuropean platform Memory Lab (until 2012 under the name of “Dealing with difficult pasts in Western Europe and the Western Balkans”)
- Lectures and publication of texts about dealing-with-the-past issues related to BiH, France, Germany and Europe in general
- Co-organisation of international exchange program for students, i.e. “Difficult memory places in Europe” in BiH, France and Germany (2008-9), and “War Crimes and Trials”, in Croatia, Serbia, France and Germany (since 2012)
- Concrete challenges I am facing in my “dealing with the past”-related work:
- How to bring different, opposed and separated memories / narratives of difficult pasts to confront each other in a constructive way?
- How to bring in constructive dialogue about dealing with the past persons form Western Europe – for most of whom the war experience is not personal and very far away – and persons from SEE – for most of whom the war memory is very fresh and part of their daily life?
- How to deal with emotions in dealing with the past processes?
- Which balance to find between dealing with the past-processes and reconciliation /peace building-processes?
- My personal link to/interest for the topic of “dealing with difficult pasts”:
I am interested in the topic on the one hand as a researcher, on the other hand as practicioner, and I don’t want to separate both, as the research can inspire the field work and vice-versa. Having grown up in the context of French-German reconciliation and living since many years in Bosnia-Herzegovina, I am especially interested in the question of the possibilities and difficulties to articulate together in post-war societies facing the past on the one hand, and peace-building on the other hand, and to what extent it is possible to connect divided memories.
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