We try to move this lecture to next year, the exact date is still unknown.

It does not often happen in history that visionaries are able to realise their dream by creating something radically new. This is exactly what the conceptional architects of the EU have done. Their project has become history, and after 75 years we may add: an exceptionally successful history. But this opinion is no longer shared by all. There are more and more voices of discontent, denouncing the achievements of the EU and opting resolutely for leaving the union. This is something that the founding fathers could not have imagined: Europe has even become an enemy stereotype for many Europeans.

In this lecture, Aleida Assmann will show us that it is more important than ever to know where Europe is coming from and what it stands for, in order to defend it against its enemies and carry this project into the future.

Aleida Assmann is a central figure in memory studies in Europe. She coined the concept of “cultural memory” in the field of cultural studies, as well as in public debates. The main areas of her research are history of media, history and theory of reading, and cultural memory, with a special emphasis on the Holocaust and trauma.

She taught as a guest professor at international universities (Rice University, Princeton, Yale, Chicago and Vienna). The Max Planck Research Award allowed her to establish a research group on ‘memory and history’. With her husband Jan Assmann, she received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 2018. She is currently directing a research group at the University of Konstanz, on the topic ‘Memory in the City’.

Aleida Assmann will also be a guest at the Symposium: Weerbare Democratie en Zivilcourage (Resilient Democracy and Moral Courage), on Thursday 14 May at the provincial government building of Limburg, organised as part of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Limburg, by the Province of Limburg in collaboration with Studio Europa Maastricht. More information via the website.

Schuman Lecture
Every year, Maastricht University and the City of Maastricht jointly organise this lecture in commemoration of Robert Schuman and the Treaties of Rome (1957) and Maastricht (1992). Robert Schuman (1886-1963) was the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and co-founder of the European Union.