Socialism Reexamined: a dialogue between Israeli and Soviet scholars on the evolution and experiences of socialism in both countries - 4/91

In April 1991, leading economists and historians from the Soviet Union, Hungary, Romania and Israel participated in an international symposium entitled "Socialism in Crisis: The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe". The symposium was part of the Center's joint research project on socialism. Among the topics discussed were the Russian roots of Israeli culture and politics, the crisis of East European communism, the social and political consequences of the communist experiment in Russia, and the Romanian and Hungarian experience.
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Soviet Foreign Policy 1917-1991: A Retrospective - 2/92

In February 1992, the Cummings Center, the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Shevardnadze's Association for Foreign Policy sponsored a three-day conference in Moscow on "Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917-1991 -- A Retrospe ctive". This important international event constituted the first open and direct dialogue between Russian and Western scholars on the subject. It brought together leading experts from all over North America, Europe, Russia and Israel, as well as prominent members of the Russian Foreign Ministry, military and intelligence communities. The conference attracted considerable attention in the Russian media and among political figures currently engaged in formulating new approaches to foreign policy. In the new spirit of open debate and the opening of previously classified archives, the conference participants reassessed questions of Soviet relations with the West, and policy towards Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The concluding session was devoted to an examination of the future prospects of Russian foreign policy. Western participants were guests of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Parliament.
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Russian Historiography at a Crossroads - 4/92

The symposium, held in April 1992, focused on current dilemmas in Russian historiography arising from the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the emergence of academic freedom in the former USSR and the opening of archives. Papers were given by Dr. A ndrei Sakharov (Deputy Director of the Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences), Dr. Mikhail Narinskii (Deputy Director of the Academy's Institute of General History) and Prof. Sidney Monas of University of Texas, Austin (former editor o f Slavic Review).
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Russia in Transition: From the Soviet Union to the Commonwealth of Independent States - 5/92

The Center hosted the annual meeting of the Israeli Association of Slavic Studies in May 1992. The papers presented were devoted to a discourse on the dissolution of the Soviet Empire and the impact of the process on future politics, on the nationali ty problem, and on identity and cultural consciousness.
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Unification of Germany -1/93

The Cummings Center and the Institute of German History, Tel Aviv University, sponsored a symposium on the unification of Germany, in January 1993. Participants included Fedor Burlatsky, Ingeborg Fleischhauer, Anatoly Cherniaev, Viacheslav Dashichev, Igor Lebedev, Heinz Timmermann and Rolf Steininger
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Jews and Jewish Life in the Soviet Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States: Past, Present and Future - 4/93

The three-day conference was sponsored jointly by the Cummings Center, the Graduate Center of the City College of New York and the Department of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It was the first time that an international academic symposium on this subject was held in Moscow. The wide variety of participants included historians, ethnographers, demographers, political scientists, and officials of the Russian Foreign Ministry and government. They engaged in a public dialogue on previously taboo issues such as Soviet ethnic policy toward the Jews, Jewish religion in the pre- and post-War years, anti-Semitism in the USSR, the Doctors' Plot, the impact of the Bible and other Hebrew literature on Russian letters, the impact of Jewish emigration on Russia's economy, as well as a roundtable discussion of new documents which have recently been declassified.
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Central Asia Meets the Middle East - 10/93

This conference was held in May 1993 by the Cummings Center and the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University. The conference brought together leading scholars from the US, Europe, Russia and Israel in the fields of history , sociology, anthropology, culture and ethnography to engage in a high-level academic discussion on the Muslim regions of Central Asia. The participants addressed the legacies of the past, domestic trends and developments, long-term prospects for cooperation and even confederation of the newly independent states, and the implications of independence for the relations of these states with the Middle East.
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Russian Jews on Three Continents - 12/93

In the past twenty years almost of a million Russian Jews have emigrated to the West. Their presence in Israel and North America and their absence from Russia have left an indelible imprint on these societies. On 27-30 December 1993, an international group of experts in a variety of fields took a closer look at those who left, those who received them and those who stayed behind. The Conference was sponsored by the Cummings Center, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and by the City College and Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. Among the topics discussed were: Russian Jewish emigration in historical perspective; factors determining the decision to leave; public opinion in Russia on Jewish emigration; absorption in the US and Israel; Israeli Arab attitudes towards Russian Jewish immigrants; and the impact of the immigrants on Israeli politics.
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The Soviet Union on the Eve of War - 1-2/95

From 31 January to 3 February 1995, leading Western and Russian experts on the military and diplomatic history of the Soviet Union met in Moscow, for a first frank exchange of views on Soviet foreign policy and strategy on the eve of the German invasion of Russia. The four-day international conference launched the official commemoration marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The opening session was attended by the Ambassadors of Poland, Germany, and Israel and the heads of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Conference sought to present an innovative and coherent analysis of Stalin's policies on the eve of the German invasion, based on Russian and Western archival material which had hitherto been classified, and by utilizing an approach which examine d both military and diplomatic aspects under a single spotlight. Key sessions included: the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact; the division of Poland and Soviet occupation of the Baltic States; the Winter War in Finland; the German encroachment in the Balkans; the German deployment for "Barbarossa"; Anglo-Soviet relations in 1939-1941; The intelligence community on the eve of the War and the events of 22 June 1941; as well as a round table on the last day of the Conference devoted to the current fierce controversy on preemptive or defensive war.
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Russia and Israel: A Retrospective - 2/96, Moscow

On the occasion of the publication by the Cummings Center of the Memoirs of Aryeh Levin - Israel's Ambassador to Moscow (1988-92) - the Center and the Institute of Universal History (Russian Academy of Sciences) sponsored a one-day conference on Soviet-Israeli relations. Participants included leading figures in the Russian Foreign Ministry and Anatolii Chernyaev, the former personal adviser to Gorbachev on foreign affairs.
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Foreign and Security Policies of the Soviet Union in the Second World War: The Current Controversy, 6/96, Konstanz

The colloquium, sponsored jointly by the Cummings Center and the Philosophy Department of Konstanz University dealt with the controversial topic of Soviet foreign and security politics in World War II. The Russian participants, who included among others, General Tsarev of the Russian Intelligence Services, and Lev Bezymensky - Marshal Zhukov's interpreter, revealed new documentary material which throws fresh light on the Second World War.
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Between Germany and Russia - The Legacy of East-Central Europe - 10/96

Central Europe currently faces a major crisis of identity. The smaller countries of the region are torn by their respective affinities to the major powers on the one hand, and to Europe on the other. The outcome of these deliberations are crucial for the future development of a united Europe. The issues addressed in this conference included the concept of East-Central Europe, classic questions in political history, such as the interrelationship between the European system and the internal organization of multi-ethnic Empires; the Eastern Question, the emergence of nationalities in a setting of empire; questions of cultural and political geography of power and identity, the definition of Europe and its boundaries; the identities of Russia and Germany, the identity of Poland between Germany and Russia; the interconnection between minority-problems and collective security in the 1920s. But perhaps the most intriguing question concerns the extent to which relations between Germany (Prussia) and Russia have affected the fate and self-definition of people in this borderland of European cultures - the land `in between'.
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The Teaching of History in Contemporary Russia: Trends and Perspectives - 10/97

An international conference, devoted to the teaching of history in secondary schools in post-Soviet Russia, was organized by the Cummings Center for Russian and East European Studies, Tel-Aviv University, in cooperation with the Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University in the framework of the project "The Teaching of History in School and the Formation of New Historical Narrative in Contemporary Russia". The conference took place in St. Petersburg, Russia, from 27 to 31 October 1997.
The conference brought together historians and educators from Russia, Ukraine, Israel, the United State and Germany. The sessions focused on the emergence of new historical narratives in the Russian classroom between the years 1985-95 and on the institutional and professional changes that have made innovations in history education in Russia possible. The panels addressed the issues of history textbooks, the evolving role of the history teacher (with special attention to preparation in pedagogical universities and institutes) and the teaching of history as a school subject in the context of overall educational policy.
The final day of the conference was devoted to the debate over how the Holocaust is to be taught in Russian schools. This was a ground breaking session inasmuch as the specific fate of the Jews in the Second World War was a taboo subject in the Soviet curriculum. Among the participants were the Minister of the Israeli Embassy in Moscow, Mr. Avi Benjamin, representatives of the Jewish Agency in Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as a number of Russian scholars, educators, and a large student audience.
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Pictures from the conference

Revolution and the Making of Modern Political Identity - 1/99, Tel Aviv
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Russia in Transition - 5/99, Tel Aviv

In 1999 Tel Aviv Univesity hosted the biennial conference of the Israeli Association of Slavic and East European Studies. The general theme of the conference was Russia in Transition and the three panels were devoted respectively to Russian Jewry, Society and Politics, and Russian Culture. Most of the speakers were Israelis, the exception being Professor Karl Eimermacher of Bochum University in Germany.
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The Gathering Storm: Strategy and Politics on the Eve of Operation Barbarossa - 5/99, Tel Aviv
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Democracy and Pluralism in the Muslim Areas of the Former Soviet Union - 11/99, Tel Aviv

In November 1999 the Cummings Center held a three-day conference on Democracy and Pluralism in the Muslim areas of the Former Soviet Union. Besides speakers from Israel and the West, scholars were invited from Russia and a number of the states and republics in question. The lectures and discussion included both historical and contemporary issues, some relating to specific regions, others of a more general nature. The conference papers will provide the basis for a book.
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Unravelling the Threads of Time: The Teaching of History in Contemporary Russia - 12/99, Tel Aviv