The proceedings of the international conference on "Governance, Memory and History. Historical Knowledge for Peacebuilding, Conflict Prevention and Resolution" held in Potsdam between June 1st – 2nd 2026.
The General Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization, dr. Cătălin-Ștefan Popa, was among those to take the floor for opening remarks, alongside dr. Yossi Beilin, former Minister of Justice of the State of Israel and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Donato Kiniger-Passigli, Vice-President of the World Academy of Art & Science (WAAS).
Moreover, as part of the conference proceedings, dr. Cătălin-Ștefan Popa gave a lecture on "Christians and Religious Others in the Middle East: What Is Different Today and What Remains from the Past in Terms of Peace?"
Dr. Popa's intervention began by taking into account the continuities and changes that define the relations between Christian communities and the other religious actors active in the Middle East today. The context analysed by dr. Popa was one marked by conflicts, migration, demographic shifts and fraying social trust, proposing an understanding of the history of the region as "a complex network of life" comprised of relations, interdependencies, negotiations, accommodations, shared spaces and painful ruptures between religious communities.
The examples presented drew on the situation in Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq. In the case of Syria, dr. Popa drew attention to the importance of reconciliation and on the vulnerability of religious minorities. Lebanon was analysed through the lens of its model of confessional pluralism, while also drawing attention to the risk that much-wonted dialogue remain at the conceptual level, without transference in lived reality. In the case of Iran, dr. Popa's intervention evoked the venerable history of Assyrian, Armenian and Chaldaean Christian communities, while for Iraq the focus shifted to the memory of ISIS attacks and on the efforts to preserve Christian manuscripts housed in the north of the country.
An important segment of dr. Popa's lecture was dedicated to the connection between heritage, memory and cultural continuity, where he evoked the rescue of over 1,000 manuscripts by Archbishop Michael Najeeb, as well as the rediscovery of the Alqosh 169 manuscript, which has become the foundation of an ample international editorial project in which dr. Popa took part. These examples show that safeguarding manuscript heritage also brings the preservation of cultural memory and of the link between religious communities and their own past.
In the closing section of his address, dr. Popa linked these fundamental objectives to the mission of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization through the lens of cultural diplomacy, dialogue between communities and the promotion of a culture of peace. The central thrust of dr. Popa's argument presented peace itself as a difficult yet necessary art for cohabitation: a way of living alongside each other while preserving the dignity, memory and identity of the Other and accepting the differences that set us apart.
Dr. Popa gave his address in the broader context of the conference's full programme which brought together notable academics and public figures bearing considerable experience in the fields of history, diplomacy, regional studies and peace edification, such as dr. Erkki Tuomioja's two interventions on the role of historians in understanding conflicts and the construction of peace – "Work and Purposes of Historians Without Borders" and "Governance, Memory and History: Historical Knowledge for Peacebuilding, Conflict Prevention and Resolution;" Professor Frank Bösch's account of Germany's relations with authoritarian regimes ("Dealing with Dictatorships: German Relations with Autocracies"); Professor Hartmut Berghoff's analysis of "Germany's Place in the World Economy: Achievements and Challenges, 1990-2026;" Professor Dalibor Jovanovski's perspective on history and struggle in South-Eastern Europe "Between Power and Dialogue: Historical Narratives and Conflict Prevention in the Balkans;"dr. Donato Kiniger-Passigli's presentation of "The World Academy and the Peace Offensive: Memory, Legacy and the Way Forward in Peacebuilding;" dr. Yossi Beilin's account of "The Central Place of Narrative in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and a Proposed Joint Narrative;" Professor Birgit Schäbler's intervention "On the Value of Area Histories for the Present: The case of West Asia (Middle East);" Professor Ralf Roth's discussion of "Memory and Culture – The Case of the Jews of the Banking City Frankfurt am Main in the 19th and 20th Century;" Professor Pertti Grönholm's and dr. Erkki Tuomioja's joint presentation of the "HWB's History in Exile Project," or Professor Jörg Hackmann's closing lecture on "History as a Source of Conflicts and Resource of Transnational Reconciliation. What Can We Learn from German-Polish Relations?"
The participation of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization in this international conference is aligned with its broader strategic direction of promoting intercultural dialogue, a culture of peace and international academic cooperation at a time when the understanding of history is fast becoming essential for the prevention of conflicts and for the consolidation of conviviality.
