Dialogue between the Generations

Intergenerational dialogue on the 20th century is a way of overcoming the tragic dearth of dialogue between generations in many families over the course of the 20^th century. Our great-grandfathers, grandfathers and parents spoke very little with us about the crimes of the Soviet era. Often they stayed silent out of a desire to defend us, their children, from ending up in situations where it was impossible to find the right words to respond. Today, there is no lack of information about the experience of the 20^th c., but the question remains, “what do we do with our memories, and how can we give voice to them?” What can we do to help society develop anew a tradition of passing on memories of family history and Russian history which will help coming generations find their place in the country and its history?

The programme will include reading and discussion of the play “Pjatyj” (Fifth): Author, Yulia Pospelova; Director of the reading/performance, Anastasia Patlaj.

The play was written for the “Memory of the Big Terror” workshop, part of the Sakharov Centre’s “archeology of memory” programme, and is based upon materials from the diaries of various teenagers, which have been published as part of the Prozhito (“What we lived through”) Project.