As part of the final events of the WIRE project, an academic conference on women’s resistance in Europe was held at the Museu d’Història de Catalunya in Barcelona on October 30-31, 2024. This conference brought together experts and students to discuss and analyse the diverse experiences of women in antifascist struggles across Europe.
The event began with a welcome address and opening conference by Professor Javier Rodrigo from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), who is also the principal investigator of the WIRE project.
The morning session featured prominent scholars in the field of gender history and antifascist resistance:
- Mercedes Yusta from Université Paris 8, Spain
- Tasoula Vervenioti, a historian from Greece
- Roberta Mira from the University of Bologna, Italy
- Barbara Klich-Kluczewska from Jagiellonian University, Poland
These experts provided a comprehensive analysis of the current state of transnational studies on war, resistance, gender, and violence, highlighting the diversity of women’s resistance and the violence they endured.
After lunch, the conference continued with presentations from four Memory Routers:
- Giovanni Maria Avella from Italy
- Patrik Ciałoń from Poland
- Martí Grau from Spain
- Nikoleta Mavrommati from Greece
These final-year university students shared their experiences and the profound impact the Memory Route, a four-month journey through Greece, Italy, Poland, and Spain, had on them both personally and professionally. They discussed key themes in European history related to resistance to oppression and women’s participation, life stories they researched, and the narrative game scenarios they created.
The conference concluded with remarks from Magdalini Fytili, from UAB, emphasizing the transnational perspective on the diversity of women’s resistance in Europe. She highlighted how these stories are helping to reshape historical memory and influence modern understanding of the struggle for freedom.
