EAU CLAIRE — Shapers of past and current events, as well as outstanding academics, will present at the seventh annual Symposium on East Europe to be held Friday and Saturday, April 6-7, at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
          The free conference, titled “A Decade of Independence, Democracy and Challenge,” will explore the events and strategies that led to the collapse of the Soviet system and the 10 years that have followed.
          Friday’s symposium events, which will take place in Hibbard Hall Room 100, include the following:

• 1:15 p.m. — introductory remarks by Dr. Paulis Lazda, UW-Eau Claire professor of history and symposium co-chair.

• 1:30 p.m. — opening address, “10 Dogs that Didn’t Bark: The Baltic States Since 1991,” by Paul Goble, director of Communications Division at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Goble, who is a frequent commentator on post-Soviet affairs for the national news media, has served as the special adviser for Soviet nationality problems and Baltic affairs at the U.S. State Department.

• 2:20 p.m. — “The Singing Revolution in Latvia” by Sandra Kalniete, ambassador of Latvia to France. Kalniete, an art critic and author, co-founded the Latvian Popular Front and served as chief of protocol, chargé d’affaires, at the United Nations offices in Geneva, Switzerland.

• 3:30 p.m. — “Poland’s Burdened Democracy: Overcoming Decades of Soviet Domination” by Andrzej Byrk, professor of history at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. Byrk, an international authority on the history of the Holocaust in Poland and the post-World War II experience, has lectured frequently at American universities and has taught at Oxford University, England. He is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles.

• 4:10 p.m. — “Lithuania: A Decade of Independence” by Alfred Senn, professor of history at UW-Madison. Senn, author of 12 books and an international scholar of East European and Russian history, has traveled widely in the Baltic States and witnessed the independence movement in Lithuania in 1990.

• 7 p.m. — Keynote address, “Unhappy Winners: East European Society 10 Years After Transformation,” by Maciej Kozlowski, ambassador of Poland to Israel, with a welcome by UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Donald Mash. Kozlowski, who served as vice foreign minister of Poland (1995-1998) and the chargé d’affaires of Poland in Washington, D.C. (1993-1995), has written several books. He was the chief journalist for the Tygodny Powszecni Catholic newspaper and hunted by secret police when the Solidarity movement was crushed during the Communist dictatorship.

• 9:30 a.m. — “Challenge to Security in Post-Soviet East Europe” by Valdis Krastins, ambassador of Latvia to Finland. Krastins was a professor of music at the Latvian Academy of Music until 1987 when he became involved in the independence movement. He joined the Foreign Ministry in 1992 and previously served as ambassador to Czechoslovakia and Norway.

• 10:30 a.m. — “Estonia 10 Years Later” by Sven Juergenson, ambassador of Estonia to the United States. Juergenson — whose postings have included Helsinki, Finland; Vienna, Austria; Ankara, Turkey; and the United Nations, New York — has served as a diplomat since 1991.

• 11:20 a.m. — “12 Years of Post-Socialist Hungary” by Zoltan Barany, professor of government at University of Texas at Austin. Barany, a native of Hungary, has written extensively on East Europe, ethnic relations, politics and military affairs. His most recent publication is “Legacies of Communism in Eastern Europe.”

• 2 p.m. — “Perspectives and Prospects,” a panel discussion by Barany, Bryk, Goble, Juergenson, Kalniete, Kozlowkski, Krastins and Senn. Mildred Larson, symposium co-chair and associate director of the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, will moderate the discussion.

[Administrative Offices] [News Bureau]

Updated: March 25, 2001