European Forum "United Europe - United History"
The Forum was organized in Vilnius, November 15-16, 2012 in the Seimas (The Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania) building No.III conference hole. Forum was organized by the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania under the auspices of Mrs. Sandra Kalniete, Chair of the Reconciliation of European Histories group in the European Parliament and Mr. Andrius Kubilius, Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania, and supported by the European Commission from the program "Europe for citizens" Action 4: Active European Remembrance.
The main goals of this Forum:
- Stimulate debate and reflection about common European values and history, causes and consequences of Nazism and Stalinism and as a result help to develop a sense of common European identity.
- Promote dialog between West-European and East-European narratives understanding reasons and consequences of WWII and contribute to creation of inclusive European historical memory.
- Examine the reasons of different collective memory and to discuss the ways how Europe and it nations could come to terms with its past.
- Stimulate intercultural dialog and better understanding between different groups (historians, politicians, journalists, social scientists, intellectuals, educators, representatives of youth organizations, victims of totalitarian regimes).
- Develop practical proposals of strategies how to come to common European narrative.
- Promote networking and increase of international cooperation.
- Reduce influence of stereotypes and prejudice.