‘Europe: the 2019-1919 countdown’

2019 marks the centenary of the Treaty of Versailles and is also a European election year. The outcome of these elections is uncertain and their significance is complex. This symbolic collision seemed like a particularly good time to trace the course of European history back to the point where, perhaps, it all began, where everything was perhaps already irremediably written? In any event, this feels like a good opportunity to attempt to “go back in time”, during four encounters. We have therefore selected four dates, which marked the roads to follow in order to build the Europe we live in today.

As everyone knows, going back in time does not allow you to change the course of events. These four dates have since become part of our history. That is why we asked historians to take a walk back in time, during these four debates, and trace the thread that links this immutable past to a present, which, on the other hand, can still be changed. The time machine does not allow us to intervene in past events. It does however enable us, invites us even to take action to influence the future. Not inspired by a superficial emotion that is produced by the fleeting present time we live in, but based on the most complete understanding of the past. Our “angel of history”, in a way, is quite different from Walter Benjamin’s. It does not wish to be swept away by tempests. Instead it gazes straight ahead.