by InTrieste
On January 27, as countries across Europe mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the University of Trieste will convene scholars, artists, and witnesses from different disciplines and continents to reflect on one enduring question: how to live with the legacy of Auschwitz in a world where dehumanization has not disappeared.
Now in its 12th edition, the multidisciplinary conference “Convivere con Auschwitz” (“Living With Auschwitz”) will take place at Teatro Miela in central Trieste. This year’s subtitle — “and Human Barbarism” — signals a shift from remembrance alone toward a broader examination of how the mechanisms that enabled mass violence in the 20th century continue to surface in contemporary conflicts, rhetoric, and social fractures.
Since its inception, the conference has sought to keep the memory of the Holocaust and deportation anchored not only in historical scholarship, but also in civic responsibility. Organized by the University of Trieste in collaboration with Stazione Rogers and Teatro Miela, the event brings together historians, philosophers, scientists, medical professionals, performers, and publishers in a format that deliberately resists disciplinary boundaries.
“At the center is the idea that Auschwitz is not only a historical event,” said Mauro Barberis, dean of the university and the conference’s scientific director. “It is also a measure — a point of reference for recognizing the early signs of barbarism when they reappear.”
That perspective informs the 2026 program, which moves between past and present, testimony and analysis, words and images. Among the most prominent guests is Terumi Tanaka, a representative of Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese association of survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and a recipient of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the organization. His participation extends the conversation beyond Europe, linking the Holocaust to other collective traumas of the 20th century and to ongoing debates about civilian suffering in war.
Mr. Tanaka’s presence underscores a recurring theme of the conference: the responsibility of survivors and societies to transmit memory not as abstraction, but as lived experience. The organizers emphasize that remembrance loses its force when detached from ethical consequences — particularly at a time when hate speech, prejudice, and violence against civilians are again visible in many parts of the world.
The conference also makes space for cultural and artistic expression as tools of remembrance. Actor Giorgio Cantarini will perform a monologue dedicated to Giorgio Perlasca, the Italian who saved thousands of Jews in Budapest during World War II by posing as a Spanish diplomat. The performance revisits the moral choices available even in moments of extreme danger, suggesting that individual action remains possible amid systemic violence.
Animation director Bruno Bozzetto will present an episode from “Allegro non troppo,” using visual language to engage memory through irony and symbolism. The inclusion of theater and animation reflects a longstanding belief among the organizers that images and storytelling can reach audiences in ways academic discourse alone cannot.
Scholarly contributions remain central. Mr. Barberis will open the academic program with a lecture titled “The Beginning of Barbarism and the End of Writing,” examining how violence erodes not only human life but also language itself. Sabina Passamonti, a researcher in life sciences at the University of Trieste, will address the 900-day siege of Leningrad, focusing on hunger as a modern instrument of war — a topic that resonates with current humanitarian crises.
Medical and personal testimony will be represented by Giuseppe Cantarini, a neuropsychiatrist, whose talk, “The Memory of Giosuè,” reflects on family, cinema, and historical figures such as Perlasca, drawing connections between private memory and collective narratives.
The program concludes with reflections on war imagery, including an analysis by Mauro Rossi of the work of British artist Henry Tonks, known for documenting facial injuries of World War I soldiers, and a presentation by Elena Tonzar of newly published volumes from the conference proceedings, available through the University of Trieste’s OpenStarTs platform. The closing remarks will be delivered by Gianni Peteani, focusing on Anne Frank as a symbol of memory that continues to speak across generations.
Institutional greetings will be offered by the university’s rector, Donata Vianelli, alongside representatives of the partner cultural institutions. The event will be moderated by Pierluigi Sabatti, president of the Trieste Press Club.
Open to the public and streamed live online, the conference reflects Trieste’s complex historical position at the crossroads of Central and Southern Europe — a city shaped by shifting borders, multiple identities, and the legacies of 20th-century violence.
In a time when remembrance risks becoming ritualized, the organizers argue that confronting Auschwitz also means interrogating the present. The question posed by the conference is not only how to remember the past, but how to recognize — and resist — the conditions that make barbarism possible again.
