Churches in Northern Europe during the Occupation of their Countries

4^th International Kaj Munk Seminar

Aalborg University, August 27 & 28, 2009

Churches in Northern Europe during the Occupation of their Countries

Call for papers

During the last century, a majority of nation states in the north of Europe[1] have experienced occupation by foreign countries, some during World War II (Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway, and Poland), some of them for additional years during the Cold War (Baltic States, Germany Democratic Republic and Poland). This seminar will focus on the role of the churches under occupation. The churches all got challenged both in their leadership and on the level of the parishes – some took an active role against occupation, while others just went on, as if nothing had happened: We will try to see why. Analysing why churches responded differently to occupation, we want to address the following questions:

Which was the historical background (Reason and aim of the occupant? How was the governance of the occupied country during the occupation? Which was the reaction of the populations or `civil-society' to the occupation?)

How did the church(-es) react to the occupation (initially and over time)?

Did occupation strengthen or weaken the churches?

Did it make any difference for the people in these countries,
whether their churches got involved in resistance or not?

How did people look at the churches after the occupation?

These and similar questions will be in focus at the 4. International Kaj Munk Seminar at Aalborg University on August 27^th/28^th , 2009. The seminar is organized by the Kaj Munk Research Center Aalbor University (www.kajmunk.hum.aau.dk).

Deadline for submission of abstracts is May 30, 2009. Deadline for circulation of papers is August 3, 2009.

Since its inauguration in 2005, the Kaj Munk Research Centre at Aalborg University has invited for an annual, international seminar. The purpose of these seminars have been to analyse a subject relating to the Danish priest and writer Kaj Munk, who opposed the German occupation. He was kidnapped and murdered by the German SS in January 1944. The first seminar was titled `Christianity and Resistance - From Kaj Munk and Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Desmond Tutu' (the results was published with Brill Academic Publ., se:  www.brill.nl/default.aspx; the second concerned freedom of the press, and was called `From Munk to Mohammad - Freedom of the press, censor- and self-censorship' (under review with Brill Academic Publ.); the latest seminar concentrated on Kaj Munk's dramatic work, the book is being edited at the time of writing this.

For further information, please contact:

Søren Dosenrode, director of research: sd(at)ihis.aau.dk or

Andrea Dosenrode, head of administration: ad@hum.aau.dk (0045 99 40 91 23 (between 9-13))

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