“The Aggressor” blog is part of the international research project “The Aggressor: Self-Perception and External Perception of an Actor Between Nations”, led by Professor Dr Thomas Maissen and based at the Heidelberg University and Ruhr University Bochum. The project examines images of the aggressor in European historical narratives and memory cultures. The blog provides information on the latest events and updates on the project members’ research. Experts from all over Europe share their insights on memory cultures around individual aggressors and explain their role in contemporary politics. “The Aggressor” YouTube channel offers short educational videos that provide a glimpse into the interviews. Provided with a rich historical background information, expressive visual material, and multimedia links, blog entries shed light on some of the most salient memory controversies of our time.

Impulses for Thought from Budapest
…on aggressors in memory and politics
Reflections of the visit on 24-27 March 2026

The Aggressor in Digital Games Database (ADG-DB)
Intergation of the concept of the aggressor into the field of Historical Game Studies
Launched in March 2026

“The Aggressor” project idea, Brezhnev’s and Donroe doctrines, and playing an aggressor in digital strategy games
February 2026

Interview with Dr Adéla Gjuričová
Memory of Brezhnev and the Warsaw Pact invasion to Czechoslovakia
November 2025


Interview with Prof Dr Balázs Trencsényi
Aggressor narratives in Central and Eastern Europe over 200 years
November 2025


The Balkans Expedition Story Map
Journey through overlapping memory conflicts related to the Macedonian Struggle, the Second World War, and the Yugoslav Wars
1-10 October 2025





Workshop “Designing Aggressor Histories: A Challenge for Public History”
Programme
Prague, 13–14 March 2025

Interview with Prof Dr Katja Makhotina
Memories of Stalin in Russia and the Baltic states
February 2025

Interview with Prof Dr Xosé Manoel Núñez Seixas
Aggressor images in the Spanish Civil War
February 2025



Interview with Prof Dr Stefan Berger
Historiographical nationalism & collective aggressors
October 2024





Conference “Aggressors: The Construction of National Enemy Images in Europe”
Report
Ladenburg, 26-28 February 2024