Young Historian's Day
CegeSoma/State Archives invites you to its annual study day on Friday, 5 December 2025, featuring master's theses by talented young graduate historians.
This year, 19 students will present the results of their research.
The history of World War I will be covered through topics ranging from the emotional expressions of French-speaking Flemings in their personal diaries to the role of DNA analysis in identifying missing soldiers, Belgians in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and the denunciation of incivism after the war.
The interwar period will feature topics like Belgium and the Sino-Japanese War, and the criminalization of anarchists in Belgium.
As every year, the history of World War II will be covered extensively with such diverse topics as the comparative study of the daily lives of Eastern Front soldiers in the Walloon Legion and the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism, the Belgian delegation investigating the Katyń massacre, the post-war reconstruction of Brussels, debates on the repression of incivism, the attack on the Antwerp police academy in November 1942, the study of resistance in history classes or resistance and censorship in Spirou magazine.
The Cold War will also be discussed , with a focus on crimes committed by the Belgian volunteer battalion in Korea, the International Council of Women 's fight against apartheid, and the missionary activities of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM) in the Philippines.
Finally, the program will also include topics like Belgium's Communist Party and the politicization of abortion in Flanders, fascism as a concept, and the culture of fascist memory in the Abruzzo region.
A very interesting program that once more will give you the opportunity to discover the latest areas of research at our universities. As usual, this meeting is open to everyone... So welcome, you all!