#157
Maze Long Kesh
Northern Ireland
By Paula O’Donohoe •
Northern Ireland By Paula O’Donohoe October 2022… Read More
Ongoing
#129
Monument to Gratitude to the Soviet Army in Legnica
Poland
By Contested Histories Initiative •
Soviet memorials have been the subject of removals in Poland since the 1980s, with the Monument of Gratitude to the Soviet Army have faced the same destiny. After 70 years of reminding locals of the country’s soviet past in Legnica, Poland, the monument was removed in 2018 and moved… Read More
#10
Dr Karl Lueger Ring Street in Vienna
Austria
By Contested Histories Initiative •
In Vienna, over 160 streets bear the names of controversial historical figures. One of these streets, once called Dr-Karl-Lueger-Ring, was named after a prominent anti-Semitic agitator whose ideology inspired the dogmatic policies of Adolf Hitler. In 2011, an archival report investigated the acts of controversial historical figures with names… Read More
#13
Leopold II Statue in Brussels
Belgium
By Contested Histories Initiative •
The June 2020 global Black Lives Matter protests and the 60th anniversary of Congo’s independence on June 30th brought increased scrutiny of Belgium’s colonial past under the leadership of King Leopold II to the forefront of public consciousness. During this period, the Brussels monument of King Leopold was defaced… Read More
#181
Harvard’s Legacy of Slavery in Cambridge, Massachusetts
USA
By Contested Histories Initiative • September, 2022
In the past decade, Harvard University has taken great strides to acknowledge the legacy of slavery on campus. Slavery provided an impetus for the creation of resources at Harvard, and several enslaved Black and Indigenous individuals of former university presidents even resided on campus at specific points. Centuries later,… Read More
#198
Stone Mountain Park Memorial in Georgia
USA
By Contested Histories Initiative •
The Stone Mountain Park Memorial is the largest Confederate memorial in the U.S., and the controversy around it demonstrates that the American Civil War’s emancipatory purpose remains contested more than a century-and-a-half after its end. Despite multiple protests, and a gubernatorial campaign running on a platform against the monument’s… Read More
#63
Stumbling Stones in Munich
Germany
By Contested Histories Initiative •
Stolpersteine or ‘stumbling stones’ are components of a project initiated by German artist Gunter Demnig in 1996 to commemorate victims of the Holocaust. The memorials, in the form of cobblestones installed in public streets, now number in the tens of thousands across Europe and beyond. However, they have also… Read More
#368
Pillar of Shame
Hong Kong
By Contested Histories Initiative •
Hong Kong By IHJR Research Team August 2022… Read More
#121
Shaheed Bhagat Singh Roundabout in Lahore
Pakistan
By Contested Histories Initiative •
Commonly known as Fawara Chowk (Fountain Roundabout), the formal name, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk roundabout, has been the source of contestation since 2016. The roundabout is directly adjacent to the former prison where Sikh Marxist-Revolutionary Bhagat Singh was executed in 1931 by the British. Since then, the prison has… Read More
#130
Old Slave Market in Lagos
Portugal
By Contested Histories Initiative •
Hiding in plain sight in Lagos’ central square lies the Antigo Mercado de Escravos, the Old Slave Market, which hosts a unique museum. The building is situated in the square–formerly a beach–where enslaved people would once have been bought and sold, along with other goods such as ivory and… Read More
#139
Van Riebeeck’s Hedge in Cape Town
South Africa
By Contested Histories Initiative •
Jan van Riebeeck arrived at Cape of Good Hope in 1652. His mission was to create a station for the Dutch East India Company’s ships. This meant colonising the lands inhabited by the Khoikhoi. To keep them from accessing his land, van Riebeeck planted a wild almond hedge. The… Read More
#281
José Miguel Gómez Statue in La Habana
Cuba
By Contested Histories Initiative •
José Miguel Gómez was a celebrated military general who led Cuban forces during the wars of independence against Spain in the 19th century and served as Cuba’s second president between 1909 and 1913. The monument was first inaugurated in 1936. The statue has consistently been a source of contention. Read More