I am pleased to announce that my proposal for an international conference entitled “L’anticommunisme en France et en Europe (1917-1991)” (Anticommunism in France and Europe, 1917-1991), which will be held in Paris in January 2023, has been accepted. My paper will address both the activities sponsored by the American anticommunist organization Free Europe Committee (FEC) in France and the French counterpart of the FEC called “Comité français pour l’Europe libre”. The latter was a single undertaking since there was no foreign counterpart outside the French committee. In my paper written in French, I will discuss the availability of archival records and present Free Europe-sponsored activities in France at the beginning of the Cold War and through the 1950s. During my speech at the conference, I will display audio-visual archives that I recorded with people involved in the French committee.
Meanwhile, I am writing other papers in English related to my PhD research. One of the articles I co-write with a fellow researcher will be devoted to Royall Tyler (1884-1953), a distinguished American historian, diplomat, economist, and art connoisseur. Tyler spent his entire lifetime in Europe and his career embodies in many aspects US foreign policy towards Europe. Our article will highlight the Unofficial American Commitment in European affairs during the first half of the 20th century. Furthermore, I am also working on an article about my PhD research, the Free Europe University in Exile. This article will present the FEUE and will focus on the Communist attacks against the institution during its existence.
Veronika Durin-Hornyik PhD