The Experience of War in Literature and the Media: Academic Discussion Against Silence and Forgetting
The representation of war in literature and the media is not merely a way of recalling historical events, but also of remembering the individual human lives shaped by war. It is also a means through which the experience of war is interpreted, communicated and preserved in collective memory.
This was confirmed by the international academic conference Re-Presenting Contemporary Armed Conflicts in the Media, Literature and Film of the V4 Countries, with an Emphasis on the Czech-Slovak Context, held on 15 October 2026 at the Faculty of Central European Studies of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. The event was organised by the Institute of Languages and Cultures of Central Europe at the Faculty of Central European Studies, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, in cooperation with the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Bratislava, the Czech Center in Bratislava, and the Department of International Relations and Diplomacy at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations of Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica. The conference's thematic focus was shaped by current social and political developments, as well as by the need for scholarly reflection on the causes and circumstances preceding armed conflicts and on the ways in which the experience of war is reflected in contemporary literary, media and film production. The event also continued the tradition of previous academic meetings, which have been made possible in part by the financial and moral support of Czech partners.
The importance of cooperation with the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Bratislava and Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica was also emphasised in the opening address by Assoc. Prof. PhDr. Martina Pavlíková, PhD, MBA, Vice-Rector for International Relations at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. Among other matters, she recalled the Czech diplomatic service's swift response to Hamas's attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. Her remarks were followed by Rudolf Jindrák, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Slovakia, who stressed the importance of mutual dialogue and the need for critical reflection on armed conflicts and their consequences. In this context, he also praised the conference's broad thematic scope, which enabled discussion of the various forms and dimensions of the experience of war.
Against this background, the mission of the Institute of Languages and Cultures of Central Europe at the Faculty of Central European Studies, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, takes on particular significance. Its academic focus encompasses the study of historical, cultural and social processes shaping the Central European region. Through events of this kind, the institute seeks not only to address current issues but also to create a space in which different experiences, opinions and interpretative perspectives can meet.
The conference brought together members of the academic community and a wider range of specialists from Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The diversity of topics and interpretative approaches was reflected not only in the individual presentations but also in the discussions at the end of each thematic session, which raised further questions and prompted reflection on the ways war and its consequences are portrayed.
Using selected literary works as examples, Tibor Žilka highlighted the courage and bravery of women during the final stages of the Second World War. He also addressed the contradiction between the Red Army's mission to liberate territories from Nazism and the violence committed by its members against civilians in liberated and occupied territories. Particular attention was paid to sexual violence against women, one of the tragic aspects of the wartime experience that remained unspoken for a long time. In this connection, he also recalled the tragedy of Bucha in Ukraine, which has become one of the symbols of the brutality inflicted on civilians by Russian armed forces. Through literary examples, he thus raised not only the question of war as a negation of respect for human life and dignity, but also the issue of the politically motivated suppression of historical experiences. Under the communist regime, literary representations of violence committed by Soviet soldiers encountered ideological restrictions and censorship. During the Stalinist period in particular, openly acknowledging these realities could even lead to political persecution.
Libor Pavera explored communication and its symbolic forms. Using the film Bent as an example, he demonstrated how a sign or colour can replace a person's identity. The symbol seems to speak on behalf of the person wearing it, regardless of their personality, experiences or attitudes. In this sense, it becomes a tool for categorisation and for drawing boundaries between “us” and “them”, pushing individual identity into the background and foregrounding membership of a particular group.
Petr Komenda drew attention to the capacity of poetry to capture the dramatic experience of the Russian-Ukrainian war, particularly events associated with the siege of Mariupol. Through an analysis of the poem Azov Regiment (2026) by Czech writer Radek Štěpánek, he demonstrated the ability of poetic language to convey the experience of wartime violence. The discussion focused on the linguistic and expressive means through which events and human experiences can be represented in situations whose intensity exceeds the possibilities of ordinary narration.
Peter Juščák, Chairman of the Association of Slovak Writers Organisations, examined the deportations to Soviet labour camps. He focused on the circumstances and mechanisms of forced deportation, as well as on the inhumane conditions in which, figuratively speaking, prisoners were left with only two rights: the right to work and the right to die. He also addressed the historical context of individual deportations and the periods during which deportees returned to their homeland, recalling one of the tragic chapters of post-war history.
Ján Sabol, a university lecturer, film and television director, and screenwriter, presented different approaches to the cinematic representation of the experience of war through the films Robinson & Crusoe, Photophobia and War Correspondent. These ranged from allegorical representation to the documentary recording of the immediate reality of armed conflict. By comparing different filmmaking approaches, he also raised the question of the relationship between artistic stylisation and documentary testimony.
Alexej Mikulášek examined various territorial conflicts, using them as a basis for exploring the mechanisms through which collective identities are formed and the opposition between “us” and “them” is constructed through discourse. Drawing on Critical Analysis of Political Discourse (CAPD), he highlighted the ways in which language, stereotypes and selective interpretations of historical events contribute to the creation and reinforcement of boundaries between different communities.
Marek Janičík, a university lecturer, director and screenwriter, focused on the cinematic portrayal of the war in Ukraine in the work of Slovak director Pavol Pekarčík. Drawing, among other sources, on a personal interview with the director, he outlined the distinctive features of Pekarčík's cinematic approach to depicting armed conflict, the experiences of civilians and everyday life under conditions of threat.
Marta Žilková examined the figure of the child in wartime narratives, highlighting differences in its portrayal depending on whether the perspective belongs to the attacking or defending side of a conflict. She focused particularly on the emotional dimension of children's experiences, in which fear predominates in various forms: from the immediate threat to life and anxiety over the loss of loved ones to the uncertainty caused by the collapse of a familiar world. She also explored the transformation of family and social roles, as wartime circumstances force children to grow up prematurely, assume responsibility for others and often find themselves in positions ordinarily occupied by adults. This reversal of roles reveals the profound disruption of childhood and the differences in how war is experienced and artistically represented. The figure of the child thus becomes not only a vehicle for emotionally powerful testimony but also a means of examining the broader social and moral consequences of armed conflict.
Beata Kozieł compared the ways in which the image of geopolitical threat and the enemy is constructed in interwar literature and contemporary digital media. Through specific examples, she traced mechanisms of stereotyping, the construction of the image of the “other” and the formation of collective attitudes. Her comparative analysis also raised the question of the persistence of certain ways of portraying the enemy, which continue to operate in contemporary media discourse despite changes in historical circumstances and modes of communication.
Zdeněk Brdek explored the narrative strategies used by contemporary Czech authors to portray the war in Ukraine in literature for children and young adults. He paid particular attention to the ways in which wartime events are communicated to young readers and to the importance of narrative perspective in conveying experiences that extend beyond their immediate lifeworld.
The final afternoon session broadened the conference's thematic scope with further perspectives. Through an analysis of selected documentary films, Štefan Timko examined representations of Russian society, focusing on how documentary filmmaking captures social attitudes and value orientations. Vladimír Heger approached the subject of war from a different perspective, concentrating on its symbolic meanings and layers of significance, which change according to historical, social and cultural contexts.
Regardless of how it is represented in literature, film or the media, war remains inseparable from experiences of violence, suffering, dehumanisation and existential threat. These very dimensions, addressed in several conference presentations, underscored the need for critical reflection on armed conflicts, their causes and their consequences. Academia provides a space not only for examining the ways in which war is represented but also for discussing the mechanisms that contribute to the emergence and persistence of hostility, stereotypes and social division. Such reflection is equally important in education, making the students' interest in the conference particularly encouraging.
The academic programme was complemented by the exhibition Fake News, on display in the foyer of the Faculty of Central European Studies and loaned by the Czech Centre in Bratislava. The exhibition addressed related issues of media manipulation, disinformation and the construction of distorted images of social reality. It thus served as a reminder that the struggle over the interpretation of events is also part of armed conflicts, and that the ability to assess information critically takes on particular importance in this context.
On the following day, 16 October 2026, the event continued at the Czech Centre in Bratislava, where participants were welcomed by its director, Monika Koblerová. The programme included a screening of the historical biographical film Milan Rastislav Štefánik (1935), directed by Jan Sviták. The choice of the film was no coincidence. As Miloš Zelenka and Štefan Timko noted before the screening, Štefánik, one of the key figures in the establishment of Czechoslovakia, remains an important symbol of the shared history of the Czech and Slovak nations and continues to occupy a prominent place in collective memory, as demonstrated by his victory in the Greatest Slovak public poll in 2019. His efforts to promote Czechoslovak unity and cooperation between the two nations are of particular significance in this context. The film is also a rare live-action biographical portrayal of Štefánik's life. Its interest lies not only in its historical subject matter but also in its cast of Czech and Slovak actors and its use of both languages. The screening thus continued the conference's focus on Czech-Slovak relations and offered a further opportunity to reflect on the cinematic representation of historical events and figures.
The two days of academic meetings demonstrated that the various literary, cinematic and media representations of war raise questions that extend beyond the boundaries of individual academic disciplines. Their study makes it possible not only to identify problems and uncover their historical, social and cultural contexts, but also to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences with which individuals and entire communities continue to grapple. The organisers therefore hope that, in the coming years, cooperation with domestic and international partners will enable this academic discussion to continue, addressing issues that, despite their historical roots, remain urgently relevant today.
Article author: Assoc. Prof. PhDr. Zuzana Vargová, PhD.
(Institute of Languages and Cultures of Central Europe, Faculty of Central European Studies, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra)
Photographs: Mgr. Dominika Hlavinová Tekeliová, PhD.
(Institute of Languages and Cultures of Central Europe, Faculty of Central European Studies, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra)
