Practical
Friday, 16 January, 2026
- 20:00 until 22:00
BOZAR - Centre for Fine Arts - Henri Le Boeuf Hall
Ravensteinstraat 23
1000 Brussels
Ravensteinstraat 23
1000 Brussels
€10 - €14
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Bozar invite you to an evening with American historian Timothy Snyder.
Professor Timothy Snyder is one of the most incisive historians and authors of our time. He is known for his profound analyses of twentieth-century political history and the dangers of authoritarianism in the modern era. After his urgent book On Tyranny (2017), he returned with On Freedom (2024), a work that reminds us that freedom is never merely the absence of constraints. Freedom is relational—something we must practice, share, and defend together.
At Bozar, Timothy Snyder will engage in conversation with Pieter Lagrou to speak not just about history, but about the choices each of us must face now.
This event is a co-production by VUB & Bozar, with the valued support of the Hannah Arendt Institute. It's part of the VUB series Ties That Bind Us and the BOZAR series Writers & Thinkers.
About Timothy Snyder
Timothy Snyder holds the inaugural Temerty Chair in Modern European History at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. He is also a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and the head of the academic advisory council of Ukrainian History Global Initiative.
A scholar of the history of Central Europe, Ukraine, the Soviet Union, and the Holocaust, Snyder speaks five and reads ten European languages. He is the author or editor of twenty books published in forty languages. Snyder writes for the press on Ukraine, the U.S, authoritarianism, digital politics, health, and education. He has also appeared in documentaries, on television, and as an expert witness before several parliaments. He has received state orders and decorations as well as honorary doctorates.
His work has inspired demonstrations, sculpture, posters, punk rock, rap, film, theater, and an opera.
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This event is part of the Ties That Bind Us series.
About Ties That Bind Us: transcultural perspectives on social forms
A cross-disciplinary series organised at the Faculty of Languages and Humanities for VUB’s Public Programme
The impact of global and geopolitical crises on European societies is widely felt. Common reactions to these are a growing societal divide and a rise in anti-democratic positions. The public imaginary is rife with a rhetoric dominated by the erection of walls, the demarcation of territory and claims of ownership. Crushed between polarised camps are vulnerable members of our societies – and thus humanity itself. Individuals with their complex identities are categorised into groups whose belonging, right to existence even, is called into question. Understanding the realities of diversity and change as given, the series “Ties that Bind Us” seeks to create a platform for a wide range of perspectives, life experiences and cultures of knowledge about forms of kinship, solidarity and conviviality – or, in other words, a counter-imaginary space to an increasingly widespread, yet dangerously reductive binary thinking.
The world needs you
This initiative is part of PACT - the Pauwels Academy of Critical Thinking - of Vrije Universiteit Brussel. With PACT, VUB offers a programme for everyone who believes that critical thinking and dialogue are an important first step to create impact in the world.
As an Urban Engaged University, VUB aims to be a driver of change in the world. With our academic edcuational programmes and innovative research, we contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and to making a difference locally and globally.
