During a sold-out evening at BOZAR on 16 January 2026, historian Timothy Snyder joined Pieter Lagrou in conversation on freedom, democracy and resistance at a time of rising authoritarian pressure. The event was a collaboration between the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Bozar with the valued support of the Hannah Arendt Instituut. It was part of the programme of VUB's Ties That Bind Us lecture series, the Pauwels Academy of Critical Thinking (PACT) and the Bozar series 'Writers and Thinkers'. The central message of the evening was clear: freedom is not a guaranteed right, but a collective responsibility.
Snyder, internationally renowned for his work on Central Europe, Ukraine, the Soviet Union and the Holocaust, is widely regarded as one of the most incisive historians of our time. With On Tyranny (2017), he set the tone for global debate. In his recent book On Freedom (2024), he goes further, arguing that freedom is not simply the absence of constraints — it requires commitment, practice and care for others.
In dialogue with Belgian historian Pieter Lagrou, a specialist in the history of the Second World War, Snyder reflected on historical lessons and contemporary threats, from authoritarianism to digital manipulation. Democracy, he warned, does not endure on its own. It depends on active citizens, moral agency and solidarity. Freedom, in Snyder’s view, does not mean being “left alone”, but helping build a society in which people can flourish.
“Freedom is about creating the conditions in which people can become free”
Snyder also cautioned against the misuse of free speech in the digital age, where power and technology increasingly reinforce one another. Free speech, he argued, is not a pretext for monopolising the information space, but a tool to challenge power and enable truth to be heard — especially the voices of the least powerful.
History, Snyder emphasised, plays a crucial role in safeguarding freedom. It helps us resist propaganda, simplistic narratives and the dangerous belief that the future is predetermined. By taking the past seriously, we keep open the space for alternative futures. The evening concluded with a powerful takeaway: freedom is not an individual possession, but a shared practice — one that must be renewed continuously by citizens, institutions and generations.
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