Who we are

The Pier Giorgio Frassati Cultural Center of Turin founded the Study Center on February 1, 2006. The full name is the "Life and Fate: Vasily Grossman, the Battle of Stalingrad, and Rights and Freedom in 20th Century History Study Center."

It was born from the experience of an exhibit and of an international conference both entitled "Life and Fate: The Novel of Freedom and the Battle of Stalingrad," realized together in Turin during the months of December 2005 and January and February 2006.

On that occasion, Professor Vittorio Strada proposed the building of a network which would maintain the links between the many scholars involved (from various Italian universities as well as from the United States, Russia, France, Israel, and England) and that could sustain research and other initiatives regarding the works and the thought of Vasily Grossman, as well as studies generally related to the World War II and a deeper understanding of the twentieth century (with special attention to the theme of rights and freedoms in relation to totalitarianism).

This, then, is the scope of the Study Center: to cultivate and maintain the network of relationships that has already been created and to begin collecting materials and writings by and about Grossman from countries around the world and in a variety of languages. The goal is to create a center for coordinating research on Grossman as well as for promoting the works of the Russian writer. This promotion includes sharing the Turin exhibit in other cities in Italy and around the world.