PEAK EVENT REPORT: CY Cergy Paris Université Delegation

The 2026 Peak Event of the EUTOPIA Connected Learning Community in Legal History took place in Barcelona from 26 to 27 February, hosted by Prof. Alfons Aragoneses at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. This year's theme, "The End(s) of War," brought together student delegations from four universities: CY Cergy Paris Université (Prof. Caroula Argyriadis Kervégan), Univerza v Ljubljani (Prof. Katja Škrubej), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Prof. Frederik Dhondt), and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Prof. Alfons Aragoneses). Following the previous editions held in Cergy (2022), Ljubljana (2023), Brussels (2024), and Warwick (2025), this year's event in Barcelona continued the tradition of bringing together students and faculty for intensive academic exchange and cultural discovery.

Our delegation from CY, composed of the two of us, had the privilege of presenting our research on Paul Touvier, the first French citizen convicted of crimes against humanity. This topic, which we had been working on since the beginning of the academic year under the supervision of Prof. Argyriadis Kervégan, required extensive archival research at the National Archives in Seine-Saint Denis, where we consulted original documents from the Touvier affair. This report recounts our experience throughout the event, reflecting on both the academic exchanges and the cultural discoveries that made this trip a truly enriching experience.

Thursday, 26 February: Arrival and First Encounters

We arrived in Barcelona on Wednesday morning, ready to immerse ourselves in the city's rich history. Our first activity was a guided tour of the Gothic Quarter (Barri Gòtic), led by Prof. Aragoneses himself. Walking through these medieval streets, surrounded by Roman ruins and Gothic architecture, offered a fascinating glimpse into Barcelona's layered past. The quarter's narrow alleyways, flanked by buildings from different centuries, illustrated how the city had grown organically over millennia. Prof. Aragoneses's insights into the legal and institutional history of Catalonia provided an intellectually stimulating introduction to the region, connecting the ancient stones beneath our feet to centuries of legal development. He explained how the Catalan legal tradition had developed distinctively from Castilian law, and how these differences continued to shape regional identity even today.

  

The Gothic Quarter: medieval streets and Roman ruins

In the afternoon, we visited the Sagrada Família, Antoni Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece. Beyond its obvious architectural splendor, the basilica prompted reflection on the relationship between artistic vision, institutional support, and the passage of time, themes that resonated with our research on delayed justice and historical memory. The fact that the building, begun in 1882, remains under construction more than a century later, served as a powerful metaphor for the slow workings of justice in cases like Touvier's.

The Sagrada Família

The evening was dedicated to meeting all the delegations for the first time. Students from Ljubljana, Brussels, Barcelona, and Cergy gathered together in an informal setting. We discussed our respective law studies, our research projects, and the various challenges each of us had encountered while working on our topics. These initial conversations created bonds that would enrich the discussions over the following days.

Friday, 27 February: The Peak Event

Thursday was the main day of academic presentations at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. The program was structured around four thematic panels, each exploring different aspects of how wars end and how societies transition toward peace, justice, or reconstruction. The sessions ran from 9:00 in the morning until 17:00, with coffee breaks and a lunch that provided opportunities for informal exchange.

The audience during the presentations

The morning session, "The Wars before 1914," chaired by Prof. Aragoneses, opened with Emma Wittens's presentation on pacification during the Eighty Years War (1568 to 1648), which examined how peace was negotiated and maintained in the Low Countries. This was followed by Nives Košnjek's analysis of the Ljubljana Congress of 1821 and its legacy in Slovenian memory, a topic that demonstrated how diplomatic events continue to shape national narratives centuries later. Aichat Okueva's work on Belgium's immigration policy transformation (1839 to 1940) revealed the complex relationship between neutrality, sovereignty, and population control. Finally, Christine Bwanassani's study on the legal reclassification of violence in the Congo Free State (1885 to 1908) demonstrated how legal frameworks both reflected and shaped colonial identities and practices.

The second panel, "The Inter War Period 1919 to 1939," chaired by Prof. Frederik Dhondt, brought illuminating perspectives on how new states and technologies reshaped legal landscapes. The Slovenian students' presentations were particularly innovative: Klara Babić explored how telecommunications helped establish the new Slovenian National Government at the end of World War I, while Vito Grilc examined the question of official languages in Radio Ljubljana during the first Yugoslavia. These presentations highlighted how technology and law intersected in nation building processes. Galina Hermans explored how Belgian private law adapted to the Great War's disruptions, revealing the often overlooked legal consequences of armed conflict on everyday life. The UPF students' presentations on Republican repression during and after the Spanish Civil War were particularly moving, given our location in Barcelona, a city that had experienced some of the war's most dramatic events.

After lunch and a tour of the beautiful UPF campus, a former military barracks transformed into a modern university, we arrived at the panel where we would present our own research: "The End of WWII: Between Justice for War Crimes and National Reconstruction," chaired by Prof. Katja Škrubej. The session opened with Luka Držić's presentation on the short lived Slovenian branch of the TANJUG Press Agency (1944 to 1945), which illuminated the complex process of creating new media institutions in post war Yugoslavia.

Our presentation on Paul Touvier explored how France struggled for nearly fifty years to bring to justice a former Milice chief who had orchestrated the execution of seven Jews at Rillieux la Pape in 1944. Alessia presented the first part, focusing on Touvier's crimes and his decades of flight from justice, protected by networks within the Catholic Church. She explained how figures like Monsignor Charles Duquaire devoted years to obtaining clemency for Touvier, and how President Georges Pompidou's secret pardon in 1971 triggered a major scandal when it was revealed by L'Express in 1972. Emir then addressed the legal battle to prosecute Touvier for crimes against humanity, examining how French courts grappled with concepts like imprescriptibility and ideological hegemony. The presentation concluded with the significance of Touvier's 1994 conviction and its role in ending the "Vichy syndrome."

  

Alessia and Emir presenting on the Touvier case

Presenting before such a knowledgeable audience was undeniably stressful, as this was the first time we had presented a research project of this magnitude in public. However, the experience proved highly rewarding. The questions and discussions that followed were stimulating, and we were struck by how our colleagues from other delegations brought fresh perspectives to the case. A Slovenian student drew parallels with Yugoslav war crimes trials, particularly the trial of General Leon Rupnik that Jožef Krnc had just presented. A Brussels colleague raised thought provoking questions about the role of prescription in crimes against humanity, connecting our case to broader European debates about transitional justice.

The panel on WWII and post war justice

The final panel, "A New Europe: Projects of Unification and Wars," chaired by Prof. Argyriadis Kervégan, examined how post war reconstruction shaped European integration. The UPF team's presentation on the Coal and Steel Community demonstrated how economic cooperation became a foundation for peace, while Izabela Letonja's presentation on constitutional reproductive rights in late 20th century Slovenia showed how women's groups, political actors, and media interacted in reshaping fundamental rights. The general discussion that concluded the day allowed us to reflect collectively on the themes that had emerged throughout the presentations: the persistence of memory, the difficulties of achieving justice after atrocities, and the ongoing relevance of these historical debates for contemporary Europe.

Alessia and Emir with Prof. Caroula Argyriadis Kervégan

Saturday, 28 February: Cultural Explorations

Friday began with a visit to the Gaudí Quarter, where we admired Park Güell and other examples of Gaudí's distinctive architectural vision. The organic forms and vibrant colors of his work offered a striking contrast to the Gothic Quarter's medieval austerity, yet both reflected Barcelona's capacity to embrace bold artistic innovation. Walking through Park Güell's mosaic terraces and serpentine benches, we discussed how Gaudí's work had been received in his own time and how it had since become synonymous with Catalan identity.

Casa Batlló, one of Gaudí's masterpieces

We then joined the other delegations for a guided tour of the Archaeological Site at El Born, which preserves remains from the War of the Spanish Succession (1701 to 1714). This visit was particularly significant given our theme: the site illustrates how Barcelona suffered after the 1714 siege, and how Catalan memory of this defeat continues to shape regional identity today. The guide explained how the excavated streets and houses were deliberately buried after Philip V's victory, only to be rediscovered in 2002 during construction work. Walking through these ruins, we could see the material traces of a war's end and its lasting consequences. The parallels with our own research on post war memory and delayed justice were striking: here was a war that ended over three centuries ago, yet its legacy remains contested and politically charged.

In the afternoon, we visited the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC), housed in the magnificent Palau Nacional on Montjuïc hill. The museum's collections span Romanesque frescoes rescued from Pyrenean churches to modernist works, offering a comprehensive journey through Catalan artistic heritage. The exhibitions on war and art were especially thought provoking, showing how armed conflicts have been represented, commemorated, and critiqued through visual arts. One section focused on artists who had documented the Spanish Civil War, including photographs and paintings that captured both the violence and the resilience of the civilian population. These images resonated with our discussions about how societies process traumatic events and construct collective memory.

  

The MNAC: exterior view and interior dome

That evening, we concluded the day with a visit to Tibidabo, the mountain overlooking Barcelona. The panoramic views of the city at night were breathtaking: the illuminated grid of the Eixample district, the dark mass of the Gothic Quarter, and the Mediterranean beyond. 

Sunday, 1 March: Final Day and Departure

On our final morning, we visited the Fundació Joan Miró, dedicated to the Catalan surrealist artist. The museum, designed by Josep Lluís Sert and perched on Montjuïc hill, complements Miró's playful yet profound works perfectly. His art, created partly during and in response to the Spanish Civil War and Franco's dictatorship, connected directly to our week's discussions about art, war, and memory. Works like "The Reaper" (now lost but documented in photographs) had served as powerful statements against fascism, while his later sculptures demonstrated how artists could continue to engage with political themes through abstraction. The visit provided a fitting conclusion to our cultural explorations, connecting artistic expression with the historical and legal themes we had discussed throughout the event.

Conclusion

The 2026 Peak Event in Barcelona exceeded our expectations in every regard. Academically, the presentations revealed the diversity of approaches to legal history across Europe, while the discussions enriched our understanding of our own research on the Touvier case. The experience of presenting before an international audience was both challenging and formative. We learned much from the questions asked and the feedback received. The connections drawn between our case and those presented by colleagues from Slovenia, Belgium, and Spain demonstrated the value of comparative perspectives in legal history.

Beyond the academic program, the cultural visits organized by Prof. Aragoneses and the UPF team were thoughtfully chosen to complement our theme. From the Gothic Quarter's medieval institutions to El Born's war ruins and the MNAC's artistic responses to conflict, every excursion deepened our reflection on how wars end and how their endings are remembered, contested, and commemorated. Barcelona itself, with its distinct Catalan identity and its memories of civil war, provided a fitting backdrop for our discussions.

We are grateful to Prof. Caroula Argyriadis Kervégan for her guidance throughout our research, to Prof. Alfons Aragoneses and the UPF team for their excellent organization and warm hospitality, and to the entire EUTOPIA Legal History community for creating a space where young researchers can share their work and learn from one another. We look forward to the continuation of this learning community and to the publication of our research in the forthcoming virtual exhibition. This experience has reinforced our conviction that legal history, far from being an antiquarian pursuit, remains essential for understanding contemporary challenges and building a more just future.

Alessia Finamore & Emir Hodzić Islamović