They didn't invite the city fathers of Ferrol, the birthplace of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, the bloody tyrant who ruled Spain from 1938 to 1973, so the conference can't just have been about fascist dictators.
They didn't invite the mayor of Tokyo, home-town of Gen. Hideki Tojo, who led Japan into World War II, so it wasn't just about bad men who were leaders in that war. So what WAS it about?
According to Johannes Waidbacher, mayor of the Austrian city of Braunau that hosted the "Contemporary History Days" conference, it has always been about how to deal with the legacy of living in the city where Adolf Hitler was born and grew up. This is the 20th year that Braunau has held the conference, and they still don't have a good answer. But this year, at least, they came up with a different way of asking the question.