Cornelius Holtorf’s focus on how to make peace possible is a welcome break from the doom and gloom of the current geopolitical climate where the question of peace is surprisingly absent. As is clear from the article, knowl-edge of how history and heritage is used is not always so well known outside our own sector. This is also something that has become very clear in my own work in the field, especially since the full-scale invasion by Russia in 2022. This issue can be tackled in different ways. It is my belief, however, that lecturing others for their lack of knowl-edge is not the most productive. As a researcher at the Swedish Defence Research Agency,1 my work involves building knowledge of the connection between cultural heritage and conflict for the heritage sector as well as for the total defence. An important part of my role is to question and problematise statements in policy documents and other grey literature and to build knowledge in the field in order to avoid conflicts or misunderstandings. Another part of my role is to build bridges between different actors and sectors that are not used to working together but who, as part of the total defence, are required to do so. As Marie Elisabeth Berg Christensen (2023) points out, actors such as museums have now ended up in an area of securitisation which places them in a context different than that which they are used to. It takes a lot of effort to make different groups and people understand each other’s work. A kind of bureaucratic diplomacy, if you will, in the everyday workings of actors within the total defence.
