Chains of Grievance: Changes in the Concept of Sacrifice and Victim in Hungarian Public Monuments Cover Image

A sérelem láncolatai. Az áldozatfogalom változásai magyar köztéri emlékműveken
Chains of Grievance: Changes in the Concept of Sacrifice and Victim in Hungarian Public Monuments

Author(s): József Mélyi
Subject(s): Politics of History/Memory
Published by: Korunk Baráti Társaság
Keywords: collective memory; historical grievance; public monuments

Summary/Abstract: Historical grievance can have deep roots in collective memory, and its representation continually appears in public monuments. In Hungary, national monuments have always been almost inseparable from the sacrifice made by the nation and the nation as a victim, over the past 150 years. The study examines the change in the concept of historical grievance and sacrifice, the duality of the idea of sacrifice and resurrection through public monuments, primarily in the Hungarian context. The various historical grievances seem to form a circular chain with no breaking point. The authorities could always combine the grievances according to their own memory politics, and could embed any traumatic event or national catastrophe in the existing chain. This chain of grievance takes now often the form of memorial parks.

  • Issue Year: 2022
  • Issue No: 01
  • Page Range: 70-75
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: Hungarian