German Ghosts Haunting Slovak Theater: The Role of Drama in the Slovak Culture of Remembrance
German Ghosts Haunting Slovak Theater: The Role of Drama in the Slovak Culture of Remembrance

Summary/Abstract: With the independence of Slovakia in 1993, a culture of memory of the problematicaspects of the history of Slovak Germans – such as anti-German violence, post-WorldWar II internment camps, or forced displacement from (Czecho)Slovakia during and afterthe war – began to develop gradually. Currently there are more than twenty sites ofmemory in the form of monuments or memorial plaques commemorating those aspectsof the common Slovak-German history. However, there are still voices in Slovak societypointing out the lack of public knowledge about the historical issues involved. In 2022and 2023, the plays Domov! [Home!] and Hauerland appeared on the stages of Slovaktheaters. Focusing on the period of World War II and first postwar years, they both show itfor the first time from the perspective of Slovak Germans. Based on a comparison of thesetwo plays and the existing sites of memory, this article considers how Slovak Germans areremembered in Slovakia today. Applying the analytical framework of hauntology, it further explores the role of drama in the Slovak culture of remembrance. The study argues thattraditional sites of memory in the regions formerly inhabited by Slovak Germans, such asmonuments or memorial plaques, are a response of the local population to the Germanghosts of the past – various material traces of German culture. In turn, the actors playingthe Slovak Germans in the theatrical productions under discussion are considered to be pos-sessed by their characters, who bring the repressed past back to light. As the actors are notlimited by local concerns, they can reach a wider audience. They bring new perspectives ona history that is already known, and thus they play an important role in the process wherebyindividual and/or social memories become part of collective memory on the national level.

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