"Manjše zlo" vnovič odmerjati ali (re)interpretacija zgodovine (Nekaj razmislekov ob knjigi Borisa Mlakarja Slovensko domobranstvo)

Author(s): Janko Pleterski / Language(s): Slovenian / Issue: 1/2004

Še kot magister je kolega dr. Boris Mlakar - ob izjavi Predsedstva RS o narodni in državljanski umiritvi - napisal 20. marca 1990 za uredništvo "Borca" anketo o spravi. V njej je nekatera vprašanja zastavil tako, da je že sam in vnaprej postavil tezo, da je revolucija kriva za pojav oborožene in politično-policijske kolaboracije dela slovenske politike v času sovražne zasedbe, in v tem okviru še tezo o državljanski vojni kot določujočem dejstvu za oceno vsega tega dogajanja. S tega vidika je postavil v središče presoje "revolucijo" in ugotovitev, da "je torej tedaj bila revolucija v teku". K temu je pristavil svoje prepričanje, da je ravno to povzročilo, da so se tisti, ki so se te prihajajoče revolucije "bali", odločili za "protirevolucionarni upor", in to tako, da so se naslonili na okupatorja in sprejeli od njega orožje, kljub temu da so vedeli, da bodo označeni kot narodni izdajalci. [...]

"Vergangenheitsbewältigung" po česku

Holokaust v českém samizdatu

Author(s): Peter Hallama / Language(s): Czech / Issue: 3/2016

This is a Czech translation of ‘“Vergangenheitsbewältigung” auf Tschechisch: Der Holocaust im tschechischen Samizdat’, which is published in Peter Hallama and Stephan Stach (eds), Gegengeschichte: Zweiter Weltkrieg und Holocaust im ostmitteleuropäischen Dissens (Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag 2015, pp. 237–60). The author analyses representations of the Holocaust in Czech dissident literature published as samizdat in the 1970s and 1980s. He concentrates on historical writings, but also considers journalistic contributions, memoirs, and works of belles-lettres, as well as translations of publications. In particular, the article considers two aspects that highlight the difficulties one faced and continues to face when trying to fully integrate the Holocaust into Czech national history. First, the Holocaust was often understood by the dissidents as evidence of the inhuman nature of totalitarian regimes. This interpretation, however, led to placing the persecution of the Jews by the Nazi regime on the same level as the persecution of the Czechs by the Nazi and Communist regimes. Second, if there was a reassessment or questioning of the Czech national master narrative, then topics such as home-grown antisemitism or the Holocaust were not addressed. The dissidents admitted that Czechoslovakia also had its question of guilt, but they related it to the expulsion of the German minority after the Second World War. The Holocaust, by contrast, did not generate any similar debate among the dissidents. The behaviour of Czechs during the Second World War, the attitude towards Jews, and domestic antisemitism were thus not questioned at all. The Holocaust has, according to the author, therefore tended to be overlooked or, at best, mentioned only incidentally in writing about twentieth-century Czech history – whether the authors published their texts in state-owned publishing houses or in samizdat.

"Здесь русский дух… здесь Русью пахнет!": Борьбас "русским духом" в Таллине в начале 1920-х гг

Author(s): Aurika Meimre,Antonia Nael / Language(s): Russian / Issue: 1/2014

This article is aimed at reconstructing the course of events that resulted in the relocation of a monument of Peter the Great in the capital of Estonia. The bronze standing figure of Peter by Léopold Bernstamm (unveiled in September 1910 to commemorate the bicentennial of the siege of Reval) was removed in April 1922. The reasons for its demolition were mainly ideological: for Estonians Peter the Great symbolized years of suffering under Russian rule. The controversy around Peter the Great attracted Georg Tõnisson (Gori), a graphic artist, who portrayed the czar in a series of caricatures published by Waba Maa and Meie Mats.

#someonetellcnn: The Agonistic Relationship between South and North Media Memories

Author(s): David Katiambo / Language(s): English / Issue: 10/2017

The international media stand accused for creating a negative retrospective memory about Africa through misreporting. Social media is providing an alternative channel to air counternarratives. Through Discourse Theoretical Analysis this paper uses the agonistic democracy theory to explain how Twitter is enabling Kenyans to create an optimistic prospective memory as a counter narrative to Western media’s negative retrospective memory about Africa. Mouffe’s concept of “agonism” will be utilized to conceptualize how uncivil attacks are enabling Kenyans to fend off international media misreporting. The paper unpacks how Kenyans on Twitter (KOT) used incivility against CNN to to create a national agonistic memory ahead of the 2015 Africa visit by President Obama. The paper analyses incivility at #SomeonetellCNN as a form of collective remembrance, meaning not only remembering what CNN had already said, the retrospective memory, but also remembering what CNN was expected to do, the prospective memory.

(A)symmetry of (Non-)memory: The Missed Opportunity to Work Through the Traumatic Memory of the Polish–Ukrainian Ethnic Conflict in Pawłokoma

Author(s): Mateusz Magierowski / Language(s): English / Issue: 04/2016

During the Second World War, the village of Pawłokoma, nowadays located a dozen kilometres from the Polish–Ukrainian border, was an area of conflict between the two nations. It has been almost ten years since a ceremony was held commemorating the victims of the conflict. The ceremony was attended by the Polish and Ukrainian Presidents. Today, the village is a symbol of reconciliation between the two nations. This article analyzes the dynamics of local collective memory about the conflict, using the “working through” concept and works on social remembering as a theoretical framework. In my discussion of the causes and effects of the changes in dynamics, I use data from individual in-depth interviews with three categories of respondents: the inhabitants of Pawłokoma, local leaders, and experts. The aforementioned ceremony was an opportunity for working through the traumatic past in the local community of Pawłokoma. Although social consultations were held in Pawłokoma rather than a comprehensive working-through process, we should be talking about a symbolic substitute for this process. Despite the fact that material commemorations of the Polish and Ukrainian victims were erected, some factors essential to accomplishing the working-through process were missed, such as complex institutional support, the engagement of younger generations, and empathy towards the “Others” and their sufferings.

(Ne)kultura sjećanja: uloga memorijala i komemorativnih praksi u post-konfliktnoj obnovi društva

Author(s): Tamara Banjeglav / Language(s): Croatian / Publication Year: 0

U svakom post-konfliktnom društvu koje nastaje i razvija se nakon traumatičnih događaja, kao što su ratovi i drugi oblici nasilja, postoje pokušaji da se potisne sjećanje na te događaje kako bi se ‘krenulo dalje’ i kako bi se ‘prošlost ostavila iza nas’. Sjećanje je, međutim, instinktivno i ne može se samo tako potisnuti te će se neizbježno, ipak, pojaviti, isplivati na površinu, u jednom ili drugom obliku. Zbog toga smo, u pokušaju savladavanja nasilne prošlosti, često suočeni s izazovom kako najbolje upotiijebiti/iskoristiti sjećanje s ciljem učenja na prošlim događajima kako se oni više ne bi ponovili.

(Re)konstruowanie narracji – działanie w przestrzeni publicznej – edukacja. Postpamięć zagłady Żydów lubelskich: studium przypadku

Author(s): Marta Kubiszyn / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 65/2020

Although originally the term ‘post-memory’ referred to the experiences and memories of the survivors that influenced the biographies of their children, in the following years its meaning was extended and the concept started to be used to describe the processes of transmitting the memory of any traumatic experience within any group, not necessarily bound by blood. In the case of Lublin, where one third of the pre-war community consisted of Jews, most of whom were murdered during World War II, the position of non-Jewish vicarious witnesses seems to be particularly important. This article discusses some aspects of the Holocaust post-memory discourse referring to the cultural activities of the ‘Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre’ Centre. Research questions will concern the artistic language and means of expression of these projects as well as the aesthetic codes that are being used by vicarious witnesses.

(Re)Naming Streets in Contemporary Bucharest: From Power Distribution to Subjective Biography

Author(s): Ana-Maria Niculescu-Mizil / Language(s): English / Issue: 3 (17)/2014

The present study is grounded on the premise that street names represent an embodiment of the socio-political order in the realm of everyday life (Azaryahu 2002, 135-144). It develops on three complementary axes of interest: a descriptive statistical analysis of power distribution among genders and professional categories in the current configuration of street names, a case study of Ion Câmpineanu Street as a ‘memorial landscape’ (Dwyer and Alderman 2008, 165 – 178) and the street's subjective history as it is recalled by locals in semi-structured interviews. Research’s findings sustain the idea that individuals invest personal or contextual significance endorsed with emotional resonance, in street names and rarely reflect upon the personalities naming their streets. The case study outlined Ion Câmpineanu Street as a self-contradictory, vivid landscape, an urban setting where several versions of history vindicate their memory. The analysis of street names in sector one reveals an unequal distribution among genders in favor of men, who are prominent in naming streets. The novelty in the present inquiry emerges from a gender sensitive approach upon the subject of street toponymy and social memory. Street names are understood as an embodied instrument employed in the social construction of gender in urban spaces.

(RE)SHAPING POLITICAL CULTURE AND PARTICIPATION THROUGH SOCIAL NETWORKS

Author(s): Marija Andreeva / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2019

The influence of social networks is growing intensely. They do not only influence only certain aspects of our lives, but they also influence political participation and political culture. In recent years, this influence has been very notable. We have seen a change of policies as a result of pressure, a lot of significant political movements started via social networks. This paper concentrates on the influence of social networks on political participation and political culture. The paper tries to foresee the future implications and the intertwining of social networks and political culture and political participation. It also gives conclusions for the past, present and future implications and it gives a comparison between political participation before and after the rise of social networks. It also analyses the positive and negative implications that social network could have on political participation.

(Stief-)Mütterchen Russland - Projektionen und Mental Maps von Russland in Serbien

Author(s): Nenad Stefanov / Language(s): German / Issue: 02/2019

The article discusses the so-called “traditional Russian-Serbian friendship”. This relationship between the two states is assessed as an “invention of tradition”. The contribution examines changes in Serbian society during the 1990s which brought about a new turn towards Russia. In the mental maps that had emerged in the context of new ethno-nationalism during the late1980s, the West had initially been central and served as evidence of an allegedly original love of freedom on the part of the Serbian people. This map stood in contrast to the other republics of former Yugoslavia that were seemingly “infested” by the Vatican and Germanophilia. The experience of sanctions imposed on Serbia in 1992 and the refusal to reflect on this experience led to a re-orientation of existing mental maps. The fixation on Russia had the function to spare individuals the question of responsibility for crisis and war. Even today, this mental map serves as a relieving function in Serbia and it is increasingly coming to the fore.

(Un)culture of Remembrance: The Role of Memorials and Commemorative Practices in Post-Conflict Social Recovery

Author(s): Tamara Banjeglav / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 0

In each post-conflict society which comes into existence and develops after traumatic events, such as wars and other forms of physical violence, there are attempts to suppress the memory of those events in order to “move on” and to “leave the past behind us”. However, memory is instinctive and cannot be suppressed just like that. It will, inevitably, occur, come to the surface in one form or another. For this reason, in an attempt to master the violent past, we are often faced with a challenge how to best use our memory with the aim of learning from past events so that they would never be repeated again.

(Не)видљива места сећања

Author(s): Olga Manojlović-Pintar / Language(s): Serbian / Publication Year: 0

The paper analyses how personalization of tragedy of the participants of WWII was used to strengthen Yugoslav-Soviet ties in the first days after the liberation of Yugoslavia. The text also analyzes the processes of rapprochement and of establishing closer ties between the two countries during 1960s when new forms of political and cultural cooperation were based on renewed remembrance of the courage of the participants in the war. Special attention was devoted to interpretations of WWII in contemporary historiography which unearthed new data and opened new perspectives. Turning to experiences of individuals was suggested as a possibility of drawing conclusions without ideological revisions of the whole history of 20th century.

[rec.] Nicholas P. Roberts, Political Islam and the Invention of Tradition, New Academia Publishing, Washington, DC 2015, ss. 245

Author(s): Anna Zasuń / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 1/2017

1863-1864 m. sukilimo dalyvių laidotuvės ir Vilniaus kaip baltarusių Mekos naratyvas

Author(s): Valius Venckūnas / Language(s): Lithuanian / Issue: 102/2020

The article discusses a narrative that presents Vilnius as the Belarusian Mecca, and a manifestation of that narrative during the November 22, 2019, reburial of members of 1863–1864 uprising. The narrative presents the city as an place of pilgrimage and worship where the Belarusian nation is constantly reborn. The ceremony of the reburial, as well as the preceding discussions, received great attention in Belarus. They become a direct representation of aforementioned narrative mobilizing the fractured nation. It is imperative to understand the strategic value of this narrative not only for Belarusian society, but for the Lithuanian state as well, because of its depiction of the Lithuanian state as an instrument of Lithuanian soft power.

1923 Nüfus Mübadelesine Mizah Penceresinden Bakmak: Zümrüdüanka

Author(s): Nuray Firindioğlu Yılmaz / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 2/2017

The Greek- Turkish 1923 population exchange has played an important role in Turkish history both politically and socially. Since about 2 million Greeks and Turks were ousted from their homelands, this issue has quickly become problematic due to some main concerns and conflicts over its form and instruments, the definition and the scale of the refugees, and the legal status of their left property. These problems led the refugees to experience a number of tragic incidents from the start of the implementation of the exchange almost until it is completed. This study reviews the Greek- Turkish population exchange that has been engraved in collective memory in every respect by analyzing the texts and caricatures in the comic book, Zümrüdüanka, that reflect its idiosyncratic sense of humor.

1926 m. gruodžio 17 d. perversmo atmintis ir legitimacija tarpukario Lietuvoje

Author(s): Kęstutis Kilinskas / Language(s): Lithuanian / Issue: 3/2020

Memory and public discourse of the 1926 December coup are analyzed in this publication. Author reveals diference and contradiction between memory of participants of the coup and public discourse shaped by Lithuanian nationalist union, Lithuanian Christian democratic party and military.

1939 versus 1989—A Missed Opportunity to Create a European Lieu de Mémoire?

Author(s): Aline Sierp / Language(s): English / Issue: 03/2017

This article analyses the wider context of policy conflict concerning public memory of the 1989 events. It uses Pierre Nora’s concept of lieux de mémoire in trying to explain why 23 August 1939 has been turned into a European Remembrance Day whereas 9 November 1989 has not. By investigating closely the role that various memory actors played during debates at the European level, it advances the idea that the anniversary of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact has been more successful in establishing itself within the European remembrance landscape because it has allowed for the promotion of a unifying narrative of the European past. In doing so, the article questions the frequently advanced idea that memory clashes in the EU form around an East–West divide that in some cases overlaps with a Right–Left divide. The analysis digs deep into the complex dynamics lying at the heart of memory contests concerning the end of the Cold War within the EU and provides a more differentiated view of discussions preceding EU decisions on policies of memory.

1948: Mekân-kırım Yoluyla Unutma Rejiminin Kuruluşu

Author(s): Tuğçe Ersoy Ceylan / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 9/2021

In line with the fact that memory depends on topography, the study argues that by realizing spaciocide on Palestinian space emptied during the 1948 Nakba, Israel has imposed a double-sided regime of forgetting. The study will elaborate the processes of the erasure of Palestinian history via loss of collective memory from 1948 onwards. Within this context, the study will seek to reveal that the dynamics of forgetting aspiring the erasure of Palestinian collective memory function simultaneously with the dynamics of remembering concerning the construction of Jewish collective memory. Therefore, the study will analyze how Palestinian collective memory is subjected to forgetting and erasure by the regime of forgetting via spaciocide in order to construct the collective memory of the New Jew, Sabra.

1968 in Prague and Bratislava

Author(s): Dieter Segert / Language(s): English / Issue: 05 (48)/2021

“1968” happened not only on the streets of the cities in the United States, in Paris and Berlin (West), but also in Prague and Bratislava. Soviet tanks and people on the street protesting against it determine the collective memory of this year. However, the eastern “1968” was more than that. There was a reform movement and a lot of hope. The changes started with the party congress of the Czechoslovak communists at the end of 1962. The Czechoslovak reforms did not begin in the streets as a protest movement against the rulers, but started at a meeting of the ruling party at which the communists criticised their own policies. The central keyword is political rehabilitation.

1989 in European Vernacular Memory

Author(s): Lars Breuer,Anna Delius / Language(s): English / Issue: 03/2017

In our contribution, we examine the vernacular memory of the end of Communism and the year 1989 in Europe. Analyzing sixteen focus groups conducted in Germany, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom, we concentrate on the question whether the events related to 1989 might have the disposition to become a transnational European lieu de mémoire. We show that 1989 is not a salient historical event for British and Spanish participants, while Polish and German respondents do connect it with patterns of national identity building. Differences between vernacular and official memories could be revealed as respondents hardly mentioned the democratic achievements made in the course of the transitions. A transnational dimension was only found in Poland, where respondents articulate a feeling of neglect toward their own national history. The Solidarity movement is being interpreted as a motor of liberation and Europeanization of Poland and as a pioneer of democratization on a European scale. German respondents remain in their national frame, focusing on flashbulb memories of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the issue of social integration of East and West Germany after 1990, which they evaluate as imperfect. The strong national bias of Polish and German focus groups raises doubts as to whether 1989 can become a transnational basis for a shared European memory.