Obrazy holokaustu v bulharské poválečné literatuře

Author(s): Jakub Mikulecký / Language(s): Czech Issue: 3/2024

The study deals with the theme of the Shoah in Bulgarian postwar literature, which includes both works of fiction (authors like Viktor Baruh, Salis Tadzher, Simcho Isakov etc.) published in the People’s Republic of Bulgaria (1946–1990), and literature of Bulgarian Jews in Israel (Albert Beni, Albert Mihael, Albert Varsano etc.). The article is an attempt to interpret the selected works (novels, novellas, short stories, poetry and memoirs) with regard to various discursive strategies that have changed and adapted to different socio-political contexts in both countries. The themes of the Shoah and the anti-Jewish policy of tsarist Bulgaria could take on diverse ideological functions depending on the context. Literature thus became an important component of various memory constructs in postwar Bulgaria and as well as in Israel.

Osip Mandelštam o Krymu: mezi pamětí ,kulturyʻ a očitým svědectvím

Author(s): Helena Ulbrechtová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 3/2024

The essay aims to rethink the concept of memory and its application in O. Mandelstam’s work. The term ‘culture’ is also questioned and it is substituted by the term ‘civilisation’. The author emphasises the role of the eyewitness, which forms a ground for the evocation of ancient culture / civilisation. The essay is divided into four parts: the first briefly summarises the state of research on memory in Mandelstam, the second analyses the theme of Crimea in relation to memory, the third part describes Mandelstam’s poetic Crimean landscape, and the fourth part analyses three texts as an example of ciphered eyewitness account.

Hungary, Populism and the New Right

Author(s): Nicholas Michelsen / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2024

Hungary has long been recognized as a leader in the international relations of the New Right, playing a key role in the formation of a global assemblage that combines western and non-western right-wing cultural populists into a loosely coherent movement. While riven by internal differences, as noted by Abrahamsen et al., populists of the New Right “revel in demonstrating friendships in public and via public diplomacy” (Abrahamsen et al., 2024). As a consequence, they argue, local contingencies and national ambiguities should not be allowed to obscure the fundamentally international character of these populist actors. Having said that, each national case within this loose international assemblage is important and reveals something specific about what is happening in the wider global movement. Indeed, some cases may be particularly illuminating of wider international dynamics.

Introduction to the Special Issue “Canonizing and Contesting Communist-Era Dissent in Eastern Europe: Actors, Representations, and Impacts since 1989”

Author(s): Ferenc Laczó / Language(s): English Issue: 03/2024

This special issue in historical and memory studies analyzes two interrelated processes. It explores how the dissident past has been negotiated, contested, or reclaimed since 1989 and how key post-dissident actors have employed their own pasts as a moral and political resource after 1989, with what consequences. The issue approaches post-dissident history and the memory of dissent after 1989 in a regional-comparative frame while paying ample attention to transnational dynamics, such as interactions between Western recognition and national contestation. The issue thus analyzes the varied meanings east Europeans have assigned to dissident pasts and post-dissident presents and how the contests over such meanings have come to shape their politics and culture. Individual contributions focus on post-dissident actors, their representations, or their impact. A focus on actors enables in-depth exploration of post-dissident politics across the Visegrád countries and how the dissident experience was translated, via a politics of consensus, into liberal politics during the early years of “transition.” This focus also yields studies that analyze how post-dissidents have drawn on the intellectual authority and moral credibility they derived from their dissident pasts. Other studies in the collection trace transformation in the representation of forms of dissent in the decades since 1989 and the changing political and cultural values such representations have conveyed. Still other studies explore and reflect on the reasons behind the backlash against the post-dissident canon and its leading representatives while also considering ways in which “dissident heroes” have been posthumously reclaimed.

Expelled from the Fairytale: The Impact of the Dissident Legacy on Post-1989 Central European Politics

Author(s): Kacper Szulecki / Language(s): English Issue: 03/2024

To understand the political dimension of dissident legacies, we need first to understand the components that “made” the dissidents and follow their reconfiguration after 1989, leading to initial empowerment followed by gradual demise of the liberal post-dissident elite. Dissidence in the form that first appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s in central and eastern Europe constituted a particular mode of political practice, combining open, non-violent dissent with universalist moral claims. The phenomenon of dissidentism was transnational, as political empowerment of oppositionists was achieved through a particular network of relationships between domestic audiences, repressive regimes, and Western media, social movements, trade unions, political parties, and policymakers. The specificities of the dissidents’ empowerment can partly explain key features of post-dissident politics and the visible backlash against former prominent dissidents, which has contributed to the rise of illiberalism and to democratic backsliding. This article traces the post-1989 trajectories of a few who belonged among central Europe’s most prominent representatives in this symbolic category, to try to explain the causes and character of the swift backlash against them—or as Václav Havel put it, their “expulsion from the fairytale.” Three pillars of dissident political power turned into the roots of their demise. First, critics question the dissidents’ uniqueness and rewrite their master narrative. Further, we see a clash of representations that results from the dissidents’ transnational empowerment, and third, the broader antielite and anti-intellectual tendencies that always accompanied dissidence as its shadow became amplified by more recent populist rhetoric.

THE GEOPOLITICAL MAPS OF THE ROMANIAN IDENTITY (II)

Author(s): Radu Baltasiu / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

Civilization also means a self-imposed order, as part of personal liberty. Personal liberty implies the awareness of the Other, as a person and as space. The Other is not merely an individual, it is a collective actor. That is, order is about mapping space – the shape of the collective Other. The highest social function of mapping space is culture. The specialized institution/instrument of culture to deal with the social order by mapping the actual, the past, and the possible social space is the Atlas, with its historical, sociological, anthropological, etc. maps. Culture offers people space awareness, that is, the ability to know the meaning of space and a sense of personal and collective belonging. The most obvious instrument for doing so is the Atlas. Here I will present some geopolitical maps regarding the Romanian Ethnic Space structured under three categories: ethnic evolution, geopolitical pressures on the Romanian space and the significant-densities of the Aromanians to the south of the Danube. Part Two will represent some of the most significant maps by Simion Mehedinti – the founder of modern Romanian geography and a forefather of geopolitics.

THE CRIMEAN TATARS: FROM TSARIST GENOCIDE (1853–1856) TO STALIN’S EXILE (MAY 1944). MEMOIRS FROM EXILE

Author(s): Nilghiun ISMAIL / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

This article describes some aspects of genocide, refuge of the 19th century, as well as the deportation, the exile of May 18, 1944 during Stalin’s regime to which the Crimean Tatars were subjected. The events experienced throughout the turbulent history of this people, about which history books say nothing, but on the contrary, they are presented as robbers and traitors both during the Crimean War (1853–1856) and also, during the Second World War.All the horrors caused by the wars, which in fact were not their wars, but took place on their homeland territory – Crimea being a theater of war for almost two centuries, leads us to classify damages done to the Crimean Tatars as events of genocide. For the aspects of refuge and forced displacement from their homeland after the Crimean War, for this work I relied on documents that I found at Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi (The Ottoman Archives of the Prime Minister’s Office). The interview with Kerim Ismail, Hasanoğlu, Scientific Director at the Institute of Crimean-Tatar Language and Literature, Crimean Tatar from Crimea – a survivor of the deported Crimean Tatars, was the basis for testimonies regarding the presentation of the events experienced during the exile, in Uzbekistan. At the end of the paper, I emphasize the innocence of the Crimean Tatars, although at the deportation of May 18, 1944 they were accused of high treason, suggesting that today the Crimean Tatars, who are scattered in all corners of the world, from Central Asia to the western Atlantic coast, do not have thorough knowledge of their modern history (from the nineteenth century to the twentieth century).

The Political and Historical Identity of the North African Mediterranean Region. A Case Study: Tunisia

Author(s): Jelisaveta Blagojević,Marijan Premović / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

The paper outlines the importance of historical identity in the Southern Mediterranean region through a case study of Tunisia. It explores Tunisia’s political development up until the fall of the Ben Ali regime in January 2011, and its influence on the post-Arab spring period of constitutionalism of the new democratic government system. The theoretical framework of this paper involves a strategic approach to transition, emphasizing the influence of the historical relationship between religion (Islam) and politics on the role of the Islamic party in transition. The influence of the historical relationship between the military and politics on the role of the military in transition is also evaluated. These transition actors are chosen for a deeper investigation because of their historically negative image in Arab societies. In line with all available data, this article shows that the pre-independence ‘twin tolerations’ between the State and religious citizens as well as the civilian control over the military positively influenced Tunisia’s contemporary democratic development. Post-independence Bourguiba’s ‘state-controlled Islam’ and Ben Ali’s ‘zero tolerance’ towards Islamists, somewhat paradoxically, contributed to the reaffirmation of Tunisian Islamic values and Ennahda’s concept of Muslim democracy. The political and economically marginalized position of the military determined its promotional role in the democratic transition. Applying the single case study as comparison method developed by Landman and Linz-Stepan, we came to the conclusion that, due to the positive role of Ennahda and the military, Tunisia achieved a successful democratic transition even though its democracy is not yet fully consolidated.

Le Culte des héros de la Grande Guerre dans la Roumanie de l’entre-deux-guerres Quelques représentations et appréciations faisant référence aux monuments commémoratifs érigés en Transylvanie

Author(s): Mihaela Grancea,Valeria Soroştineanu / Language(s): French Issue: 4/2022

After the end of the First World War, one of the pressing issues in Romania and other involved states was the organization of military cemeteries and mausoleums as a tribute to those fallen during the war. In the Romanian case, the cause was supported and popularized by the state and the community, as well as by the journal Cultul Eroilor Nostri (The Cult of Our Heroes) (1920–1935). Alongside cemeteries, monuments were the most powerful and suggestive symbols of remembrance for a lost generation. The biggest issue with the military monuments was the financial dependence on the community that had the initiative. On the other hand, it was expected that the artistic aspect would not play such an important role. The typology of these monuments is difficult to establish, despite the fact that the Cultul Eroilor (The Cult of Heroes) Society did its best to impose a certain typology.

Loránd L. Mádly (Hg.) Siebenbürgen zwischen Großungarn und dem österreichischen Gesamtstaat

Author(s): Corina Cioltei-Hopârtean / Language(s): German Issue: 2/2024

Review of: Loránd L. Mádly (Hg.) Siebenbürgen zwischen Großungarn und dem österreichischen Gesamtstaat. Der Briefwechsel von Guberniumpräsident Ludwig Folliot von Crenneville und Hofkanzler Franz von Nádasdy (18611863) Berlin, Frank & Timme, 2023.

Имиграцията – фактор на културното многообразие в България

Author(s): Tania Stoilova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2024

The paper examines immigration and its impact on cultural diversity in Bulgaria, highlighting the challenges and opportunities arising from increasing foreign migration flows. The research underscores the complex dynamics of immigration processes that enrich the social and cultural landscape of the country while also presenting challenges to social integration and tolerance. The focus is on the new cultures, traditions, and practices brought by immigrants, including diversity in cuisine, arts, and sports. Immigrants contribute to the culinary scene in Bulgaria by offering new flavours and innovations, and they actively participate in the creative industries. Despite the positive aspects, the study also emphasises issues related to the acceptance and integration of immigrants, including challenges in social policy and the resources needed to support refugees.

Terorismul în contextul globalizării. Considerații privind evoluțiile și manifestările recente ale fenomenului terorist în Afganistan

Author(s): Flavius Cojocaru,Raul Nistor,Antonio Mircea IANCULESCU,Gheorghe Oargă,Rareş Bogdan BĂTRÎN / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 18/2022

Afghanistan has been an independent state for exactly 100 years. But the past century has been a succession of ups and downs. The next collapse is already on the horizon. The history of the country could not be presented more succinctly than it was by an old Afghan man I met in 2006 in Kabul – Alexander the Great came and went, as did the British and the Soviets. Why shouldn't the Americans leave one day too?

What the Agreement on the New Parliamentary Majority Does (Not) Bring to the Security Sector Reform and Security Policy

Author(s): Dušan Gamser / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2012

Psychological analysis of the problem of post-truth in Bulgaria

Author(s): Desislava Damyanova / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

The subject of this article is the dichotomy between reality and falsehood (information vs. disinformation) in the media environment of Bulgaria and its effects on society, public governance and crowd psychology as a whole. Where is the truth behind the loud titles? How did we reach the age of the so called “post-truth”? Why are modern media and social networks abounding in misleading messages that spread like a virus in society? We will also try to answer the question: why did the public image of the European Union suddenly become so unattractive in some East and Central European countries? And another key issue - why is the ‘nationalist trend’ in the political psychology so profitable in Bulgaria as well as in other East-European countries?

Visual Memory and Identity: A Case Study of the Greek-Speaking Refugees from Sinasos, Anatolia

Author(s): Ioannis Karachristos / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2024

Within the context of the ‘visual turn’ images can no longer be considered as neutral artefacts but as social constructs, closely connected with specific ‘regimes of truth’. As an integral part of ‘visual ideologies’, they function as ‘condensation symbols’ and ‘ideological markers,’ that could either support or question dominant narratives. Furthermore, in the case of refugee populations, images from the lost home/homeland, often but not exclusively combined with a discourse about loss, may have a significant impact on the construction of the group’s ‘cultural memory’ and, ultimately, on the formation of their identities. These issues are addressed through the example of the Greek-speaking refugees from Sinasos, Anatolia, who were forced to flee their homeland in 1924 under the Lausanne Treaty for the Compulsory Exchange of Populations between Greece and Turkey. Before leaving, they organized a photo shoot of their hometown by two amateur photographers. Analysing the album that resulted from this endeavour, in combination with written sources and oral interviews, this article explores the socio-historical contexts of production of these images along with all their subsequent conceptualizations and uses from 1924 until the present day. As it turned out, these photos had an immense impact in shaping the collective memory of both the refugees from Sinasos and their descendants.

“The Bolshevik” and “The Martyr”: Mapping the Romanian Far-Right’s Rehabilitation of Mircea Vulcănescu through Digital Memory Activism

Author(s): Adina Marincea / Language(s): English Issue: 17/2024

Despite legal condemnations of the Romanian war criminals and the existing – but poorly implemented – legal sanctions, we see an increasing rehabilitation of historical figures responsible for the Holocaust in Romania. A reframing and rewriting of history are taking place through the whitewashing of the most radical interwar fascist criminals and ideologues as “martyrs” and anti-communist “prison saints”. Antisemitic, ultranationalist ideas and discourses of the Romanian interwar far-right are being repackaged with the help of the online environment, and a reversal of the victim/perpetrator roles occurs. This is done by a network of actors, ranging from grassroots neo-legionary, Orthodox fundamentalist and ultranationalist groups, right-wing football ultras and “alternative” media up to the highest fora of representative democracy. The 2020 legislative elections marked a historical turn through the access to power of “radical return” parties and politicians reviving fascist inter­war symbols, for the first time after 1989. As a result, far-right senators are livestreaming political declarations honoring war criminals such as Mircea Vulcănescu and downplaying the Holocaust, normalizing such revisionist, denialist attitudes. The current study maps the contemporary far-right network of actors who actively contribute to this process of rehabilitation, rewriting, and circulation of fascist interwar memory through digital videos, memes, blog articles, social media content, and public chats. The study employs a network analysis and a qualitative content analysis, starting from a corpus of posts extracted from 28 Romanian far-right Telegram channels. The analysis uncovers the discursive mechanisms employed in this process of far-right digital memory activism.

From Interwar Sports Hero to Holocaust Victim: The Biography of Lenke Ziszovits-Popper

Author(s): Pompiliu-Nicolae Constantin / Language(s): English Issue: 17/2024

Lenke Ziszovits-Popper was born in 1909 into an Jewish family in Petrozsény, a town in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was renamed Petroșani after 1920, when it became part of Romania. She is recognized as a prominent tennis player representing the Oradea Athletic Club, her sporting achievements during the 1920s and 1930s making her one of the leading female athletes in interwar Romania. Despite the challenging circumstances of her era, which was marked by antisemitism, she embraced her ethnic identity, actively participated in her community, and competed in a tennis tournament even in Nazi Germany, where she secured a trophy. However, Lenke Ziszovits-Popper was forced to cease her sporting activity after Northern Transylvania was annexed by Hungary, which resulted in the exclusion of Jewish individuals from sporting activities. Furthermore, she was forcibly relocated to the Oradea ghetto, wherefrom she was subsequently transported to the extermination camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her life was tragically ended in the gas chamber. Her premature death contributed to her falling into oblivion in the context of the historical transformations within Romanian society. This research aims at rehabilitating the historical significance of Lenke Ziszovits-Popper, not only as an athlete and a representative of modern women in interwar Romania, but also as a notable figure of the Jewish community and a Holocaust victim.

“You Are All a Bunch of Cowards”: The Odesa Massacre and the Postwar Trial of Nicolae Macici

Author(s): Emanuel-Marius Grec / Language(s): English Issue: 17/2024

Romanian postwar trials were not just acts of justice, retribution, and pedagogy, but also a platform where perpetrators tried to excuse their behavior during the war by emphasizing their so-called “humanity”, “friendship to the Jews”, lack of choices, as well as a way to present their own twisted interpretation of “the law”. In this study, I focus on the trial of Nicolae Macici, arguably the most symbolic perpetrator from the Odesa Massacre, while trying to map how public accusers framed his case, how the general established his defense, and how these aspects interacted with the historical case of the Odesa Massacre. Some of the main questions presented here are: What was the role Macici played in the massacre, as presented in the trial? What did Macici say about his own actions and those of others? How did other accused people and witnesses relate to the general, and how did they interpret the roles of the orders and the military hierarchy within the Romanian Army? In which ways did the prosecutors present him and why did they choose to do so? By reconstructing and deconstructing specific aspects of the postwar trial of General Macici, we can relate not only to the events of the massacre itself, but also see how the mind of a perpetrator works.

South Africa Has Surprised The Whole World

Author(s): Kris Vanspauwen-Suggnomè / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

"We owe this mainly to our victims". An interview with Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu by K. Vanspauwen – Suggnomè.

„Нашу пам’ять не знищить жоден“: популяризація воєнної поезії

Author(s): Anastasiia Klymenko / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 03/2024

Amid the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian artists have turned to war poetry as a powerful weapon, capturing the harsh realities and emotional turmoil of the conflict. Many have joined the military, continuing to write and document their experiences on the front lines. This genre reflects not only the soldiers’ struggles but also the collective trauma of the nation. The works of poets like Victoria Amelina and Maxim Kryvtsov, who have both perished in the war, resonate deeply, immortalizing their voices and the brutal truth of their experiences. Their poetry, often shared through exhibitions and music, serves as a testament to resilience and the unyielding spirit of Ukraine. The legacy of these artists, who face the war daily, is a poignant reminder of the enduring power of words even in the darkest times.