Cultures of History Forum (Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena)
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Official commemorations of the end of the Second World War in Estonia take place on May 8 and they focus on the victims of what is perceived as the most traumatic event in recent national history. A day later, another commemoration takes place that celebrates the war's end as victory and is attended by many Russian-speakers of Estonia. These two events epitomize the mnemonic landscape of Estonia characterized by two memory regimes that exist as parallel universes.
Thirty years have passed since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In Russia's public sphere today, the decade that followed is remembered with ambivalence while politically, negative narratives of the 'rowdy nineties' dominate. The article examines how the 1990s are being represented on social media platforms, in particular on TikTok and Instagram, and to what extent the platform-generated grassroot memory practices differ from, or even oppose the official narrative about this period.
For many decades Soviet and post-Soviet collective memory of the Second World War has been closely tied to the song 'Bukhenval'dskii nabat' (Alarm Bell of Buchenwald), performed at both official and private commemorations across the former Soviet Union. The article traces the origins of the song and critically discusses the various transformations it undertook from being an anti-nuclear peace song to becoming a central element of the antifascist 'Great Patriotic War'-memory.
The events that surrounded the status of the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest at the beginning of April 2017 sparked vivid debates and public reactions in neighbouring Romania. While the academic world showed strong support for the CEU, only a few local government officials reacted similarly. As part of the special issue on 'Lex CEU', the article discusses these reactions from a comparative perspective, placing the case study within a wider framework of open society, liberal democratic values, academic freedom and human rights.
This article discusses the new memorial site “Territory of Terror” in L’viv. It explores the ways in which the creators have tried to produce ‘new’ narratives of Western Ukrainian history by initiating museums at original sites of terror and violence committed during the Second World War and in its aftermath. It also places the exhibition in a wider context of similar sites in the area and discusses current memorialization processes more broadly regarding Soviet history in Ukraine.
After twelve years of restauration and preparation, the new permanent exhibition on twentieth century Czech history finally opened its doors last July at the National Museum in Prague. The article provides a critical review of this exhibition, questioning its educational function and criticizing its rather narrow, national approach to Czech history as well as its narrative design.
1945 – Defeat. Liberation. New Beginning. Twelve European Countries after the Second World War
(2015)
The article critiques a recently opened temporary exhibition about Europe’s post-war history at the German Historical Museum (DHM). While the exhibition treats all major themes of the war's end with political and historical correctness, it poses no guiding questions for visitors; neither does provide comparative perspectives. Therefore, it ultimately fails to rise above mere eclecticism. Overall the DHM fails in its attempt to grasp European history as a zone of interconnections rather than of parallel strands.
The sixtieth anniversary celebrations of the 1956 Hungarian revolution took a new turn when Viktor Orbán used the opportunity to criticize the European Union and further the Fidesz nationalist agenda. This article discusses the commemorations in their historical context since 1989 and closely analyses the speeches and festivities in Budapest. It shows the continuous uses of this date for partisan purposes and asks what this means for Hungarian collective memory.
As part of the special issue on 'Lex CEU', the present article discusses the public reactions in the Czech Republic (from politicians, the media and academics) to the recent events in Hungary. It shows that these reactions were often closely connected to much broader questions regarding attitudes towards liberal values and the meaning of civil society. Taking a historical perspective, the dominant discourses on civil society are traced back to the early period of Czech democratization and two key ‘framers’ of public opinion: Václav Havel and Václav Klaus.
When in February 2018 a new exhibition opened at the site of the former National Socialist 'Work Education Camp' Salaspils, its reception in the Latvian media was mixed. The history of the camp as well as its Soviet memorialisation are complex and have been frequently contested in Latvian society. The article reviews the new exhibition against this backdrop and asks how the curators present both the history and legacy of the place.