Material and Moral Reassessments of the KZ Past

2020 ◽  
pp. 191-243
Author(s):  
Helen J. Whatmore-Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Local Communities ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Local Pastor ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
New Millennium

Chapter 6 assesses the fundamental changes that occurred at the three KZ locations at a time when the Holocaust became central to European understandings of the war and Nazism. It outlines the camps’ transformations from monuments to memorial institutions (KZ- Gedenkstätten), detailing the ways in which local communities were involved or were swept up into new presentations of camp history. Beyond the politics of memory and official memorialization at the new institutions, it goes on to evaluate how local communities found their own ways of reflecting on and acknowledging the burden of the past in personal, social, and municipal ways; in particular, Neuengamme’s aloofness in matters pertaining to KZ memorialization was reversed through the activities of the local pastor. It concludes by tracing through the sites’ memorial evolution into the new millennium which has seen narrative complexity embrace the specificities of local context and embed this in international and universal narratives.

Populism and Memory: Legislation of the Past in Poland, Ukraine, and Russia

2021 ◽  
pp. 088832542095080
Author(s):  
Nikolay Koposov
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
The Past ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
The Holocaust

This article belongs to the special cluster “Here to Stay: The Politics of History in Eastern Europe”, guest-edited by Félix Krawatzek & George Soroka. The rise of historical memory, which began in the 1970s and 1980s, has made the past an increasingly important soft-power resource. At its initial stage, the rise of memory contributed to the decay of self-congratulatory national narratives and to the formation of a “cosmopolitan” memory centered on the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity and informed by the notion of state repentance for the wrongdoings of the past. Laws criminalizing the denial of these crimes, which were adopted in “old” continental democracies in the 1980s and 1990s, were a characteristic expression of this democratic culture of memory. However, with the rise of national populism and the formation of the authoritarian or semi-authoritarian regimes in Russia, Turkey, Hungary, and Poland in the 2000s and 2010s, the politics of memory has taken a significantly different turn. National populists are remarkably persistent in whitewashing their countries’ history and using it to promote nationalist mobilization. This process has manifested itself in the formation of new types of memory laws, which shift the blame for historical injustices to other countries (the 1998 Polish, the 2000 Czech, the 2010 Lithuanian, the June 2010 Hungarian, and the 2014 Latvian statutes) and, in some cases, openly protect the memory of the perpetrators of crimes against humanity (the 2005 Turkish, the 2014 Russian, the 2015 Ukrainian, the 2006 and the 2018 Polish enactments). The article examines Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian legislation regarding the past that demonstrates the current linkage between populism and memory.

Agreeing to Disagree on the Legacies of Recent History

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siobhan Kattago
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
National Socialism ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
Agreeing To Disagree ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Communist Countries ◽  
Historical Difference

Since 1989, social change in Europe has moved between two stories. The first being a politics of memory emphasizing the specificity of culture in national narratives, and the other extolling the virtues of the Enlightenment heritage of reason and humanity. While the Holocaust forms a central part of West European collective memory, national victimhood of former Communist countries tends to occlude the centrality of the Holocaust. Highlighting examples from the Estonian experience, this article asks whether attempts to find one single European memory of trauma ignore the complexity of history and are thus potentially disrespectful to those who suffered under both Communism and National Socialism. Pluralism in the sense of Hannah Arendt and Isaiah Berlin is presented as a way in which to move beyond the settling of scores in the past and towards a respectful recognition and acknowledgement of historical difference.

Ahead of the game: working with local communities in frontier resource basins

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 728
Author(s):  
Warwick Squire ◽  
Julie-Anne Braithwaite
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Unconventional Gas ◽  
North West ◽  
The Past ◽  
South West ◽  
Local Stakeholders ◽  
Resource Exploration

From frontier gas basins in North West Queensland to potential unconventional gas reserves in the far south-west, several areas in Queensland have potential for new or expanded resource activity over the coming decade. Lessons of the past have highlighted the importance of early engagement, by industry and government, in building and maintaining constructive relationships with local communities and achieving successful coexistence. The way in which local communities are introduced to new resource activity, and their first impressions, contribute to future attitudes and expectations. In some cases, the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy (DNRME) is taking a lead on early activities to facilitate resource exploration and development, such as pre-competitive exploration and release of tender areas for potential exploration. DNRME’s approach for engaging with resource communities involves developing robust relationships with local stakeholders, namely local government, landholders, Traditional Owners and local organisations, and a deep understanding of their interests and the local context. Second, it focuses on providing information to local communities about resource activity and ensuring that they have a channel for raising questions and concerns.

scholarly journals «Overcoming the past» in Central and Eastern Europe: main tendencies

2016 ◽  
pp. 126-143
Author(s):  
Alla Kyrydon
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Holocaust

Transformation of memory in post-bipolar world inevitably led to the revival and search (creation) of new individual and collective memory, to the aggravation of attention the memories of witnesses tragedies of the twentieth 143 century – the Holocaust, the Stalinist repressions other ethnic and political genocide. Every country has its own system of «overcoming the past». The politics of memory is one of the important factor in this complicated area of creating of new relationships, which has features in Central and Eastern Europe.

Reading the Writings on the Walls— Remembering East Berlin

2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 65-82
Author(s):  
Katharina Gerstenberger
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
West Germany ◽  
World War ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
East Berlin ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Nazi Past ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Sixtieth Anniversary

Between the end of the Cold War in 1989 and the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War II more than fifteen years later, Germany witnessed not only a proliferation of events and experiences to be remembered but also of traditions of memory. Before the fall of the wall, remembrance of the past in West Germany meant, above all, commemoration of the Nazi past and the memory of the Holocaust. Germany's unification had a significant impact on cultural memory not only because the fall of the wall itself was an event of memorable significance but also because it gave new impulses to debates about the politics of memory.

It was horrible, but we live now

Focaal ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (74) ◽  
pp. 97-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa J. Krieg
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Strange Matter ◽  
The Past ◽  
Holocaust Memorial ◽  
Personal Relation ◽  
The Holocaust

Based on an ethnographic field study in a museum and an evening high school in Cologne, this paper discusses experiences of young German adults in everyday encounters with the Holocaust, which are oft en accompanied by feelings of discomfort. Considering the Holocaust as an uncanny, strange matter contributes to understanding that distance and proximity are key factors in creating uncomfortable encounters. Distance from the Holocaust reduces discomfort, but where distance cannot be created, other strategies have to be put to work. This article underlines the significance of experience in an individual’s personal relation to the past for gaining an improved understanding of Holocaust memorial culture in Germany.

The Politics of Memory: Rededicating Two Historical Monuments in Postwar Germany

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-280
Author(s):  
Sam A. Mustafa
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
Postwar Germany ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Monuments ◽  
Coffee Table

For much of the past two centuries German governments encouraged or even sponsored the construction of war monuments. By the turn of the twentieth century Germany was covered in more than a thousand such shrines, most of which had local or regional significance as places of annual celebration or commemoration. Government, media, and business all contributed to an elaborate hagiography of Germany's battles, war heroes, and martyrs, with monuments usually serving as the centerpieces. Millions of middle-class Germans attended or participated in commemoration ceremonies at war monuments all over the country, and/or filled their homes with souvenir trinkets, tableware, wall decorations, coffee-table books, and other quotidian items that reproduced images of the monuments or scenes from the events they memorialized.

Displacement and ethnic reintegration in Ituri, DR Congo: challenges ahead

2008 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 427-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Pottier
Keyword(s):  
Local Context ◽  
Dr Congo ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Complex Emergency ◽  
Asking Questions ◽  
Contested Terrain

ABSTRACTThis article examines the ethnic character of Ituri's complex emergency. It considers the local context in which the IDP predicament has unfolded, asking questions about the prospect of, and responsibilities for, post-conflict reintegration. As militia disarmament and peace are linked but not coterminous, it is argued that militant ethnic agendas at the core of the conflict must be scrutinised for their ongoing significance. Revealing the past to be a contested terrain, these agendas call for an apartheid-style solution along lines of segregation first envisaged by Belgian colonialists. To move towards ethnic reintegration, Iturians face the challenge that they must create a common history freed from the stranglehold of extremist interpretations.

The Local Context and the Legacy of the Past

1984 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-77
Author(s):  
K. E. Shaw ◽  
A. King
Keyword(s):  
Local Context ◽  
The Past

Remembering the Past/Anticipating the Future: A Professor From the White Working Class Talks With a Survivor of the Holocaust About Our Troubled World

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 323-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Ellis ◽  
Jerry Rawicki
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Future ◽  
White Working Class ◽  
Shed Light

This article extends the research of Jerry Rawicki and Carolyn Ellis who have collaborated for more than eight years on memories and consequences of the Holocaust. Focusing on Jerry’s memories of his experience during the Holocaust, they present dialogues that took place during five recorded interviews and follow-up conversations that reflect on the similarity of Hitler’s seizing of power in the 1930s to the meteoric rise of Donald Trump. Noting how issues of class and race were taking an increasingly prominent role in their conversations and collaborative writing, they also begin to examine discontent in the rural, White working class and Carolyn’s socialization within that community. These dialogues and reflections seek to shed light on the current political climate in America as Carolyn and Jerry struggle to cope with their fears and envision a hopeful path forward for their country.

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