The politics of memory as a sectoral state politics

2021 ◽  
pp. 153-164
Author(s):  
Anna Ratke-Majewska
Keyword(s):  
State Politics ◽  
Politics Of Memory

scholarly journals Uniformed Services Pension Amendment Acts in Poland as Part of State Politics of Memory

2020 ◽  
pp. 67-80
Author(s):  
Mateusz Grabarczyk
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
State Politics ◽  
Specific Group ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
Security Services ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Justice ◽  
Political Narrative ◽  
Administrative Sanctions

The article is an analysis of the regulations regarding the reduction of pensions of former officers of the People's Republic of Poland’s security services as an element of state politics of memory, presenting the Uniformed Services Pension Amendment Acts of 2009 and 2016 from the perspective of transitional justice. Whilst investigating the admissibility of using such a retribution mechanism, the author draws attention to the purpose of this type of regulation. Reducing pensions has, in fact, two goals – a retrospective one and a prospective one. The retrospective goal is about administering historical justice by penalizing a specific group of people using various mechanisms (in this case administrative sanctions). In the prospective aspect, it is an element of institutionalizing memory and building a specific political narrative. As a consequence, apart from commemorative practices, it aims to produce and disseminate knowledge in public space, while clearly rejecting the past regime. In relation to the Uniformed Services Pension Amendment Acts, while the Act of 2009 was to some extent aimed at the retrospective goal, the 2016 Act is primarily an element of politics of memory used by authorities to control the recollection of past events by explicitly condemning the previous system and all persons in any way related to it. For this reason, the author focuses on the mechanism of reducing pensions as one of the elements of politics of memory in Poland.

scholarly journals Ethnic politics towards Germans during the period of their spontaneous eviction in 1945 in the state politics of memory of the Czech Republic

2020 ◽  
pp. 48-56
Author(s):  
Maryna A. Laurynovich
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
State Politics ◽  
Ethnic Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
German Population ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Official Position

The article examines the directions of the state politics of memory in the Czech Republic regarding the problem of recognising and understanding the violence by the Czechs against the German population in 1945 and the subsequent CzechGerman reconciliation, which became an important factor of the peaceful and productive interaction of the Czech Republic and Germany in the united Europe. The adoption of a new perspective of historical memory at the stage of post-socialist transformation was primarily due to the initiatives of Czech historians and activists to study the problem of violence at the final stage of World War II on the Czech lands and the subsequent expulsion of Germans. This approach in turn was reflected in the official position of the presidents of the Czech Republic V. Havel and V. Klaus during the signing of the CzechGerman agreements and declarations, which made it possible to eliminate conflicts of perception of a common traumatic past among the current generations of Czechs and Germans. The memory of the violence against German-speaking citizens of Czechoslovakia is broadcast both through the formation of memory objects (monuments, feature films) and within the framework of local public initiatives. The review of the initiatives to perpetuate the victims of the Brno death march, undertaken in the concluding part of the article, reveals the contradictory nature of reconciliation in relation to the memory of post-war violence in contemporary Czech society.

Book Reviews

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 88-107
Author(s):  
Louise K. Davidson-Schmich ◽  
Jennifer A. Yoder ◽  
Friederike Eigler ◽  
Joyce M. Mushaben ◽  
Alexandra Schwell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Print Media ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The West ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
German State ◽  
East German ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

Konrad H. Jarausch, United Germany: Debating Processes and Prospects Reviewed by Louise K. Davidson-Schmich Nick Hodgin and Caroline Pearce, ed. The GDR Remembered:Representations of the East German State since 1989 Reviewed by Jennifer A. Yoder Andrew Demshuk, The Lost German East: Forced Migration and the Politics of Memory, 1945-1970 Reviewed by Friederike Eigler Peter H. Merkl, Small Town & Village in Bavaria: The Passing of a Way of Life Reviewed by Joyce M. Mushaben Barbara Thériault, The Cop and the Sociologist. Investigating Diversity in German Police Forces Reviewed by Alexandra Schwell Clare Bielby, Violent Women in Print: Representations in the West German Print Media of the 1960s and 1970s Reviewed by Katharina Karcher Michael David-Fox, Peter Holquist, and Alexander M. Martin, ed., Fascination and Enmity: Russia and Germany as Entangled Histories, 1914-1945 Reviewed by Jennifer A. Yoder

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document