11 Changing Memories of the Shoah in Post-Communist Countries: New Memories and Conflicts
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Selma Leydesdorff
Abstract
In this chapter, the author argues that past and recent political changes since the fall of communism have influenced the narrative of the Shoah. New memories have been manipulated and have created new historical canons. Memories in the western world were always divergent from those being told in the former communist countries where a Russian memory has been imposed. It was hardly possible to speak or write about the suffering of Jews. All victims were Russified and have become innocent Soviet citizens. With recent political changes new stories have replaced the old ones. In the new political climate, many groups contest the victimhood of others, while victimhood has become part of the search for a non-communist identity. The ensuing nationalist narrative is often supported by the state or dominant political narratives and defined as the only one “correct” view that replaces what is considered to be a distortion. These politics hinder a pluralist attitude where the past can be contradictory. Examples come from Russia, Poland, Hungary, and the Baltic states. The author has interviewed survivors of Sobibor and the article is inspired by these interviews.
Abstract
In this chapter, the author argues that past and recent political changes since the fall of communism have influenced the narrative of the Shoah. New memories have been manipulated and have created new historical canons. Memories in the western world were always divergent from those being told in the former communist countries where a Russian memory has been imposed. It was hardly possible to speak or write about the suffering of Jews. All victims were Russified and have become innocent Soviet citizens. With recent political changes new stories have replaced the old ones. In the new political climate, many groups contest the victimhood of others, while victimhood has become part of the search for a non-communist identity. The ensuing nationalist narrative is often supported by the state or dominant political narratives and defined as the only one “correct” view that replaces what is considered to be a distortion. These politics hinder a pluralist attitude where the past can be contradictory. Examples come from Russia, Poland, Hungary, and the Baltic states. The author has interviewed survivors of Sobibor and the article is inspired by these interviews.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series Editors’ Preface: Interpretive Lenses in Sociology – On the Multidimensional Foundations of Meaning in Social Life vii
- Notes on Contributors xii
- Acknowledgments xvii
- Introduction: Interpreting Contentious Memories and Conflicts over the Past 1
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Interpreting Memories in the Social Dynamics of Contention
- On the Social Distribution of Soldiers’ Memories: Normalization, Trauma, and Morality 29
- Feminist Approaches to Studying Memory and Mass Atrocity 49
- Mobilizing Memories: Remembrance as a Social Movement Tool in the Vieques Anti-Military Movement (1999–2004) 69
- The Ballot of Donald and Hillary: Hateful Memories of Celebrity Leaders 89
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Racism, Exclusion, and Mnemonic Conflict
- Building a Case for Citizenship: Countermemory Work among Deported Veterans 113
- Commemorations as Transformative Events: Collective Memory, Temporality, and Social Change 134
- Contentious Pasts, Contentious Futures: Race, Memory, and Politics in Montgomery’s Legacy Museum 154
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Genocide, Memory, and the Historicizing of Trauma
- Remembrance and Historicization: Transformation of Individual and Collective Memory Processes in the Federal Republic of Germany 177
- Enlisting Lived Memory: From Traumatic Silence to Authentic Witnessing 197
- Changing Memories of the Shoah in Post-Communist Countries: New Memories and Conflicts 217
- How Difficult Pasts Complicate the Present: Comparative Analysis of the Genocides in Western Armenia and Rwanda 236
- Conclusion: Memory and the Social Dynamics of Conflict and Contention: Interpretive Lenses for New Cases and Controversies 258
- Index 266
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series Editors’ Preface: Interpretive Lenses in Sociology – On the Multidimensional Foundations of Meaning in Social Life vii
- Notes on Contributors xii
- Acknowledgments xvii
- Introduction: Interpreting Contentious Memories and Conflicts over the Past 1
-
Interpreting Memories in the Social Dynamics of Contention
- On the Social Distribution of Soldiers’ Memories: Normalization, Trauma, and Morality 29
- Feminist Approaches to Studying Memory and Mass Atrocity 49
- Mobilizing Memories: Remembrance as a Social Movement Tool in the Vieques Anti-Military Movement (1999–2004) 69
- The Ballot of Donald and Hillary: Hateful Memories of Celebrity Leaders 89
-
Racism, Exclusion, and Mnemonic Conflict
- Building a Case for Citizenship: Countermemory Work among Deported Veterans 113
- Commemorations as Transformative Events: Collective Memory, Temporality, and Social Change 134
- Contentious Pasts, Contentious Futures: Race, Memory, and Politics in Montgomery’s Legacy Museum 154
-
Genocide, Memory, and the Historicizing of Trauma
- Remembrance and Historicization: Transformation of Individual and Collective Memory Processes in the Federal Republic of Germany 177
- Enlisting Lived Memory: From Traumatic Silence to Authentic Witnessing 197
- Changing Memories of the Shoah in Post-Communist Countries: New Memories and Conflicts 217
- How Difficult Pasts Complicate the Present: Comparative Analysis of the Genocides in Western Armenia and Rwanda 236
- Conclusion: Memory and the Social Dynamics of Conflict and Contention: Interpretive Lenses for New Cases and Controversies 258
- Index 266
