CONTESTED REMEMBRANCE OF THE HOLOCAUST IN POST-COMMUNIST EUROPE

Наслеђе 58 (2024) [229-239]

АУТОР(И) / AUTHOR(S): Jelena Subotić

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DOI: 10.46793/NasKg2458.229S

САЖЕТАК /ABSTRACT:

This paper explores the ways in which the memory of the Holocaust in post-communist Europe has become appropriated to represent other types of historical crimes. I demonstrate how the familiar narratives and images of the Holocaust have been appropriated for three major purposes: to promote narratives of competitive victimization, to criminalize communism, and to advance myths of European unity. I illustrate these arguments with brief examples of contested commemorative practices of the Holocaust in Poland, Lithuania, and the House of European History in Brussels. The analysis shows that the continuing contestation about the Holocaust has produced many oppor- tunities for Holocaust instrumentalization, which has serious political consequences in the present.

КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ / KEYWORDS: 

Holocaust, memory, post-communist Europe, communism, narratives

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