Memory crisis: The Shoah within a collective European memory
Author(s)
Publication Name
Publication Date
Abstract
This paper analyses the memory crisis resulting from conflicting perceptions of the Shoah in Western and Central Europe. To clarify this memory crisis, crucial aspects of these divergent perceptions will be discussed. From the Western perspective, there is a strong tendency to underline the universal meaning and importance of the Shoah, and to institutionalize this in UN and EU resolutions and declarations. From an Eastern perspective, this process of globalizing Shoah discourse is often considered to be a Western preoccupation and as just another mechanism to promulgate further Western cultural domination. In Central Europe the supposed singularity of the Shoah is not only often doubted, but the focus is shifted far more on to processing communism and identity-based policies. To clarify and illustrate how the Shoah is reflected on in historical debates and the public domain, recent Polish and Hungarian monuments, museums, literature and films are discussed.
Topics
Memory Memorial Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial Holocaust Holocaust Commemoration Holocaust Memorials
Genre
Geographic Coverage
Original Language
Volume/Issue
49(3-4)
Page Number / Article Number
267-281
DOI
Link
Link to article including link to pdf, Memory crisis: The Shoah within a collective European memory
Bibliographic Information
Memory crisis: The Shoah within a collective European memory. 2019: 267-281. https://archive.jpr.org.uk/10.1177/0047244119859180
