Abstract: Die Arbeit geht der Frage nach dem Wandel der kroatischen Vergangenheitspolitik und der „Geschichte des Sagbaren“ (Achim Landwehr) im Laufe von vier politischen Phasen nach: der Endphase des Sozialismus (1985-1990), der Ära unter Präsident Franjo Tuđman (1990-1999), der sozialdemokratisch angeführten Koalition nach den Wendewahlen (2000-2003) und nach dem Wahlsieg der reformierten ehemaligen Tuđman-Partei HDZ (2003-2008). Der Begriff Vergangenheitspolitik zielt dabei auf den politischen, justiziellen und diskursiven Umgang einer demokratischen Gesellschaft mit ihrer diktatorischen Vergangenheit ab, in diesem Fall vor allem mit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg und dem Ustascha-Regime. Kroatien war in der Tuđman-Ära jedoch ein autoritäres Wahlregime mit starken Demokratiedefiziten, was sich auch in der Durchsetzung der Vergangenheitspolitik, vor allem in der Repression kritischer Medien niederschlug. Die Jahre 1990 und 2000 stellten somit nicht nur politische, sondern auch diskursive Wenden dar. Mit dem neuerlichen Wahlsieg der ehemaligen Tuđman-Partei HDZ 2003 änderten sich zwar erneut die Inhalte des vergangenheitspolitischen Diskurses, doch die dämonisierenden Feindbildzuschreibungen der 1990er Jahre blieben die Ausnahme. Die sich seit der Holocaust-Konferenz in Stockholm im Jahr 2000 herausbildenden europäischen Standards der Erinnerung („Europäisierung des Holocaust“) befördern hierbei das nationale Opfernarrativ auf zweifache Weise: Die zunehmende Durchsetzung des Holocaust als gemeinsamem, negativem europäischem Gründungsmythos und moralischer Negativikone beinhaltet einen Fokus auf individuelle Opferschicksale. Dementsprechend wurden in Kroatien a) in der 2006 eröffneten Jasenovac-Ausstellung die TäterInnen weitgehend ausgeblendet und b) „die Kroaten“ als die Opfer des neuen, „serbischen Faschismus“ gedeutet. Den theoretischen Hintergrund für die Untersuchung bilden neben vergangenheitspolitischen Konzepten Nationalismus- und Gedächtnistheorien. Als Methode für den diskursanalytischen Kern der Arbeit dient die Diskursanalyse in Anlehnung an Reiner Keller und Siegfried Jäger. Analysiert wurde die Berichterstattung in der staatlichen Zeitung Vjesnik und (der von 1993-2000 einzigen unabhängigen Tageszeitung) Novi list über drei diskursive Höhepunkte: die jährlichen Gedenkveranstaltungen in den beiden zentralen kroatischen Gedächtnisorten Jasenovac (1985-2008) und Bleiburg (1990-2008) sowie den Gerichtsprozess gegen den ehemaligen Jasenovac-Kommandanten Dinko Šakić 1998/1999.
Abstract: First International Resources was commissioned by the AntiDefamation League to research attitudes and opinions toward Jews, the Middle East and the global financial crisis in sevenEuropean countries.
¾ Our research focused on the attitudes of the general public in
Austria, France, Hungary, Poland, Germany, Spain and the
United Kingdom.
¾ Data results for each individual country were weighted based
on age and gender. The completed interview data underwent
minor weighting to national population data using official
government information on age and gender.
¾ In addition to the individual country results, we have compiled
overall statistics which take into account the findings from the
seven countries surveyed as a whole. These figures are
combined results from our surveys, with each country’s
findings being weighted equally as one-seventh of the whole.
¾ Fieldwork was done by Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), which
conducted a total of 3,500 telephone interviews -- 500 in each of
the seven countries -- among the general public between
December 1, 2008 – January 13, 2009.
¾ Interviews were conducted in the native language of each of the
countries and were completed by TNS.
¾ The margin of error for each country is +/- 4 at 95% level of
confidence.
Abstract: The article is devoted to the formation of historical memory about the past in modern Ukraine and the place the Holocaust takes in this memory. The paper analyses research-academic, pedagogical and memorial aspects of commemoration of the fate of Ukrainian Jews in times of the Holocaust. Much space is allocated to the comparison
of formal (State) and informal (work of NGOs) approaches to research and education on the topic concerned. The main feature of the so called formal approach to Holocaust research lies in “ignoring” scholarly, historiographic papers on the topic, marginalizing the issue. Despite the certain gains in informal Holocaust studies, this topic is still on the margin of popular opinion in the modern Ukrainian society. However the situation is gradually changing. The mentioned situation is in sharp contrast with the recent events in informal Holocaust education in Ukraine. Over the past decade significant results have been gained owing to the activities of scholarly and educational NGOs
in the country, among them Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies. One can trace continuous educational seminars for teachers, publication of textbooks and manuals, competitions of students’ research and art works. Many teachers began teaching the concerned topic within their self-developed courses, not waiting for the facilities from
the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Therefore, the author believes that such high intensity and quality of informal education began to exercise influence on the formal approaches to Holocaust education in Ukraine. And not only on the approaches to the mentioned topic, but also on the tendencies of ethnocentrism and monocultural
and monoethnic views that are, unfortunately, still prevailing in Ukrainian formal education. The gains of informal Holocaust education undermine the given tendencies and pave the way for multicultural education, which defines the future of Ukraine. Modern Ukrainian tendencies for memorialization of the memory about the Holocaust
are somewhat similar to the situation in educational sphere. The similarity lies, first and foremost, in the activities by NGOs and elements of civic society, who, also not waiting for the actions on behalf of the government, find themselves the financial means (mostly abroad) to mark and commemorate the sites of mass execution and
murder of Ukrainian Jews during the Nazi occupation. Though in most cases this is a responsibility of governmental institutions. The author believes, that such attitude on behalf of the government to preservation of the memory about the Holocaust in Ukraine in all the concerned aspects (research-academic, educational, memorial) is
a result of catastrophic lack of understanding or desire to understand that Ukrainian history is not monoethnic but multicultural and that the responsibility for memory about the past includes also the fate of Ukrainian Jews in times of the Holocaust as a constituent part of Ukrainian WWII history.
Abstract: En cette fin de XXe, début de XXIe siècles, l'Europe a connu de multiples bouleversements sociaux, dont la chute du bloc soviétique. Une approche anthropologique des juifs d'ex-RDA aujourd'hui constituait dans ce cadre un sujet d'analyse fort intéressant. Considérées dans les pratiques effectives de ses acteurs, les Gemeinden juives de Saxe et de Berlin, communautés institutionnelles allemandes, nous ont permis d'appréhender le mécanisme spécifique de construction d'une identité. La judéité se meut actuellement au travers de la négociation de plusieurs variables différentes, telles que la religiosité, l'ethnicité ou la mémoire. Une analyse transversale, s'appuyant sur le mécanisme d'assignation interne et externe concomitants,permet de mettre en exergue, dans leurs formulations actuelles d'une part et dans leurs incohérences ou inadaptations d'autre part, les différents outils conceptuels à disposition dans ce mécanisme d'élaboraton. Ainsi, peut-on évoquer un retour à la religion pour les juifs immigrés de l'ex-Union soviétique aujourd'hui en ex-RDA ? La notion de communauté est-elle pertinente dans la désignation des juifs d'ex-RDA ? Comment comprendre la gestion du passé historique de l'Allemagne, après 50 ans de communisme, pour les juifs qui y résident actuellement ? Autant de questions trames de cette thèse, auxquelles nous tentons de répondre ici, par une analyse la plus fine possible de la réalité sociale juive existante aujourd'hui en ex-RDA.
Abstract: Posing a question whether it makes sense to try and speak in rational and scholarly terms of comparative value systems, ethnic «models», the role of various ethnic entities and cultures in world history and their contribution to civilization process, the author tends to give a «cautiously affirmative» answer to this question. He insists on the necessity of researching into this complicated, delicate and dangerous field, one of the goals being not to leave it in the hands of nationalistic ideologists, irresponsible politicians and mass media dilettanti. Discussing from this angle the position of the world Jewry and its disproportionally outstanding role in the shaping of the «Western» civilization, the author focuses on the Russian Jewry, its contribution to Russian and world culture and its peculiar - from the traditional point of view - identity. In his opinion, this fairly secular identity based on ethnic and cultural self-consciousness is the most tenable future model for the American Jewry which badly needs a revision of old stereotypes, first of all on the part of US Jewish leaders. He also analyzes what he calls a general crisis of Jewish identity and evaluates the comparative perspectives of retaining or losing the Russian Jewish identity by the young generations in Russian-speaking Jewish communities both in Israel, USA and Germany. Touching upon the subject of ethos and asserting that it is meaningless even for a secular mind to discuss it other than in a dialogue with two religious stands a Russian Jew is most familiar with, Jewish and Christian, he suggests several issues for such a dialogue. Finally, the author regards the existing conceptions of Jewish education, especially in the USA, as outdated and no more efficient and gives his vision of how they should be re-shaped.
Abstract: Placards carrying images of swastikas superimposed on the Star of David and the Israeli flag were commonplace in street-level protests about the recent Israeli military actions and the conflict in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. Allusions between Nazi genocidal practices and the activities of the Israeli state were also drawn in some of the speeches at protest meetings and press commentary on the conflict. Although this was not the first occasion that the ‘Nazi card’ had been played against Israel and Jews, the prevalence of the phenomenon appears to indicate its growing normalisation. Playing the ‘Nazi card’ is a discursive act involving the use of Nazi or related terms or symbols (Nazism, Hitler, swastikas, etc.) in reference to Jews, Israel, Zionism or aspects of the Jewish experience. It manifests in words uttered in speech or in writing, or in visual representations such as artwork, drawings, caricatures, cartoons, graffiti, daubings and scratchings, or visual expressions such as a Nazi salute or the clicking of heels. In many instances, the playing of the Nazi card is unquestionably antisemitic. However, the inclusion of particular modes of criticism of Israel in definitions of antisemitism has provoked controversy. The result has been a war of words which has stagnated into an intellectual and discursive cul-de-sac of claim and counter-claim about what does and does not qualify as antisemitism. Because of this, in focusing on discourse, this report attempts to shift the focus of analysis of contemporary antisemitism onto new ground: away from labelling and defining the problem, to an understanding of the consequences of particular discourse. By unravelling and dissecting various manifestations of the phenomenon, the report reveals how the playing of the Nazi card scratches deep wounds by invoking painful collective memory of the Holocaust. It also offers some recommendations as to how the problem might be addressed.
Abstract: Dévastée et démantelée par l’occupation nazie, lieu principal de la Catastrophe, la Pologne a un statut particulier pour la mémoire juive et la mémoire de la Shoah. Depuis une quinzaine d’années, un réexamen de cette époque est devenu possible. Avec la démocratie et l’intégration à l’Union européenne, on voit naître un vif intérêt pour cette histoire dans les nouvelles générations et de grands débats publics émergent. La recherche historique est libre, ouverte et riche. La culture et le patrimoine juif sont étudiés et restaurés. Des artistes en interrogent la mémoire. Des festivals, des journaux, des émissions de radio ou de télévision, des programmes éducatifs touchent la jeune génération. Une petite communauté juive reprend vie. Bien entendu, la mémoire du génocide et la responsabilité des témoins sont au cœur des commémorations et des discussions sur ce passé. La Fin de l’innocence entend faire connaître ce travail de la société polonaise sur elle-même et sur son passé. Texte de voyage, construit autour de l’évocation des lieux de mémoire, texte de conversations, qui présente des portraits entretiens des principaux acteurs de ce renouveau, et texte de réflexion, cet ouvrage est à l’image du foisonnement et des interrogations qu’il présente.
