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The Persistence of the Past: Memory, Generational Cohorts and the ‘Iron Curtain’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 June 2014

SABINA MIHELJ
SABINA MIHELJ*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU; [email protected].
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Abstract

Despite considerable evidence of the link between generational cohorts and mnemonic persistence in other social and historical contexts, existing research on memory in former state socialist countries tends to focus primarily on evidence of mnemonic change. In contrast, this article seeks to develop a more nuanced understanding of post-state-socialist memories, one capable of accounting for both mnemonic change and persistence. Methodologically, the article combines the analysis of personal memories across several generations with a reconstruction of the changing contours of everyday life in different historical periods, based on archival and secondary sources. To demonstrate the usefulness of such an approach, the article examines the memories of life at the Yugoslav border with Italy, as recounted by the inhabitants of the Slovenian border town of Nova Gorica in 2008.

La persistance du passé: mémoire, groupes de contemporains et rideau de fer

Si le lien entre groupes de contemporains et persistance mnémonique a été largement démontré dans d’autres contextes sociaux et historiques, la recherche sur la mémoire dans les pays dans les pays qui ont abandonné le socialisme d’état après 1989 s’est jusqu’à présent principalement concentrée sur les témoignages de modifications mnémoniques. Cet article tente donc de dégager une interprétation plus nuancée des souvenirs d’après le socialisme d’état, qui soit capable de tenir compte à la fois des modifications et des persistances mnémoniques. Méthodologiquement, il combine l’analyse de souvenirs personnels sur plusieurs générations et la reconstruction des contours changeants de la vie quotidienne à différentes périodes, se fondant pour cela sur des sources primaires et secondaires. Afin de montrer l’utilité de cette approche, il examine plus en détail des souvenirs de la vie à la frontière entre la Yougoslavie et l’Italie, racontés en 2008 par les habitants de la ville frontière slovène de Nova Gorica.

Das fortleben der vergangenheit: gedächtnis, generationskohorten und der eiserne vorhang

Trotz zahlreicher Hinweise auf die Verbindung zwischen Generationskohorten und das Fortleben des Gedächtnisses in anderen sozialen und historischen Zusammenhängen konzentriert sich die bisherige Forschung über das Gedächtnis in ehemaligen staatssozialisten Ländern in erster Linie auf den Nachweis von Änderungen am Gedächtnis. Dieser Beitrag bemüht sich indessen um ein differenziertes Verständnis des vom Staatssozialismus geprägten Gedächtnisses in diesen Ländern, das sowohl Änderungen als auch dem Fortleben Rechnung trägt. Methodologisch verbindet der Beitrag eine Analyse persönlicher Erinnerungen über mehrere Generationen mit einer Rekonstruktion der sich wandelnden Konturen des Alltagslebens in unterschiedlichen historischen Zeiträumen, die auf der Grundlage von Archiv- und Sekundärquellen erfolgt. Zur Veranschaulichung des Nutzens eines solchen Ansatzes werden die Erinnerungen von Bewohnern der slowenischen Grenzstadt Nova Gorica an das Leben an der jugoslawisch-italienischen Grenze im Jahr 2008 untersucht.

Type
Articles
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , August 2014 , pp. 447 - 468
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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93 Interview with Lidija Bajd, b. 1961, 9 Feb. 2008.

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