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The birth of the memory of Communism: memorial museums in Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Máté Zombory
Máté Zombory*
Affiliation:
Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
*
*Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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This article argues that the memory of Communism emerged in Europe not due to the public recognition of pre-given historical experiences of peoples previously under Communist regimes, but to the particularities of the post-Cold War transnational political context. As a reaction to the uniqueness claim of the Holocaust in the power field structured by the European enlargement process, Communism memory was reclaimed according to the European normative and value system prescribed by the memory of the Holocaust. Since in the political context of European enlargement refusing to cultivate the memory of the Holocaust was highly illegitimate, the memory of Communism was born as the “twin brother” of Holocaust memory. The Europeanized memory of Communism produced a legitimate differentia specifica of the newcomers in relation to old member states. It has been publicly reclaimed as an Eastern European experience in relation to universal Holocaust memory perceived as Western. By the analysis of memorial museums of Communism, the article provides a transnational, historical, and sociological account on Communism memory. It argues that the main elements of the discursive repertoire applied in post-accession political debates about the definition of Europe were elaborated before 2004 in a pan-European way.

Keywords

European enlargementmemorial museums of Communismmemory of the Holocausttransnational politics of memorypost-Cold War period
Type
Special Section: The memory of Communism: actors, norms, institutions
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 45 , Issue 6 , November 2017 , pp. 1028 - 1046
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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