Description
Book Synopsis The collapse of the Iron Curtain, the renationalization of eastern Europe, and the simultaneous eastward expansion of the European Union have all impacted the way the past is remembered in today’s eastern Europe. At the same time, in recent years, the Europeanization of Holocaust memory and a growing sense of the need to stage a more “self-critical” memory has significantly changed the way in which western Europe commemorates and memorializes the past. The increasing dissatisfaction among scholars with the blanket, undifferentiated use of the term “collective memory” is evolving in new directions. This volume brings the tension into focus while addressing the state of memory theory itself.
Trade Review “Overall this is an interesting collection with a number of thought-provoking essays. Notably, several of the chapters bring new (social science) methodologies to the interdisciplinary field of memory studies. It is also a strength of the volume that, while the focus is clearly on memories of World War II and the Holocaust, it incorporates consideration of a range of pasts that continue to have a significant impact on the way Europeans understand themselves and others. The comparative perspective proves particularly fruitful in raising new questions regarding different kinds of remembrance at both the national and the European level.” · European Legacy
“The volume is well-structured and the individual chapters are put together in a coherent fashion. The material they cover is extremely engaging and is new to the English-speaking audience, especially where the French and German literature is concerned. They also add richness to a debate already characterised by its increasing politicisation. This is, therefore, a valuable volume… [that] will appeal to a wide range of scholars and students from humanities and social sciences disciplinary backgrounds, from history to anthropology as well as memory scholars. It also provides food for thought at a time when a better understanding of Europe’s past, present and future is a political imperative and an incentive for future research.” · H-France Review
“This is a very interesting and well-researched contribution to the memory studies literature. The individual chapters are based on sophisticated research and provide up-to-date insight into the debates in their fields of specialization. Especially impressive is that, across the board, they draw on literatures and source materials in the languages of interest, so that the volume brings together a new set of materials for an English-speaking audience.” · Jenny Wüstenberg, Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies, Free University of Berlin
Table of Contents Introduction
Eric Langenbacher, Bill Niven, & Ruth Wittlinger
Chapter 1. Dynamics of Generational Memory: Understanding the East-West Divide
Harald Wydra
Chapter 2. Time-out for National Heroes? Gender as an Analytical Category in the Study of Memory Cultures
Helle Bjerg & Claudia Lenz
Chapter 3. The Memory-Market Dictum: Gauging the Inherent Bias in Different Data Sources Common in Collective Memory Studies
Mark A. Wolfgram
Chapter 4. Remembering WWII in Europe - Structures of Remembrance
Christian Gudehus
Chapter 5. Ach(tung) Europa: German Writers and the Establishment of a Collective Memory of Europe
Hans-Joachim Hahn
Chapter 6. Critiquing the Stranger, Inventing Europe: Integration and the Fascist Legacy
Mark Wagstaff
Chapter 7. The Thread That Binds Together: Lidice, Oradour, Putten, and the Memory of World War II
Madelon de Keizer
Chapter 8. Memory of World War II in France: National and Transnational Dynamics
Henning Meyer
Chapter 9. The Field of the Blackbirds and the Battle for Europe
Anna Di Lellio
Chapter 10. Transformation of Memory in Croatia: Removing Yugoslav Anti-Fascism
Ljiljana Radonic
Chapter 11. German Victimhood Discourse in Comparative Perspective
Bill Niven
Chapter 12. Shaking off the Past? The New Germany in the New Europe
Ruth Wittlinger
Conclusion: A Plea for an “Intergovernmental” European Memory
Eric Langenbacher
Notes on Contributors
Bibliography
Index
