Barbara Törnquist-Plewa

Scholars have devoted considerable energy to understanding the history of ethnic cleansing in Europe, reconstructing specific events, state policies, and the lived experiences of victims. Yet much less attention has been given to how these incidents persist in collective memory today. This volume brings together interdisciplinary case studies conducted in Central and Eastern European cities, exploring how present-day inhabitants “remember” past instances of ethnic cleansing, and how they understand the cultural heritage of groups that vanished in their wake. Together these contributions offer insights into more universal questions of collective memory and the formation of national identity.

Remembering Ethnic Cleansing and Lost Cultural Diversity in Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe

Whose Memory? Which Future?

Krzysztof Stala

Focusing on the profound transformation in Central and Eastern Europe since the fall of the Iron Curtain, this record analyzes complex cultural dimensions, such as lifestyles, habits, value markers, and identity. Written by a group of experts, it presents case studies from the former communist countries that are members of the European Union today and attempts to answer crucial questions about the constructions of a new identity in the region: Have the processes of democratization and opening the borders produced mentality changes and new value systems? Is there a convergence of values and cultures between the new and old EU-members? Have there been backlashes in the processes of reconstructing national identities? This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in European integration, issues of national identity, and the politics and culture of the post-Communist countries.

Central and Eastern Europe in Focus

Cultural Transformations After Communism

Tea Sindbæk Andersen

The world wars, genocides and extremist ideologies of the 20th century are remembered very differently across Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, resulting sometimes in fierce memory disputes. This book investigates the complexity and contention of the layers of memory of the troubled 20th century in the region. Written by an international group of scholars from a diversity of disciplines, the chapters approach memory disputes in methodologically innovative ways, studying representations and negotiations of disputed pasts in different media, including monuments, museum exhibitions, individual and political discourse and electronic social media. Analyzing memory disputes in various local, national and transnational contexts, the chapters demonstrate the political power and social impact of painful and disputed memories. The book brings new insights into current memory disputes in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. It contributes to the understanding of processes of memory transmission and negotiation across borders and cultures in Europe, emphasizing the interconnectedness of memory with emotions, mediation and politics.

Emotions and Memory Politics in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe

Disputed Memory

Joachim Schiedermair

Olga Sasunkevich

Alexander Drost

The attraction of crises keeps going an entire sector of the media industry. Authors, painters, photographers and directors tell fascinating stories about the decline of empires and democracies as much as earthquakes and infectious diseases. Hereby, catastrophe and collapse evolve as a complex construct of experience, interpretation and emotion. The resulting narrative combines analyses of facts about the collapse with a retrospect evaluation, update and confirmation of these facts in the cultural memory of a given society. The random occurrence becomes a memorable event. The contributors of this volume have taken a narratological approach in examining collapse, disaster, catastrophe and how these in turn manifest themselves across different types of media. Die Anziehungskraft der „Krise“ stimuliert Kultur- und Medienschaffende gleichermaßen. Inspiriert erzählen sie fesselnde Geschichten vom Zusammenbruch von Imperien und Demokratien ebenso wie von Erdbeben und Epidemien. In diesen entwickeln sich Katastrophe und Untergang als komplexe Konstrukte aus Erfahrungen, Interpretationen und Emotionen. Sie vereinen die Analyse von Fakten über eine Katastrophe mit der Aktualisierung von Erfahrungen des kulturellen Gedächtnisses im Umgang mit Katastrophen. Hierbei wird der beliebige Vorfall zum erinnerbaren Ereignis. Die Autoren dieses Bandes untersuchen aus narratologischer Perspektive Untergang, Desaster, Katastrophe und wie sie mittels verschiedener Medien erzählt werden. Herausgeber / Editors Alexander Drost (University of Greifswald); Volha Olga Sasunkevich (University of Gothenburg); Joachim Schiedermair (University of Greifswald); Barbara Törnquist-Plewa (Lund University) Beiträger / Contributors Dr. Uta Bretschneider (Kloster Veßra); Elizabeth Oxfeldt (University of Oslo); Philipp Wagner (Universität Wien); Florian Peters (Institut für Zeitgeschichte München – Berlin, Abt. Berlin); Mariëlle Wijermars (University of Helsinki); Valur Ingimundarson (University of Iceland); Gunnþórunn Guðmundsdóttir (Háskóli Íslands); Franziska Sajdak (Universität Greifswald)

Barbara Törnquist-Plewa

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