Politics of the past: the use and abuse of history - Socialists ...

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Diversity in Historical Education: A Balkan Example 155 Hannes Swoboda Nowhere else in Europe is the clash so intense between nationalities, ethnic groups, religions and cultures as in South East Europe – and all connected to different interpretations of history. In the Balkans it is not only a question of one state against the other, neighbour against neighbour; lines of difference and confrontation run through every country of the region. Christina Koulouri starts her introduction to the resource Alternative Educational Material with the sentence: “The development of alternative educational material for the teaching of history in South East Europe is an ambitious and challenging venture given that the interpretation of the collective past and the content of history as it is taught in schools cause heated disputes, not only between neighbouring countries but even within the same country.” 1 The wars that raged after the breakdown of Yugoslavia clearly showed that stabilisation of the region cannot succeed without a non-orthodox approach to history. These wars were arguably civil wars – any new approach to the history of the region must therefore include all the different ethnic and religious groups inside all Balkan states. To strengthen the new states and to make them stable requires an examination of common history from different angles. That does not mean that there are no established historical facts, but there are always different interpretations of those facts – in other words, there are different truths. Beginning the joint history project just a few years after the wars had ended was not an easy task, especially as there were no clear winners able to enforce their interpretation of history on the losers. Different nations and ethnic groups inside the new states relied very much on their own histories to justify their attitudes, actions and sometimes atrocities. The project had to take into account two 1 “Teaching Modern Southeast European History: Alternative Educational Materials”, edited by Christina Koulouri (Thessaloniki, 2005). Hannes Swoboda is Vice-President of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament.
asic facts: different history curricula with strong ethnocentric bias and political influences from ministries of education. It is hardly surprising that the authors of the project thought “… it is not possible to compile a uniform, homogenising history of South East Europe in a single textbook which could be used in all countries”. Taking an open attitude towards these different interpretations must not, however, lead to historic relativism. When writing history the facts come first, followed by cognitive and moral aims. An enlightened approach basing moral judgements on facts and figures is not in contradiction with making space for different interpretations, but it is important to underline the responsibility that the historian has to come to fact-based and individual conclusions. The authors of the alternative textbooks intended to change the approach to the study of history. They argued that national history taught in schools should not be nationalistic history; the history of the region should be understood as part of European and world history; and instead of trying to paint a false picture of harmony, they preferred to teach students about difference and conflict. This reasoned approach was essential in a region emerging from horrific wars, hardship and extreme nationalism that had, since the end of the Second World War, been a model. It was and still is the precondition for a process of nation building capable of reconciliation with European integration. “Whether in its true, tragic aspect or in its idealised, heroic image, war was indeed a core event in the 20 th century and haunted the memories of all generations.” The authors are right to start their first workbook with the history of the Ottoman Empire. Not only did much of the region belong for hundreds of years to this Empire but until today, different interpretations of that period influence the teaching of history and politics: “The views about the Ottoman Empire waver between progress and retrogression, multi-cultural heaven and oppression, liberation and disaster.” In an examination of the Ottoman Empire alone, it is clear that different meanings are given to the concept of liberation. This is even more obvious when dealing with the liberation by the Soviet forces in Eastern Europe from Nazi occupation. To some extent the same can be said about the role played by partisan groups in ending Second World War occupation. Reactions in the region to the Ottoman Empire were sometimes expressed in resistance 156
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Twenty years after the end of the C
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Dedicated to Bronisław Geremek Bro
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Table of contents Preface: Never Ag
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Preface Never again 7 Martin Schulz
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Preface The Past Does Not Go Away A
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Introduction by the Editors In 2008
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about the tense and ambivalent rela
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another debate formulated by Richar
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theoretical and practical impossibi
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History and national identity Histo
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the subject of much controversy, th
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everything on Stalin and communism:
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Prague Spring: “In the mid-1950s,
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Literature Arendt, Hannah (1951) Th
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Common Memory and European Identity
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cried the Ossies as the Berlin Wall
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the first phase of negotiations aft
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eference to a common destiny, and t
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The ‘enlargement fatigue’ obser
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on each other. The only way of chan
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“The Word Concentration Camp mean
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I think history is essential to thi
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denying it is like saying evil does
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Soviet camp, not because he had don
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Q: In Germany there is a strong fee
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the 17 th century so that the South
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forests near Minsk. I was taken the
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harmonious and prosperous, with the
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were doing and why they were doing
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an explanation. I told him that I e
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This movement once had a big meetin
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guests of Imre Pozsgay, minister of
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HISTORICAL DILEMMAS
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National myths Every society has a
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confessions. The culmination of thi
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First, few countries undertake a th
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Finally, confronted with the experi
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no better placed than governments t
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compartments, and that one must som
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Such an approach certainly has its
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History and Politics: Recommendatio
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The tension between academic histor
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oth a collective and individual exo
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Europe’s responsibilities It is c
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egimes provides a deeper understand
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and accounts for professionals deal
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This shift later inspired the devel
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In Germany, public historical cultu
Page 106 and 107: Historical Bias in Poland: Lustrati
Page 108 and 109: The Polish United Workers’ Party
Page 110 and 111: The right’s criticism of the meth
Page 112 and 113: epresents one more step in the broa
Page 114 and 115: European Social Democracy and 20 th
Page 116 and 117: the KPD - even now - is not about p
Page 118 and 119: esisted them in many cases. The ove
Page 120 and 121: turned some of them against the SPD
Page 122 and 123: The Interpretation of the Soviet Un
Page 124 and 125: the result of a war of liberation a
Page 126 and 127: Molotov-Ribbentrop protocol? How di
Page 128: pen in Lithuania. The idea was adva
Page 131 and 132: and politician Giovanni Amendola to
Page 133 and 134: The most influential analytical mod
Page 135 and 136: 2. A single mass party consisting o
Page 137 and 138: their differences. Most comparative
Page 139 and 140: communism are legal heirs of the En
Page 141 and 142: the world war and to exculpate the
Page 143 and 144: They also criticized “revisionist
Page 145 and 146: seen above, after careful scrutiny
Page 148 and 149: The Real Problem Latvians Have with
Page 150 and 151: not see it as something important e
Page 152 and 153: structures Latvian domestic politic
Page 154 and 155: the language of instruction in scho
Page 158 and 159: and sometimes in adjustment and ada
Page 160 and 161: For the Record: PSE MEPs react 159
Page 162 and 163: F. especially the Nazi- and the Sta
Page 164 and 165: having always been victims, trying
Page 166: SPECIAL REPORT: SLOVAKS AND HUNGARI
Page 169 and 170: Much has happened in the last two y
Page 171 and 172: The conference concentrated, as the
Page 173 and 174: aristocratic, Estates-based ‘nati
Page 175 and 176: A person’s identification with a
Page 177 and 178: ians to evaluate the extent to whic
Page 179 and 180: more intensive part in forming the
Page 182 and 183: A Common Past, a Divided History 18
Page 184 and 185: nearly seven hundred kilometres of
Page 186 and 187: It is extremely important to note,
Page 188 and 189: historical public opinion and self-
Page 190 and 191: thousands of Hungarian and Slovak c
Page 192: enewed historiography will also be
Page 195 and 196: we shall turn our attention to two
Page 197 and 198: In response to these questions, two
Page 199 and 200: While more than 80% of the oldest a
Page 201 and 202: Table 2 Opinions of respondents of
Page 203 and 204: 6,0 5,5 5,0 4,5 4,0 3,5 3,0 2,5 ▼
Page 205 and 206: we consider the trends suggested be
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Resistance and Exile Miguel Angel M
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it was necessary to formulate socia
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degree of generosity, activism and
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the ICFTU. There my work focused on
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After Stalin’s death, most of the
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Moscow versus Prague 219 Boris Orlo
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Of all the problems that my country
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Social Democracy and the Prague Spr
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comprehend the overwhelming contrad
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Renaissance of Socialism Observatio
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My Personal Encounters with History
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Over a decade later, political chan
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monument, its location and particul
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Minister, Dimitri Rupel, I founded
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people exactly know what actually w
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tablished democracies. What was the
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Memory is a Loaded Gun An Epilogue
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Post office, Gdansk
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Solidarność Memorial
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Krzysztof Pomian, a well known Poli
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effective and positive factor in gi
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Martin Schulz, leader of the PSE Gr
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