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

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homeland”, and, “Down with the Trianon agreement”, while burning the Slovak flag. Whereas the Prime Ministers of both countries are looking for ways of better cooperation and made a joint statement in November, 2008 in which they expressed their strong and unequivocal opposition against ‘any radical ideologies, movements that follow such ideologies, and against any kind of extremism, xenophobia, intolerance, chauvinism, nationalism and every manifestation of violence’, the extremes on both sides of the border are concentrating on ripping open old historical wounds. One of the initiatives taken by the two Prime Ministers was to intensify the dialogue with historians from both countries. They expressed their willingness to develop the work of the Mixed Committee of Historians with the aim to publish joint publications dealing with the sensitive issue of the common history. Often the same historic event is very differently interpreted. Still the subject of much controversy is the Peace Treaty of Trianon (1920) which drastically downsized the area and the population of Hungary. One can understand that most Hungarians consider this to have been unfair and a contradiction to the principle of self determination which was promoted by the then US president Wilson. But those whose ancestors suffered from ill treatment under the Hungarian Monarchy also have a point when they refer to that earlier ‘darker’ part of the common history. The other happening, that is still being discussed, is the “fascist” Vienna Arbitrage of 1938 which brought a good part of southern Slovakia back to Hungary, something that was reversed again after the Second World War. A recent research shows that Slovaks are rather indifferent to the Trianon issue, while Hungarians living in Slovakia do not seem to be bothered by the Vienna Arbitrage. Our working group organized in February, 2009 a seminar with Slovak and Hungarian historians, including the co-chairmen of the Mixed Committee of Historians, on the topic “History, National Identity and Reconciliation”. 169
The conference concentrated, as the title already suggests, on the broader issue of national identity and its connections to the common past of Hungary and Slovakia. Some high level politicians from both countries were also participating in this event. We have printed below two of the contributions that in our view give a fair representation of the views expressed at the seminar, and one article that contains the analysis of a very interesting ‘historic’ opinion poll in Slovakia. There seems to be quite a gap between the more nationalist public expressions of politicians and the moderate approach of the historians. Many Hungarian officials tend to idealize the thousand years of common Hungarian and Slovak history, while Slovaks often describe this period in terms of having been oppressed. Historians reject these black and white interpretations that are used to underpin the separate national identities. These concepts, they say, were developed only after the abolition of the feudal structures of the old Hungary which were replaced by the civic concept of the nation. To interpret the common history from before the 19 th century in these terms is unhistorical. Only later statehood became the vehicle of the nation and part of political history, which had and has a divisive impact. Recent historical studies that concentrate more on cultural and social history show that Hungarians and Slovaks often had a lot in common. The work of the Mixed Committee of Historians should certainly be continued because whatever the merits of the debate, one thing we would like to emphasize is that indifference towards each others histories is an unacceptable form of denial. 170
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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
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Historical Bias in Poland: Lustrati
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The Polish United Workers’ Party
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The right’s criticism of the meth
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epresents one more step in the broa
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European Social Democracy and 20 th
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the KPD - even now - is not about p
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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 156 and 157: Diversity in Historical Education:
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: Much has happened in the last two y
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
Page 208 and 209: Resistance and Exile Miguel Angel M
Page 210 and 211: it was necessary to formulate socia
Page 212 and 213: degree of generosity, activism and
Page 214: the ICFTU. There my work focused on
Page 217 and 218: 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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