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

History – A Fundamental
Pillar of National Identity
171
Milan Zemko
Before I deal with the relationship between national identity and
history, I will make some statements about national identity itself.
We are discussing the identity of our two nations: the Slovak nation
and the Magyar nation, which now represent two modern Central
European collective entities, both of which have taken shape over
rather more than two centuries, that is, since the French Revolution
in the last decade of the 18 th century – though of course the intensity
and quality of this development has varied in different historical
periods. However, in considering Central Europe and our
two nations, we should also recall the other significant landmarks
that have to a greater or lesser extent influenced the formation of our
national identity: 1848/1849, the Year of Revolution, when the historical
system based on feudal Estates was formally abolished and
civil society was born; 1918, with the fall of the Habsburg monarchy,
the end of the old Hungary and the creation of successor
states; 1945, which saw Europe divided for almost half a century,
with communist regimes in the East; and finally, 1989, which
brought the fall of totalitarian regimes and opened up new possibilities
and perspectives for East-Central Europe and, indeed, for
the whole of Europe.
When we talk about a modern nation, we also have to remember
that it is a constantly developing collective entity and that in the
context of this continual motion, the meaning of its individual characteristics
can change or shift. I think it is also important to look at
two centuries of definitions of nation and national identity because,
in the more distant past, the semantic content and meaning of the
concept of nation and national identity differed from those in the
modern period. Specifically, as far as the history of our two nations
is concerned, I have in mind the way in which the concept of an
Milan Zemko works at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of
Historical Studies.