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

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Reconciliation In many new democracies there have been heated debates about how to reconcile the present with the past. The results have been very mixed. In some countries like South Africa, Chile or Spain the emphasis was put on reconciliation to clear the path for consensus about the future; in others, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, the element of individual justice and revenge weighed more heavily: but even there it seems to have made a difference if the transition was properly negotiated. “We have to accept the truth that everybody was guilty“, Václav Havel once said. Is that enough compensation for the moral injuries inflicted on individual victims and does it re-establish their dignity? Some kind of retributive justice seems appropriate but it has to be handled with care; politicians decide who should be held accountable for what and they should do this very carefully – involving historians to help make judgments – because the danger of abuse always lurks around the corner. Poland is a good example. Andrzej Friszke describes recent attempts at rewriting the role of former opposition leaders and of those who negotiated the peaceful transition in that country. This conservative campaign was, in his view, simply meant to detract from the merits of those who deserve recognition. Pierre Hassner supports this view: “Falsifications designed to discredit rivals are universal features in the struggle for power and are ordinarily fought in court or in public debate before being submitted to the verdict of historians.” The demand for official apologies for misdeeds committed in the past appears to be growing, but many governments are very hesitant because of possible legal consequences. Some sort of apology and official acknowledgement of mistakes might be appropriate in some situations. Nevertheless, one should avoid this turning into some kind of automatic apology culture that replaces the more important need for in-depth understanding. Comparing Nazism and Stalinism A lot happened in the twentieth century, described by Hobsbawm as the age of extremes. There was enormous progress on the one hand, and terrible massacres on the other. It is the trauma that understandably dominates history – the first man on the moon is not 21 Jan Marinus Wiersma
the subject of much controversy, the legacies of Hitler and Stalin are. One wonders why they attract so much more attention than what happened to the Spanish, the Portuguese and the Greeks who experienced long periods of fascist dictatorship. To the individual it makes no difference whether he or she was a victim of Franco or of Stalin. Nevertheless and understandably, the distinction is made because of the immensity of the horrific crimes committed by the Nazi and Stalinist regimes whether directed against race or class. The dominant historical experience of Western Europe was the Nazi regime; in the European Union’s new member states there was the added experience of communism. This does of course affect the interpretation of the twentieth century in these two parts of Europe. Norman Davies has written extensively on this topic and has drawn attention to the lack of interest in Western Europe for the crimes committed by Stalin. What should be the purpose of comparing the two regimes? Should we emphasise the differences or should we rather look for the commonalities? Here are a few examples of the kind of actual discourse in Brussels and Strasbourg. In debates in the European Parliament, colleagues from the Baltic states sometimes promote the view that Stalin was worse than Hitler, ignoring, in the heat of the debate, their own history of anti-Semitism, the authoritarian past of their countries in the period between the two World Wars and the enthusiasm of many of their fellow countrymen who joined SS divisions or became guards in Nazi concentration camps. When the European Parliament celebrated the 60 th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, a member of the European Parliament gave a speech deploring only the results of Yalta, making no mention whatsoever of Hitler and the Nazis. The opinion that the Second World War only ended after the downfall of the Soviet Union is also frequently aired. Looking simply at the numbers, Stalin murdered more people than Hitler. Is the singularity of the Holocaust therefore not singular at all, or, as certain colleagues in the European Parliament have publicly stated, should we accept that disregard for communist mass murders is a result of a version of history developed by the Soviet regime? Were Hitler and Stalin exceptional phenomena, alone to 22
Page 1 and 2: Twenty years after the end of the C
Page 4 and 5: Dedicated to Bronisław Geremek Bro
Page 6 and 7: Table of contents Preface: Never Ag
Page 8 and 9: Preface Never again 7 Martin Schulz
Page 10 and 11: Preface The Past Does Not Go Away A
Page 12 and 13: Introduction by the Editors In 2008
Page 14: about the tense and ambivalent rela
Page 17 and 18: another debate formulated by Richar
Page 19 and 20: theoretical and practical impossibi
Page 21: History and national identity Histo
Page 25 and 26: everything on Stalin and communism:
Page 27 and 28: Prague Spring: “In the mid-1950s,
Page 29 and 30: Literature Arendt, Hannah (1951) Th
Page 32 and 33: Common Memory and European Identity
Page 34 and 35: cried the Ossies as the Berlin Wall
Page 36 and 37: the first phase of negotiations aft
Page 38 and 39: eference to a common destiny, and t
Page 40 and 41: The ‘enlargement fatigue’ obser
Page 42 and 43: on each other. The only way of chan
Page 44 and 45: “The Word Concentration Camp mean
Page 46 and 47: I think history is essential to thi
Page 48 and 49: denying it is like saying evil does
Page 50 and 51: Soviet camp, not because he had don
Page 52 and 53: Q: In Germany there is a strong fee
Page 54 and 55: the 17 th century so that the South
Page 56 and 57: forests near Minsk. I was taken the
Page 58 and 59: harmonious and prosperous, with the
Page 60: were doing and why they were doing
Page 63 and 64: an explanation. I told him that I e
Page 65 and 66: This movement once had a big meetin
Page 67 and 68: guests of Imre Pozsgay, minister of
Page 70: HISTORICAL DILEMMAS
Page 73 and 74:
National myths Every society has a
Page 75 and 76:
confessions. The culmination of thi
Page 77 and 78:
First, few countries undertake a th
Page 79 and 80:
Finally, confronted with the experi
Page 81 and 82:
no better placed than governments t
Page 83 and 84:
compartments, and that one must som
Page 85 and 86:
Such an approach certainly has its
Page 88 and 89:
History and Politics: Recommendatio
Page 90 and 91:
The tension between academic histor
Page 92 and 93:
oth a collective and individual exo
Page 94 and 95:
Europe’s responsibilities It is c
Page 96:
egimes provides a deeper understand
Page 99 and 100:
and accounts for professionals deal
Page 101 and 102:
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
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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 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
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we shall turn our attention to two
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In response to these questions, two
Page 199 and 200:
While more than 80% of the oldest a
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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 ▼
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we consider the trends suggested be
Page 208 and 209:
Resistance and Exile Miguel Angel M
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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
Page 220 and 221:
Moscow versus Prague 219 Boris Orlo
Page 222 and 223:
Of all the problems that my country
Page 224 and 225:
Social Democracy and the Prague Spr
Page 226 and 227:
comprehend the overwhelming contrad
Page 228 and 229:
Renaissance of Socialism Observatio
Page 230 and 231:
My Personal Encounters with History
Page 232 and 233:
Over a decade later, political chan
Page 234 and 235:
monument, its location and particul
Page 236:
Minister, Dimitri Rupel, I founded
Page 239 and 240:
people exactly know what actually w
Page 241 and 242:
tablished democracies. What was the
Page 244 and 245:
Memory is a Loaded Gun An Epilogue
Page 246 and 247:
Post office, Gdansk
Page 248 and 249:
Solidarność Memorial
Page 250 and 251:
Krzysztof Pomian, a well known Poli
Page 252 and 253:
effective and positive factor in gi
Page 254:
Martin Schulz, leader of the PSE Gr
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