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

Roma population. Promises to help improve the living standard of
this minority group were after accession soon forgotten and this is
shameful given the terrible inhuman conditions many Roma still have
to live in.
The nineties of the twentieth century did not only bring freedom; in
the former Yugoslavia war broke out and Europe failed to stop it
from happening. It was a tough lesson about the limitations of the
EU. While I was driving through the destructions in Bosnia, after the
Dayton Agreement signalled the end of the hostilities, it was difficult
to remain an optimistic Kantian. It was not the best time for
Europe and it showed us that, unfortunately, freedom could also
unleash civil war and ethnic cleansing. Freedom as such means
little; it all depends on what people do with it.
My work has brought me to strange places that have already gained
historical significance. At my home in Leiden, I hung on the wall the
picture of a fair attraction seeming frozen in time. It was taken in
Chernobyl. The fair had stood there untouched since 1986, the
year of the disaster. I asked one of the experts when children would
be able to play there again. ‘In a thousand years’, he replied. The
concrete shelter hiding the imploded nuclear reactor is a symbol
of the irresponsible political system of the Soviet Union and I am
very glad that at least that period now belongs to history.
I believe that Europe is a better place than it was more than twenty
years ago. The transformation is not complete and history is still
very much alive, but we hopefully have learned from our mistakes.
Like other personal memories reproduced in the book, also mine
are coloured and are far from complete. I have described what impressed
me most and I have been very lucky to be a witness rather
than a victim of the events that have been mentioned.
241 Jan Marinus Wiersma