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after the violence: memory / 3
powers. Victims of traumatic violence often view silence as an important
survival and coping strategy. They allude to the fact that the horrors that
they experienced cannot be truly communicated and that the process of
remembrance is too painful and overwhelming. Silence may operate as
an effective shield in a hostile sociopolitical environment unwilling to listen
to the voices of the victims. Furthermore, a melancholic or traumatic
fixation on the past can jeopardize the ability to live in the present and to
develop the capacity to project oneself into the future. After the collapse
of the Soviet Union and apartheid in South Africa, many just wanted to
move on, embrace consumerism as compensation for former deprivations,
and forget about the hardship of the past. New opportunities made the
prospect of a brand new life possible. Amnesia and escapism seemed safe
paths to happiness.
Present-day stakes have a direct impact on the process of remembrance.
Trials in this respect are Janus-faced. In bringing perpetrators to account
for their crimes, they officially acknowledge the criminal character of past
regimes. As such, they have immense symbolic significance and they are
important milestones in a nation’s effort to come to terms with its past.
But they are also entangled in power struggles and diversion strategies
that can lead to selective reevaluations of the past. The Nuremberg Trials,
for instance, were not only about the Nazi crimes. They also served postwar
goals of planning how to (re)write recent history and showcased the
growing rivalry between the Western allies and the Soviet Union in the
emerging Cold War context. In France, the trial of the former civil servant
and Vichy collaborationist Maurice Papon was almost derailed by
controversies surrounding his role as Prefect of the Paris Police during the
massacre of Algerians on the night of October 17, 1961. In Spain, Baltazar
Garzón’s recent attempt to investigate the crimes of the Franco regime in
the context of crimes against humanity was unsuccessful and led to his
forced dismissal as a judge. Intertwined and overlapping histories also
complicate the commemoration of violence. Many memorials are built on
previous sites of massacres and destruction. Establishing a commemorative
space is key to the proper mourning and honoring of victims. The
problem is that sites of terror often tell multiple and multilayered stories
of repeated violence, occasionally blurring the distinction between perpetrators
and victims. In the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Germany,
Denmark, and South Africa among others, competing groups of victims
make their voices heard and want to be acknowledged, sometimes at the
expense of other victims. These antagonisms lead to reactive strategies—
counter memorials, counter narratives, alternative symbols, and competitive
numbers wars—whose goal is to downplay the other group’s claim
for victimhood.
Copyrighted material – 9781137343512