Memory and Power in Post-War Europe: Studies in the Presence of ...

58 Timothy Snyder
organisations representing opposing Ukrainian and Polish historical claims
and the interests of the ethnically cleansed on both sides were jointly
sponsoring historical seminars on the Second World War. 43
Roughly put, the problem posed by national memory is qualitative:
when nations identify with a certain version of the past, policy which
exposes its incoherence will be at first resisted, and must be justified in
terms of the larger interest of the nation. Lithuanian leaders, with the
help of Polish policy and the existence of attractive Western institutions,
were able to begin such a redefinition. The problem posed by mass personal
memory is quantitative: when people have painful recollections of
experiences with another nation, they will probably be inclined to oppose
reconciliation. These individuals can nevertheless prove to be generous
and reasonable, they can be persuaded by arguments appealing to their
interests – and in the last instance outvoted. The success of Polish eastern
policy on both the Polish public and Lithuanian and Ukrainian elites
demonstrated that both sorts of memory can be fruitfully addressed by
political means, and that democratic nation-states with good arguments
about national interests can exert sovereignty over memory. Democratic
nation-states can neither create new memories from nothing nor wish
away old ones, but they can conspire with the passage of time to divert
personal memories from the issues of the day and coopt national memories
in the name of the common good. Although it is too soon to say, the
final significance of policy may be at the juncture of these two sorts of
collective memory. Policies which bring peace at critical moments when
sovereignty is regained and national conflict is expected probably influence
the direction of mass personal memories as they flow into the shared
national memory. Recollections of the Second World War might have
determined, but now probably will not determine, the sense of the these
nations’ collective memories of one another in the century to come.
43 I have in mind the Union of Ukrainians in Poland and the World Union of Home Army
Soldiers (Volhynia). See the eight volumes of their jointly sponsored Trudne pytania
(Warsaw: Karta, 1997–2001).