“Finding Space for New Graves”. the Baltic Memory Policies in the European Parliament and Its Impact On the National / International Levels

“History is like a cemetery where space is limited and one is to find more space for new graves” (Halbwachs 1968, p.100). By this formula, Maurice Halbwachs pointed out the difficult relationship between history and memory. Regarding the special historical heritage of Central and Eastern Europe after the World War Two (Snyder 2010; Judt 2010), one is to ask whether they will find space in the European narrative for their graves. In other words, will we witness a process of Europeanization – in the uploading way – of their memory into the European big narrative, especially through the European Parliament. Since the middle of the 1980’s, the European assembly debated more and more of historical / memorial issues (Waehrens 2011), beginning by the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide and, in the 2000’s, the Stalinist crimes and the Holodomor in Ukraine. 

Occupied thrice, by the Soviets (1940-1941), the Nazis (1941-1944) and the Soviets (1944-1991), the Baltic States are paradigmatic examples of the painful Central European memory. In addition, Estonia and Latvia struggled for twenty years with the problem of integrating Russian speaking former Soviet immigrants who defend a different collective memory than the one promoted by the new national elites (Taam 2008).

In a previous paper (Perchoc 2010), I demonstrated  that the Baltic Members of the European Parliament were particularly active in the field of memory. In this further research, my aim is to discuss various theoretical propositions regarding this memory politics in the European Parliament. Relying on the “French touch” on memory studies, we can argue that memory can be either individual or collective (Halbwachs 1968; Halbwachs 1994; Ricoeur 2000), given or chosen (Rosoux 2001; Rosoux 2003). Taking these four options into consideration, I will try to discuss what kind of theoretical perspectives we can draw from various academic disciplines as sociology, history and political science to explore the Baltic memorial policies in Brussels. I will also discuss whether the model of individual / collective relations in Norbert Elias’ work  can be of some help. In a second part, I will discuss how this European agenda is used to reframe the national narrative in order to unite the new national communities regardless of their ethnic background.