The Europeanisation of the Holocaust Memory in Eastern Europe

The Holocaust, i.e. the destruction of almost six millions of European Jews between 1933 and 1945, after having faded into oblivion in the late 1940s and during the 1950s, has been a matter of increasing public interest and a part of national memories in West European countries, Israel and the USA since the 1960s and a part of cosmopolitan and European memory since the 1990s. In Eastern Europe, where the Holocaust had largely happened, its memory hardly developed until the end of the communist rule in 1989–91. The general objective of my paper will be to account for the main findings of my research project that aims to assess to what extent, how and why the cosmopolitan and (West) European memory of the Holocaust has contributed to the development of the Holocaust memory in Eastern Europe since 1989. The research concerns primarily the former communist-ruled countries that joined the European Union in 2004 and 2007, with references to other post-communist countries in the east of the continent (except for Russia). The project aims: (1) to assess how much national and cosmopolitan/[West] European Holocaust memory there is in the East European countries; (2) to analyse the Europeanisation of the Holocaust memories in the East European countries through various European organisations; and (3) to discuss the causes of slower development of the Holocaust memory in Eastern Europe.