Commemoration As European Resilience

The EU hs not one, but multiple, and conflicting, rival narratives of pre-"Eurpean" national pasts.  At different paces, member states have commemorated those pasts, and their commemorative narratives have evolved, sometimes echoed by laws of a memorial nature.  Collective acts of  memory and memorialization have operated as a force in reshaping and reconstructing national identities.  National resilience has been facilitated by this work.  European resilience through harmonized commemoration is a much more complicated, but necessary undertaking. Examining national examples may offer insights into the challenges for Europe, the pitfalls to avoid, but also elucidate the opportunities  for Europe to accommodate its different communities.