Thursday, April 14, 2016
Assembly A (DoubleTree by Hilton Philadelphia Center City)
This paper explores the ways in which memories of communism are currently being reinterpreted in Central and Eastern Europe as well as their movement Westward via institutions of European integration, namely the European Parliament. The paper examines the role of what I call „memory entrepreneurs”, or professionals dedicated to advancing certain visions and evaluations of the past, in transnationalizing heretofore national understandings of the experiences of communism. I ask why and how do members of the European Parliament as active memory entrepreneurs advocate for particular forms of memory practices, such as commemoration or legislation, while promoting some memories and not others? I argue that despite increased European integration since the 21st century, the East brings a counter-narrative to the dominant Western European historical narrative of peace, democracy and unity that resulted largely from post-WWII Franco-German reconciliation. Some representatives from Central and Eastern Europe feel that their histories are misunderstood by the West and excluded from the dominant European memory regime, but their proposed ways to overcome this perceived asymmetry differ by political orientation. This paper helps to advance work on the concept of „memory entrepreneurs” by locating these subjects in an international institution that uniquely attempts to sanction historical memories that support a common transnational identity and rejects nationalistic understandings of the body politic that challenge „universal” liberal values. Thus while reinterpretations of communism are certainly shaped by present national political values, they cannot be remade completely because they are limited by a strong structure of transnational, European institutional values.
