According to observations and in-depth interviews, group memory is not given once and for all; it is necessary to take care of it, and the community has to have a will to remember; otherwise, the memory dies – the traces of memory become blurred.
Focusing on the study of transmission of memory between generations, I am going to present the dynamics of the process of forgetting. I am going to compare the results of most recent observations with data from thirty years ago (collected in the same communities) and indicate the manner in which memory of witnesses of Jewish culture was reworked by younger generations. I am going to put forward a thesis on the “banality of forgetting”, illustrating it by images and accounts from studies. At the same time, I am going to present the manner in which communities search for common memories, how they agree and negotiate their meaning in order to eventually absorb them to the current policy. I am going to show the example of a community policy of remembering about the Jewish culture and mechanisms of “controlled forgetting.”
