Quest for a Suitable Past

Myth and Memory in Central and Eastern Europe

Claudia-Florentina Dobre, Cristian Emilian Ghita, Claudia-Florentina Dobre, Cristian Emilian Ghita, Claudia-Florentina Dobre, Cristian Emilian Ghiţă

• Publisher: Central European University Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9789633861363
• eBook ISBN: 9789633861387
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Political Propaganda
• Index: History

The past may be approached from a variety of directions. A myth provides a sense of direction: it reunites people around certain values and projects and pushes them in one direction or another. The present volume brings together a range of case studies of myth making and myth breaking in east Europe from the nineteenth century to the present day. In particular, it focuses on the complex process through which memories are transformed into myths. This problematic interplay between memory and myth-making is analyzed in conjunction with the role of myths in the political and social life of the region. The essays include cases of forging myths about national pre-history, about the endorsement of nation building by means of historiography, and above all, about communist and post-communist mythologies. The studies shed new light on the creation of local and national identities, as well as the legitimization of ideologies through myth-making. Together, the individual contributions show that myths were often instrumental in the vast projects of social and political mobilization during a period which has witnessed, among others, two world wars and the harsh oppression of the communist regimes.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• An Obscure Object of Desire: The Myth of Alba Iulia and its Social Functions, 1918–1940
• Croatia between the Myths of the Nation-State and of the Common European Past
• Deconstructing the Myth of the “Wicked German” in Northern and Western Parts of Poland: Local Approaches to Cultural Heritage
• Mythologizing the Biographies of Romanian Underground Communists: The Case Study of Miron Constantinescu
• Women in the Communist Party: Debunking a (Post-)Communist Mythology
• Avatars of the Social Imaginary: Myths about Romanian Communism after 1989
• Post-Communist Politics of Memory and the New Regime of Historiography: Recent Controversies on the Memory of the “Forty-Five Years of the Communist Yoke” and the “Myth of Batak”
• The Phenomenon of “Parahistory” in Post-Communist Bulgaria: Old Theories and New Myths on Proto-Bulgarians
• Note on contributors
• Index of names