Whose Memory? Which Future?

Remembering Ethnic Cleansing and Lost Cultural Diversity in Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe

Barbara Törnquist-Plewa

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781789200690
• eBook ISBN: 9781785331237
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Política y relaciones internacionales
• Subtopic: Historia de Europa del Este

Scholars have devoted considerable energy to understanding the history of ethnic cleansing in Europe, reconstructing specific events, state policies, and the lived experiences of victims. Yet much less attention has been given to how these incidents persist in collective memory today. This volume brings together interdisciplinary case studies conducted in Central and Eastern European cities, exploring how present-day inhabitants "remember" past instances of ethnic cleansing, and how they understand the cultural heritage of groups that vanished in their wake. Together these contributions offer insights into more universal questions of collective memory and the formation of national identity.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Introduction. Beyond the History of Ethnic Cleansing in Europe
• Chapter 1. Wrocław: Changes in Memory Narratives
• Chapter 2. Between Old Animosity and New Mourning: Meanings of Czech Post-Communist Memorials of Mass Killings of the Sudeten Germans
• Chapter 3. Polishness as a Site of Memory and Arena for Construction of a Multicultural Heritage in L’viv
• Chapter 4. Memories of Ethnic Diversity in Local Newspapers: The Six Hundredth Anniversary of Chernivtsi
• Chapter 5. Zaratini: Memories and Absence of the Italian Community of Zadar
• Chapter 6. Echo of Silence: Memory, Politics and Heritage in Post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina, a Case Study: Višegrad
• Chapter 7. Local Memories under the Influence of Europeanization and Globalization: Comparative Remarks and Conclusions
• Index