This volume offers fresh perspectives on the representation of the recent past in museums of the Second World War and of communism in post-communist Eastern Europe. It does so against the background of recent European-wide debates on history, memory and politics. The contributors from across Europe focus comparatively on a wide variety of case studies, pointing out similarities and differences, and accounting for transnational patterns of remembrance at regional and European level.
Occupation and Communism in Eastern European Museums argues that museums have a huge influence on the image of the communist past in Eastern Europe. It shows how they use a vast array of media tools, visual tactics and commercial strategies in order to substantiate ideological approaches to the past and to shape the attitude of public opinion.
Author(s): Constantin Iordachi, Péter Apor
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 304
City: London
Cover
Contents
List of Figures
1 Studying Museums of Communism: Recent Trends and Perspectives Constantin Iordachi and Péter Apor
Part 1 History, Memory, and the Politics of History in Eastern
European Museums
2 “Remembering” versus “Condemning” Communism: Politics of History and “Wars on Memory” in East European Museums Constantin Iordachi
Part 2 Museums of Occupation
3 From Museum as Memorial to Memory Museum: On the Transformation of the Estonian Museum of Occupations Ene Kõresaar and Kirsti Jõesalu
4 Institutionalized Narratives of Communism in Slovakia: Substituting the Nonexistence of the Official Museum of Communism Martin Kovanič
5 (Re)constructing the Past: Museums in Post-Communist Croatia Vjeran Pavlaković
Part 3 Museums of Communism
6 The “Display” of Communism in Germany Irmgard Zündorf
7 Remembering the GDR Martin Sabrow
8 Discussing the Past, or Airing the Depots: Refashioning Exhibitions of Socialism in Serbia Olga Manojlović-Pintar and Aleksandar Ignjatović
9 Life and Death of the Communist Object in Post-Communist Romanian Museums Simina Bădică
Part 4 Visualizing the Recent Past: Practices of Representation
10 Boundary Objects of Communism: Assembling the Soviet Past in Museums and Public Spaces Eglė Rindzevičiūtė
11 Canons of Civilization and Experiments of Spectacle: Exhibiting Contemporary History in Hungary Péter Apor
12 Museums of Socialism from Below: Local Representations of the Socialist Past in Contemporary Bulgaria Rossitza Guentcheva
Conclusion. Memorializing Recent “Pasts” in Eastern Europe: Comparative Perspectives Constantin Iordachi and Péter Apor
Select Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index
