Whitewashing the Nation - The Controversial Collective Memory of the “House of Terror” in Budapest

• In Event: 545 - Section on Sociology of Culture Roundtable Session.
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 05. Collective Memory

Abstract

Drawing on the discussion about collective memory and its functions, this paper aims to
examine one of the most controversial sites of memory in Europe: the House of Terror Museum
in Budapest. The research question is how the Hungarian nation is constructed in this narrative
and how history is used to create certain myths about the Hungarian nation. I argue that the
concomitant use of a victim narrative coupled with the rhetoric of a communist other is a
construct which explicitly aims at whitewashing the Hungarian nation. More specifically, the narrative employs a circular argument, i.e. an argument that proves itself correct by predisposing its own conclusion as a true premise.
In a wider context, my thesis also argues that narratives of national innocence and purity
are divisive, because they preclude a process of reconciliation, which begins with the
acknowledgment of one's own responsibility and guilt. The tools used for whitewashing the
nation however depend on othering. Subsequently, the dichotomous image of others, who oppressed the
nation in the past, calls for revenge in the present.

Author

• Helge Johannes Marahrens, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee