Communism and Nazism as Competing Memories in Central and Eastern Europe

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

Drawing on submissions to the Routledge Handbook on Memory in Central and Eastern Europe, the proposed roundtable will address various manifestations of memory of communism in the region and dwell on the ways in which such memories intermingle and compete with memories of Nazism. In some contexts, memory of communism can be described as “nostalgic,” focusing on remembering pop-culture and consumer icons from idealized socialist past. In other contexts, this memory focuses on genocidal crimes and deviations from “normalcy” associated with the pre-communist past by drawing parallels with the Nazi crimes. What accounts for the ways in which communism is remembered in these various contexts? Which memory actors promote competing narratives about the past? Which strategies are used, and which ones of them are successful?

Sub Unit

• Politics/Law

Chair

• Dovile Budryte, Georgia Gwinnett College / Vytautas Magnus / Vilnius U (Lithuania)

Roundtable Speakers

• Dovile Budryte, Georgia Gwinnett College / Vytautas Magnus / Vilnius U (Lithuania)

• Daniela Koleva, Sofia U (Bulgaria)

• Nikolay Koposov, Georgia Institute of Technology

• Dina Khapaeva, Georgia Institute of Technology

• Valentyna Kharkhun, Mykola Hohol State U of Nizhyn (Ukraine) / American U