Finding a good balance between
Neo-Nazi demonstration in
Leipzig, Germany in October
2009 | Herder3
the necessity to fight against
“revisionists” trends or political
oblivions, on the one hand, while
respecting the freedom of speech
and the freedom of research, in
the other hand, is probably one of
the most important challenges for
a near future.
Commemorating
At the same time, there has been a growing trend to promote
The number of commemorations has increased
The challenge here is to find a balanced policy
normative views of the past, even in countries where freedom of speech
everywhere, and their nature has also profoundly between a negative view of the past, which is remains a strong tradition. In France, the lois mémorielles — laws that
changed, as we can see it in the appearance of necessary to avoid any oblivion about the crimes defend an official interpretation of a given historical episode (i.e. The
“negative commemorations,” which occurs in many committed in the recent past, and a positive view, Algerian War) or an official framework of criminal law (i.e. Western
countries, including those where the past was once which has to be reinvented. An unbalanced policy can slavery as a crime against humanity), instigated tremendous polemics
a traditional source of pride. In France, for the result in a kind of exasperation about the exclusive and intense activity amongst scholars and politicians. One can see a
first time in the nation’s history, the government focus on the dark side of recent history, or in a similar development at the European level: recently, the European
established in 1993 an official ceremony not to counter movement to rehabilitate national heroes Commission recommended that the EU members promulgate laws
celebrate a victory or a national martyrdom but to who are not consensual figures at the European level. repressing all forms of denials of genocides or crimes against humanity,
remember the crimes committed by the State (the
based on what has been done against the Holocaust deniers.
Vichy regime) against the Jews during the Holocaust
(July 16th). Following this trend, tow other negatives
commemorations have been implemented in 2006
Such normative views of History are highly controversial. Striking
Law and justice
and 2017 to commemorate the crimes committed the 70s – like judging war criminals a long time
throughout history against enslaved peoples. after the facts –became afterwards a norm as we
At the European level, the negative
Above, Klaus Barbie photo on the fake admission
document in Bolivia on behalf of Klaus Altmann,
made in Genoa by the Consulate of Bolivia in Italy |
Public Domain
Practices that seemed rather exceptional in
can see it in the belated trials in Germany, France,
commemorations have at times dwarfed and Italy against former Nazis and collaborators.
“positive” ones: the recent transnational negative Simultaneously, the various policies of purges
commemoration of the Holocaust on January 27 and lustrations launched after 1989 in Eastern
(established in 2000 by the Task force and in 2005 European countries reinforced the idea that either
by the United Nations) has been much more popular the law or a judicial process could be major vectors
and visible than the older Europe Day of May 9 for memory, even if the impact of the post-
(established in 1985,) which never substantially communist trials never had the same magnitude
facilitated a forging of shared memory or history. of the post-war trials against Nazism and Fascism.
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Jacques Vergès, French lawyer involved
in legal cases for high-profile defendants charged
with terrorism or war crimes, including Nazi Klaus
Barbie in 1987, terrorist Carlos the Jackal in 1994,
and former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu
Samphan in 2008. He also famously defended
Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy in 1998 | Source:
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
(Flickr: Case 002 Initial Hearing) [CC BY-SA 2.0
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