shouldering historical accountability for the past actions of their
own particular country and publicly bearing testimony to this fact.
In addition, tackling history in an unbiased way demands the idea of
“historical truth” being renounced as an absolute category. Any one
single authoritative definition of “the” historical truth is both futile and
dangerous, since any such attempt will invariably polarise and create
more problems than it could possibly solve.
At the same time, it is worth acknowledging the potential dangers of any
attempt to legislate on the past and its remembrance: even if formalised
memory law regimes might be driven by the noblest of motives,
potential risks and benefits need to be carefully considered. This should
by no means be taken as a plea for “whateverism” in dealing with
history. However, there appears to be a more encouraging alternative
to legally enforcing a certain view of the past or individual historical
events, and sanctioning non-compliance: providing a firm auxiliary
framework in order to cultivate a critical public. Education policies
corresponding to the “culture of remembrance” outlined above are of
particular importance in this regard; a culture which cannot be forced on
European citizens, but needs to grow organically from personal insight
and understanding. Central tasks of such education policies would be:
Sensitising the awareness of pupils and students to European
diversity both in the past and in the present;
Setting up the framework conditions for the history of a particular
country to be viewed and assessed as objectively as possible and in a
wider European and global contexts;
Encouraging young European citizens to actively participate
in debate and discussion on history, thereby heightening their
historical awareness.
Due to the lack of corresponding competences and for sheer practical
considerations it is impossible for the European Union to take on the
task of “reworking” the past of its member states. However, the Union
is undoubtedly in a position to actively support national efforts in this
regard and in doing so help create a culture of remembering. This would
seem to do justice to the manifold historical memories in Europe while
providing incentives to re-assess and perhaps challenge them within a
trans-national framework.
Here, the European Union is not only able to actively encourage
member states to become active, but can also resort to existing funding
programmes to this end. Among them is the Europe for Citizens
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Observing Memories
ISSUE 2