programme, providing financial support for multi-national projects
focusing on historical and collective memory, and the Erasmus+
programme, supporting international exchange and study visits, to
name just two.
Critical self-reflection about history and historical responsibility at
national level could give rise to a truly European reflexive discourse
on the history of this continent, with national collective memories
eventually contributing to and merging into a European public sphere.
To date, Europe has been primarily concerned with narrating its past
ex negativo. While such a negative foundation might provide a strong
sense of purpose and help to legitimise the “European project”, it is also
an unwritten invitation to be politically passive in the present. Only by
tackling the past in a self-assured manner, equally able to acknowledge
historical accomplishments and admit mistakes of the past without bias
and by accepting accountability, will European societies be able to move
into the future more confidently.
German Nazi death camp Auschwitz in Poland, arrival
of Hungarian Jews, Summer 1944. The image is part of
the Auschwitz Album (see here and here, Yad Vashem.) |
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-N0827-318 / CC-BY-SA 3.0
EUROPE INSIGHT
47