plenary session. Although the remembrance strand over communism had lost its intensity in European
of the programme ‘Europe for Citizens’ epitomised a assemblies, while the European Left had capitalised
shift in the official understanding of Europe’s ‘dark on the condemnation of communism to obtain the
past’ to encompass Stalinist mass violence, it fell same for an ideology against which it primarily
short of the ultimate goal of most anti-communist defined itself, namely Fascism.
memory entrepreneurs, namely the adoption by
In order to keep the issue of communist crimes
the EU of legal steps to prosecute former high- on the EU’s agenda and to prevent the dilution of
ranking communist leaders. In 2013, the citizenship the cause into a broad anti-totalitarian discourse,
programme was renewed and its remembrance anti-communist representatives still carry out
strand was strengthened. This institutionalisation awareness-raising activities (exhibitions, film
of Community remembrance policy can be seen screenings, conferences and hearings) about socialist
as a success of the anti-communist memory crimes. They created two overlapping transnational
entrepreneurs. But its scope was extended to networks, the EP informal groupings ‘Reconciliation
initiatives that ‘reflect on the causes of totalitarian of European Histories’ and the ‘Platform of European
regimes in Europe’s modern history (especially but Memory and Conscience’, in order to coordinate
not exclusively Nazism which led to the Holocaust, claims for recognition and prosecution, at the EU
Fascism, Stalinism and totalitarian communist level, of gross Soviet-era human rights violations.
regimes) and to commemorate the victims of Geographically and ideologically, however, the
their crimes. The strand will also encompass membership of these networks is very homogeneous,
activities concerning other defining moments and and this low representativeness limits their
reference points in recent European history’. This capacity to turn their demands into politically
attenuation of the symmetry between Stalinism and audible requests in the broad European political
Nazism highlights the contraction of the memory space. Because their vision of Europe’s experience
entrepreneurs’ room for manoeuvre: the controversy of dictatorship is heavily centred on the socialist
Memorial to the Victims of Communism (Prague, Újezd) | Paddy
via Wikimedia Commons
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Observing Memories
ISSUE 3