extent to which genuinely European memory policies can be implemented or whether , as is so often the case , they are an unequal and sometimes contradictory sum of a set of national policies .
10 . In September 2019 , coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the start of the Second World War , the European Parliament passed a resolution that equated Nazism with communism ( 2019 / 2819 RSP ), which caused quite a stir among both European and Spanish commemorative entities . What do you think of this persistent view , which is usually promoted by conservative political parties and Eastern European entities and institutions ?
In my opinion it ’ s a fallacy . It ’ s an argument used mostly by Eastern European countries to whitewash the collusion of elites and much of the population with totalitarian regimes on both sides , while allowing them to portray themselves as the victims . It is important for researchers ( and , don ’ t forget , I ’ m a historian ) not to confuse certain social , political and ideological processes with others . The political practice of categorizing Nazism and communism under the common umbrella of “ totalitarianism ” obscures and hinders one ’ s understanding of the nature of the appalling events of 20th-century Europe , whether they be death camps , genocides or gulags . Obviously , it has political potential as a populist simplification , but we cannot be guided by those parameters .
11 . What weight do state administrations – in this case , the Spanish government – carry with the institutions responsible for the politics of remembrance in the European Union , and what is the relationship between them like ?
It is clear that it must be strengthened from an institutional standpoint , especially given the Europeanist perspective of our approach to stable cooperative relationships with remembrance institutions in Latin American countries . These relationships are already being built in the case of Argentina and Chile , with the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago , for example .
12 . One of the democratic threats currently facing Spain and the European Union is the growing influence of the extreme right . What role should public memory policies play and what specific measures do you think should be taken to combat this threat in Europe and Spain ?
Public memory policies must help act as a dam against the rise of the extreme right in Europe . Well-informed , critical citizens who are aware of the tragedies of the past , who are open to differences and reject essentialism , cannot accept these neofascist messages . But we mustn ’ t be naive . Decades of democratic memory policies in Europe , the transnational hegemony of cosmopolitan memories linked to the Holocaust and mass violence , and the ethical triumph of the “ never again ” paradigm – perhaps more fragile than we ever realized – have not yet succeeded in stemming this tide . Because of new information flows on social media , the enormous ease with which information overload occurs and the spread of fake news , often promoted by governments themselves , we now find ourselves in new and extraordinarily complex circumstances . We have no choice but to adapt . Although there are no single solutions or actions and this undeniable surge is forcing us to critically rethink the preventive measures developed in recent decades , we cannot afford to do away with strengthening education on human rights and democratic memory ; quite the opposite , in fact . Perhaps the first task is to thoroughly rethink the tools used to design education programmes , the formats used to express them , the languages used to convey them and the target audiences , since the most classical formulas are clearly not working anymore . promoting democratic memory . We have EUROM and other specialist organizations to achieve this . Having said that , we also consider it important to develop
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