EDITORIAL
such as Latin American dictatorships . At this delicate time of multiple crises ( not just health-related ), we therefore felt that our in-depth perspective had to focus on the ease with which the past is trivialised and how it is used to deny or relativise genocides or State crimes .
In 2016 , the film Denial , about the trial of historian Deborah Lipstadt and denialist David Irving , was brought to the big screen . Historian Richard J . Evans , who participated as a specialist on the Third Reich , tells us about the ins and outs of the trial , which took place in 2000 , and his impressions of the film directed by Mick Jackson . At issue here is no longer just the relationship between history , memory and justice , but how it was translated to the big screen . Furthermore , we move from traditional negationism to the revisionism and relativism of the new far right . We do so alongside historian Federico Finchelstein , who analyses how the latter is capable of subverting the law , paradoxically in the name of the law .
The year 2021 marks the 60 th anniversary of another trial , in this case , the Eichmann trial . For historian Annette Wieviorka , this trial marked the advent of the witness . We discussed this subject with her , as well as the role of the witness today and other issues in the interview we are publishing this year .
Marie-Claire Lavabre tells us about the memories of communism in Europe and the complexity of their analysis , either because of the political uses resulting therefrom , their social dimension ( the memory of shared experiences that remains among different groups ) or the historical distinction between Eastern and Western Europe . This distinction shall also be addressed by Sébastien Ledoux . He analyses the phenomenon of “ memory laws ” based on their legal characteristics , the legal tradition from which they emerge and the specific context in which they developed .
The section with shorter articles features the personal insight of historian Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk . He describes the social and cultural consequences experienced by the citizens of former East Germany as a result of unification or , rather , the manner in which it was carried out . Moreover , journalist and political scientist Emir Suljagić explains the need to inscribe the Srebrenica genocide in European history and memory , describing the role that the Srebrenica Memorial Centre has taken on . Archivist Gustavo Meoño tells us , as a result of the declassification of American documentation , how the US Government , since the 1940s , has intervened through various operations in Guatemala ’ s policy that violated the human rights of its population . Finally , historians Nuraini Juliastuti and Carine Zaayman , through a visit
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Observing Memories Issue 5