EDITORIAL
memorial activity , project , or action . At the same time , I return to the public responsibility to clearly and definitively apply knowledge of the past in official educational programmes , in a multidisciplinary but permanent manner . We must avoid the classic approach of doctrinaire pedagogy and instead equip young people with tools that allow them - rather than us - to develop their own means of transmitting and understanding knowledge . It is a challenge , but the most important one .
In this spirit , we directed EUROM ’ s activities throughout 2024 , applying comparative , transnational , and horizontal actions that also engage with our present . These have encompassed subaltern memories , analyses of political processes , lobbying and institutionalisation , network-building , gender and feminism , decolonialism , memorial planning and management , patrimonialisation , tourism , culture , monumentalisation , or the dissonant or uncomfortable resignification of spaces , critical academic , literary , historical , or artistic reflection , invisible memories , legislation , international projection , participation , pedagogy , creation — a wide array of actions and initiatives that we aim to promote and publicise through our information portal ( www . europeanmemories . net ).
There are many challenges , and critical analysis must remain a constant , alongside the social and cultural promotion of each programme and project we collaborate on or participate in . As I mentioned , this publication is one example of the constant renewal of memory as a process . I would like to thank the EUROM team and , especially , the authors for finding the time to contribute their expertise to our most “ reflective and observant ” publication .
In this edition , we focus on the Samudaripen / Porrajmos and its memorialisation process , which is tied to the challenges faced by the Roma community in obtaining recognition and reparations . For example , María Sierra provides an overview of these challenges within the context of post-war Germany and Europe , where the Romani people were not recognised as victims of genocide until several decades after the atrocities were committed . This argument is echoed in Anja Kožul ’ s article , which outlines a similar context for the specific case of Croatia . The author highlights the rise of the far right across Europe and the persistence of various discriminatory practices as obstacles to addressing the marginalisation of the Roma people within the processes of reparation as victims of genocide .
In the section dedicated to politics of memory in Europe , we present two cases linked to the patrimonialisation of traumatic memories that transcend national boundaries and challenge the nations and societies of the continent . In the first case , Stéphane Michonneau and Babeth Robert reflect on the projection and uses of the so-called “ martyred villages ”, through a transnational comparative study of some of the most representative examples of this patrimonial category . In the second , Christian Dürr examines the complex and ambitious memorialisation project of the Gusen Concentration Camp . Its medium- and long-term implementation plan , involving both international experts and local residents - historically resistant to living alongside the memorial- makes it a reference case .
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Observing Memories Issue 8