2010/09/01 by Jeffrey C. Blutinger · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Psychology · Arts and Humanities · #Eastern European Communism and Reforms #Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration #Polish-Jewish Holocaust Memory Studies #The Holocaust #Memorialization #Nazism #Communism #Blame #Judaism #Law #Nazi Germany #Political science #Sociology #History #Archaeology #Politics #Psychology #Social psychology
paper · doi:10.1353/sho.2010.0093
openalex publication_date 2010/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
This article examines the difficulties faced by three Eastern European countries in commemorating the Holocaust in the post-Communist era. Since 1989, many of these countries have sought to fashion new national identities by looking to their pre-Communist past. In the case of Slovakia and Hungary, however, their pre-Communist predecessors were Nazi allies, and while Poland never collaborated with Nazi Germany, the Home Army had a difficult and complicated relationship with Jews and Jewish underground organizations. I identify three basic approaches taken by these countries' memorials regarding the fate of their Jewish communities during the war: aphasia (an unwillingness to speak about the Holocaust), "deflective negationism" (shifting blame to others), and finally, an open examination of the Holocaust.