Barbara Törnquist-Plewa, Lundi Ülikool
Auschwitz versus Gulag – An Ongoing Tension in the Memory Cultures of Central and Eastern Europe
6. aprill 2023 kell 14.15 ruumis M 134
Tallinn Ülikool, Uus-Sadama 5
One of the particular and constitutive features of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as a memory region is its double experience of two totalitarian regimes – Nazism and Communism, with Stalinism as the extreme expression of the latter. The history of these two dictatorships became entangled in the region in a unique way and resulted in a multiplicity of painful and often conflicting memories. In consequence, handling the crimes of Nazism and Communism, epitomized by the concepts of Auschwitz and Gulag, respectively, became, after the fall of Communism in 1989-1991, an immense challenge for memory cultures in Central and Eastern Europe. This lecture will shortly review how the societies in the region have wrestled with these issues. Additionally, it will aim to explain why the remembrance of the Holocaust and the Gulag is an object for political struggles and still constitutes a dividing line between memory cultures of the Western and Eastern members of the European Union.
Barbara Törnquist-Plewa on Ida- ja Kesk-Euroopa uuringute professor Lundi ülikoolis. Aastatel 2005-2017 oli ta Lundis asuva Euroopa uuringute keskuse juhataja ning alates 2018. aastast humanitaar- ja teoloogiateaduskonna teadusdekaan. Tema peamised uurimisvaldkonnad on rahvuslus, identiteet ja mälupoliitika Ida- ja Kesk-Euroopas. Ta on osalenud paljudes rahvusvahelistes mälu-uuringute projektides: aastatel 2012-2016 juhtis ta suurt uurimisvõrgustikku “In Search for Transcultural Memory in Europe” ning aastatel 2017-2020 oli ta Põhjamaade uurimisvõrgustiku “Historical Trauma Studies” juht. Ta on paljude inglise, rootsi- ja poolakeelsete raamatute ja artiklite toimetaja ja autor, nendest mõned: “The Twentieth Century in European Memory” (Amsterdam, 2017), “Disputed Memory. Emotions and Memory Politics in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe” (Berlin, Boston, 2016; kaastoimetaja Tea Sindbaek Andersen), “Whose Memory? Which Future? Remembering Ethnic Cleansing and Lost Cultural Diversity in Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe” (New York, London, 2016).