Suchergebnisse

En 2004, les premiers pays post-communistes ont adhéré à l'Union européenne. Ainsi, la vision bipolaire de l'Europe (qui serait composée de l'Ouest et de l'Est) semble s'effacer. Néanmoins, cela semble moins clair sur le plan identitaire. Le présent essai, utilisant des outils théoriques provenant du champ de la sociologie de la mémoire (qui élabore sur les relations entre la mémoire, l'histoire et la politique), s'interroge sur les doléances mémorielles des pays de l'« Est » envers leurs voisins de l'« Ouest ». En partant d'une tentative de définir le concept de l'Europe centrale, je vais porter un regard sur les attentes des pays qui constituent cette zone, envers leurs voisins occidentaux, en termes de reconnaissance de la mémoire de leur passé communiste, et comment cela est pris en compte dans le cadre européen – si tant est que ce le soit.

In 2004, first post-communist countries joined the European Union. Hence, the bipolar vision of Europe (that would be composed of West and East) seems to fade away. Nonetheless, this might not be the case in matters of collective identity. In this essay, I will be using theoretical tools coming from the field of sociology of memory (that tries to understand intertwined relations between memory, history and politics) in order to present grievances of the "East" towards the "West". I will start by tackling the definition of Central Europe, in order to be able to assess subsequently what are the expectations of the countries that constitute this region, towards their Western neighbours, in terms of the recognition of the memory of their communist past and how this question, if ever, is dealt with at the European level. ; En 2004, les premiers pays post-communistes ont adhéré à l'Union européenne. Ainsi, la vision bipolaire de l'Europe (qui serait composée de l'Ouest et de l'Est) semble s'effacer. Néanmoins, cela semble moins clair sur le plan identitaire. Le présent essai, utilisant des outils théoriques provenant du champ de la sociologie de la mémoire (qui élabore sur les relations entre la mémoire, l'histoire et la politique), s'interroge sur les doléances mémorielles des pays de l'« Est » envers leurs voisins de l'« Ouest ». En partant d'une tentative de définir le concept de l'Europe centrale, je vais porter un regard sur les attentes des pays qui constituent cette zone, envers leurs voisins occidentaux, en termes de reconnaissance de la mémoire de leur passé communiste, et comment cela est pris en compte dans le cadre européen – si tant est que ce le soit.

On 10 April 2010, the plane carrying the Polish president to the commemoration of the seventieth anniversary of the Katyń massacre crashed near the Smolensk airport in Russia. The following article will not analyze the reasons for the catastrophe or its sequels. It will focus on the way in which the tragic death of Lech Kaczyński (along with ninety-five other people on board) and the subsequent national mourning were depicted in public discourse, bringing into focus key political concepts, such as community, national identity, and, above all, patriotism. It will focus on a number of questions: Did the perception and expression of patriotism change in this time of mourning? What was commonly perceived as patriotism during a national trauma? Was the national mourning symbolic? If yes, in what way? The current analysis presents the dynamics of public debate in the aftermath of the catastrophe and the major shifts the debate went through. First, it deals with the question of national mourning and the controversial decision to bury the presidential couple in the crypt of the Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków. Subsequently, the analysis focuses on references to Romanticism, religion, and the (de- and re-)construction of the concept of patriotism, drawing on insights concerning community and its alleged unity. While patriotism has been broadly discussed throughout the democratic transition, and new civic approaches have been offered, during the period of national mourning it was possible to detect a strong resurgence of Romantic language with its melodramatic and martyrological features.