Suchergebnisse

30 years after the tragic events in Vukovar, the Serb and Croatian communities live side by side, each cultivating their memory of their own tragedy and their own victims. The peaceful reintegration, that Croats are proud of, did not go hand in hand with building an atmosphere of reconciliation. No wonder then, that Vukovar is a model example of a divided city, where the mental divisions and psychological barriers affect its politics and everyday life. It seems that such a situation is favourable to politicians in Belgrade and Zagreb. One gets the impression that, as in 1991, Vukovar is becoming a victim of great politics and the clash of Serbian and Croatian nationalism.

The analysis of the Russian-Ukrainian relations case study shows two different models of determining contemporary historical memory. The first (Russian) consists of continuing the imperial traditions in historiography and politics of memory, focused on maintaining the superpower myths of the tsarist and Soviet empires. The second (Ukrainian) points to an attempt by researchers and the political class to escape from the influence of Russian historiography as well as to shape their own national historical narrative and policy of memory, connected with in the European tradition. Geopolitical and historical determinism are the basis of Vladimir Putin's imperial policy, trying to imitate the founders of the tsarist (Peter I) and Soviet (Stalin) empires. The conflict of the Russian imperial historical memory with the Ukrainian one was a significant reason for the aggression of the Russian Federation towards Ukraine. The Russian Federation has chosen an aggressive model of memory policy, treating history as a tool of influence against the so-called near and far abroad.