Here we provide a preview of our latest publications. Follow this link to the Cultures of History Forum's website to get access to all our articles.
Politics of History
A new Trianon monument has been inaugurated in August 2020 right opposite the parliament building in Budapest. Installed by government decree without much prior deliberation, the ‘memorial ramp’ reveals the current government’s flirtation with irredentist, 'Greater Hungary'-fantasies. While briefly reviewing public reactions to this new installation, the article's main focus is on the monument’s construction of a historical narrative of Hungary's pre-Trianon 'Golden age' and discussing it in its historical evolution.
Debating 20th Century History
On 3 April 2020 the statue of former Soviet Army Marshal Ivan Stepanovich Konev was removed from its prominent location in downtown Prague. This radical act was preceded by years of public debate over wartime and postwar Czech history and the role of the Red Army in it. The article reviews these debates and discusses the reasons why controversy has flared up now and to what extent it is the result of changing narratives and shifting memory politcs in recent years.
Focus: Remembering the Shoa & Politics of History
As part of our continuous Focus on the memory of the Shoah in Central and Eastern Europe, the article discusses the 2018 Russian feature film ‘Sobibor’ and the story it tells about Sobibór and the Holocaust. Apart from revealing the completely ahistorical character of this movie, as well as a deeply antisemitic undercurrent in its presentation, the article also highlights the broader political context of this officially sanctioned production, raising questions about the current Russian history policy regarding the Holocaust.