Amnesty and concealment, not active remembrance, are the historical norm in Europe
Evidence
First, it relies on the idea that active remembrance of past conflicts, crimes, wars and so on, is essential for a society to be ‘healthy’ – an idea which, from a comparative and long-term point of view, can hardly be considered compelling. In fact, in European history (and probably also in world history) its exact opposite, that is, a policy of concealment and of granting amnesty has prevailed during most periods. The idea that nations have to face the ‘dark sides’ of their past, that they have a ‘duty to remember’ (devoir de mémoire) as it is often called in France, turns out to be a rather recent phenomenon. — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 1211
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the reader’s study of solidarity decay and manufactured threats — here, the counterintuitive claim that official amnesia rather than remembrance was long the standard European way of handling divisive national pasts. — connects to: European memorialization of slavery remains scarce and marginalizing.; Holocaust memorialization lets Europe deny its colonial racial past — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 826; Nations selectively forget negative historical events to sustain national identity (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Nations selectively forget negative historical events to sustain national identity
#expands(0.85) - Europe’s Holocaust-centric memory silences its colonial legacy as race denial.
#expands(0.84) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 826 - Holocaust memorialization lets Europe deny its colonial racial past
#expands(0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 826 - European memorialization of slavery remains scarce and marginalizing.
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