TRANSFORMATION OF THE IMAGE OF GERMANY IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC’S POLITICS OF MEMORY IN 1989-2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2218-1067-2024-4-40-50Keywords:
politics of memory, historical memory, Czech Republic, Czech-German relations, historical symbols, historical narrativesAbstract
The study of the politics of memory as an instrument of foreign policy is a current area of political science. The article analyzes the politics of memory of the Czech Republic in the context of its relations with the FRG from 1989 to 2023 and in comparison with the politics of memory regarding Russia. Based on a symbolic analysis of a corpus of texts by Czech politicians (representatives of the executive and legislative branches of government during the respective periods), the conclusion is drawn that from the negative perception of Germany as a threat in the 1990s and the active use of politics of memory in bilateral relations, the image of the past of Czech-German relations moved into the realm of domestic politics. The politics of memory towards Russia, on the other hand, exploited the image of the Soviet or Russian threat throughout the entire period, despite the existing contradictions in the perception of Russia at the level of Czech society. The politics of memory changed its character from antagonism to agonism in the case of Germany, which was due to the overcoming of historical trauma, and retained its antagonistic character in the case of Russia, whose trauma continues to be a part of bilateral relations.References
Ачкасов, В. А. (2013) ‘"Политика памяти" как инструмент строительства постсоциалистических наций’, Журнал социологии и социальной антропологии, 16 (4), сс. 106–123. [Achkasov V. A. ‘"Memory politics" as a tool for building post-socialist nations’ ["Politika pamyati" kak instrument stroitel`stva postsocialisticheskix nacij], The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology, 16 (4), pp. 106–123. (In Russ.)].
Лотман, Ю. М. (1987) ‘Символ в системе культуры’ в: Избранные статьи, сс. 191–199. [Lotman, Yu. (1987) ‘) ‘Symbol in the cultural system’ [Simvol v sisteme kul’tury] in: Izbrannye stat’i, pp. 191–199. (In Russ.)].
Малинова, О. Ю. (2014) ‘Консерваторы и" инфраструктура" коллективной памяти: проблема репертуара политически пригодного прошлого’, Тетради по консерватизму, (3), сс. 140–156. [Mali¬nova O. (2014) ‘The Conservatives and Collective Memory: Cultivating a Reper¬toire of Politically Usable Past’ [Konser-vatory i “infrastruktura" kollektiv¬noj pamyati: problema repertuara politi¬ches¬ki prigodnogo proshlogo’], Tetradi po kon¬servatizmu, (3), pp. 140–156. (In Russ.)].
Малинова, О. Ю., Миллер, А. И. (2021) ‘Введение. Символическая политика и политика памяти’ в: Лапина В. В., Миллер А. И. (ред.) Символические аспекты политики памяти в современной России и Восточной Европе. Санкт-Петербург:Издательство Европейского университета в Санкт-Петербурге, сс. 7–37. [Malinova, O., Miller, A. (2021) ‘Introduction. Symbolic politics and the politics of memory’ [Vvedenie. Simvolicheskaya politika i politika pamyati] in: Lapina V. V., Miller A. I. (ed.) Symbolic aspects of the politics of memory in modern Russia and Eastern Europe. St. Petersburg: Izdatelstvo Evropejskogo universiteta v Sankt-Peterburge, pp. 7–37. (In Russ.)].
Миллер, А. И. (2016) ‘Политика памяти в посткоммунистической европеи ее воздействие на европейскую культуру памяти’, Журнал политической философии и социологии политики «Полития. Анализ. Хроника. Прогноз», 1 (80), сс. 111–121. [Miller, A. I. (2016) ‘‘The politics of memory in post-communist Europe and its impact on the European culture of memory’ [Politika pamyati v postkommunisticheskoj Evrope i ee vozdejstvie na evropejskuyu kul’turu pamyati], The Journal of Political Theory, Political Philosophy and Sociology of Politics Politeia, 1 (80), pp. 111–121. (In Russ.)].
Поцелуев, С. П. (1999) ‘Символическая политика: констелляция понятий для подхода к проблеме’, Полис. Политические исследования, 5, сс. 62–75. [Poceluev, S. P. (1999) ‘Symbolic politics: a constellation of concepts for approaching the problem’ [Simvolicheskaya politika: konstellyaciya ponyatij dlya podhoda k probleme], Polis. Political Studies, 5, pp. 62–75. (In Russ.)].
Семененко, И. С. (2008), ‘Образы и имиджи в дискурсе национальной идентичности’, Полис. Политические исследования, 5, сс. 7–18. [Semenenko, I. S. (2018) ‘Images and images in the discourse of national identity’ [Obrazy` i imidzhi v diskurse nacional`noj identichnosti], "Polis. Political Studies" Journal, 5, pp. 7–18. (In Russ.)].
Семененко, И. С. (2018) ‘Прошлое на переднем крае политики идентичности’, Мировая экономика и международные отношения, 62 (11), сс. 65–76. [Semenenko, I. S. (2018) ‘History on the frontline of identity politics’ [Proshloe na perednem krae politiki identichnosti], World Eсonomy and International Relations, 62 (11), pp. 65–76. (In Russ.)]. DOI: 10.20542/0131-2227-2018-62-11-65-76.
Трухачев, В. В. (2019) ‘Выселение судетских немцев и современные отношения Чехии и Австрии’, Вестник РГГУ. Серия: Политология. История. Международные отношения, (1), сс. 31–44. [Trukhachev, V. V. (2019) ‘Eviction of the Sudeten Germans and modern relations between the Czech Republic and Austria’ [Vyselenie sudetskih nemcev i sovremennye otnosheniya Chekhii i Avstrii], RSUH/RGGU Bulletin Series "Political Science. History. International Relations", (1), pp. 31–44. (In Russ.)]. DOI: 10.28995/2073-6339-2019-1-31-44.
Tрухачёв, В. В. (2010) ‘Декреты Бенеша: Мина замедленного действия для ЕС?’, Современная Европа, 3, сс. 96–109. [Truhachyov, V. V. (2010) ‘Benes’ decrees: A time bomb for the EU?’ [Dekrety Benesha: Mina zamedlennogo dejstviya dlya ES?], Contemporary Europe, 3, pp. 96–109. (In Russ.)].
Abrams, B. F. (2004) The struggle for the soul of the nation: Czech culture and the rise of communism. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Beneš, V., & Harnisch, S. (2015) ‘Role theory in symbolic interactionism: Czech Republic, Germany and the EU’, Cooperation and Conflict, 50 (1), pp. 146–165. DOI: 10.1177/0010836714525768.
Cashman, L. (2008) ‘Remembering 1948 and 1968: reflections on two pivotal years in Czech and Slovak history’, Europe-Asia Studies, 60 (10), pp. 1645–1658. DOI: 10.1080/09668130802434281.
Dujisin, Z. (2021) ‘A history of post-communist remembrance: from memory politics to the emergence of a field of anticommunism’, Theory and Society, 50 (1), pp. 65–96. DOI: 10.1007/s11186-020-09401-5.
Edelman, M. (1960) ‘Symbols and political quiescence’, American Political Science Review, 54 (3), pp. 695–704.
Eyal, G. (2004) ‘Identity and trauma: Two forms of the will to memory’, History & Memory, 16 (1), pp. 5–36. DOI: 10.2979/HIS.2004.16.1.5.
Kopstein, J. S. (1997) ‘The politics of national reconciliation: Memory and institutions in German‐Czech relations since 1989’, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 3 (2), pp. 57–78. DOI: 10.1080/13537119708428502.
Kubik, J., & Bernhard, M. (2014) ‘A Theory of the Politics of Memory’ in: Kubik, J., & Bernhard, M. (eds.) Twenty years after communism: The politics of memory and commemoration, pp. 7–37.
Kunštát, M. (2007) ‘The New German Government and the Moral-Historical Dimension of Czech-German Relations’, Czech Journal of International Relations, 42 (1), pp. 48–65.
Krawatzek, F., Soroka, G. (2022) ‘Circulation, conditions, claims: examining the politics of historical memory in Eastern Europe’, East European Politics and Societies, 36 (1), pp. 198–224. DOI: 10.1177/08883254209697.
Mälksoo, M. (2009) ‘The memory politics of becoming European: The East European subalterns and the collective memory of Europe’, European journal of international relations, 15 (4), pp. 653–680. DOI: 10.1177/1354066109345049.
Subotić, J. (2023) ‘Holocaust memory and political legitimacy in contemporary Europe’, Holocaust Studies, 29 (4), pp. 502–519. DOI:10.1080/17504902.2022.2116539.
Tampke, J. (2002) Czech-German relations and the politics of Central Europe: from Bohemia to the EU. New York: Springer.
Vermeersch, P. (2019) ‘Victimhood as victory: The role of memory politics in the process of de-Europeanisation in East-Central Europe’, Global Discourse, 9 (1), pp. 113–130. DOI: 10.1332/204378918X15453934506003.
Wingfield, N. M. (2000) ‘The politics of memory: Constructing national identity in the Czech lands, 1945 to 1948’, East European Politics and Societies, 14 (2), pp. 246–267.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The author grants the Publisher of the journal (Perm State University) the right to use their article in the journal, as well as to include the text of the abstract, the full text of the article and information about authors in the "Russian Science Citation Index" (RSCI).
The author agrees to the processing of personal data.
The right to use the journal as a whole belongs to the Publisher and acts indefinitely on the territory of the Russian Federation and beyond in accordance with cl. 1260 of the Russian Federation Civil Code.
There is no author's fee paid for providing the above rights by the author.
The author of the article included in the journal retains the exclusive right to it, regardless of the Publisher's right to use the journal as a whole:
a. The authors retain their copyrights to the article and transfer the right of the first publication along with the article to the journal, while also licensing it on the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows others to distribute this article with the obligatory indication of authorship of the article and reference to the original publication in this journal.
b. The authors retain the right to enter into separate, additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive dissemination of the version of the text published by this journal (for example, post it in a university archive or publish it in a book), with reference to the original publication in this journal.
c. d. Authors are allowed to post their text on the Internet (for example, in a university archive or on their personal website) before and during the review process by this journal, as this can lead to a fruitful discussion and to higher number of the references to this published work (Please refer to The Effect of Open Access).
Submission of an article by the author implies that they agree for it to be used by the Publisher on the above conditions and to be included in the RSCI system. It also implicates that the author is aware of the terms of its use. The information about the author sent to the Publisher, including by e-mail, is also considered as such consent.
The editorial board posts the full text of the article on the Perm State University site: http://www.psu.ru and in the OJS system at http://press.psu.ru
The publication fee is not collected and fees are not paid. The author's copy is sent to the author to the address provided by them.
