Erinnerung als Kultur, Kulturen des Erinnerns – Initiativen zum Gedenken im Ausgang deutsch, tschechischer und polnischer Debatten

• Main Author: Tomasz Dziura
• Format: Article
• Language: ces
• Published: Karolinum Press 2018-12-01
• Series: Acta Universitatis Carolinae: Philologica
• Subjects: cultural memory; site of memory; expulsion; Poland; Czech Republic; Germany
• Online Access: http://www.karolinum.cz/doi/10.14712/24646830.2018.4
• ISSN: 0567-8269; 2464-6830

In the perspective of the concept of the “site of memory”, this paper discusses how the projects planned in Germany to commemorate flight and expulsion of the Germans after World War 2 and other forced migration processes in Europe within the 20th century were received in Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. This debate begun at the end of the 20th century, after the Federation of Expellees had announced their plans to establish the Centre against Expulsions. In context of this debate other issues were carried out, e.g. property claims, which were more observable in Czech Republic due to the last phase of the negotiation connected with the European Union accession. On the other hand, the debate in Poland and Germany, regarded rather moral than political aspects, but the most controversial point was an argument about Erika Steinbach, chairwoman of the Federation of Expellees. In Germany the debate became controversial, as the left-wing parties put through the idea of a European Centre in cooperation with East European Countries involved in flight and expulsions, as the right-wing parties insisted on establishing a German Centre in Berlin. After the elections in 2005 and after building the great coalition (CDU and SPD) the parties came to an agreement and decided to build the Museum of Expulsions in Berlin. After the resignation of Erika Steinbach in 2009, the Polish government stopped opposing. The author confronts the history of these planned memorials with the concept of the so-called “sites of memory” by Pierre Nora and others.