“A War for Memory”: About the Events of the 30s–50s of the 20th Century in the Central and Eastern Europe 2005–2010 — Policy Strategies of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine and Russia

Abstract

In his article the Author examines the notion of remembrance policy, the importance of remembering the events of the period 1939–1953 for contemporary identity politics in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as well as the course of a conflict about the memory, which escalated between those countries and Russia particularly between 2005–2010. The Author introduces a term “remembrance policy model”, which concerns the balance of powers among political actors in a given state, who influence the shape of this aspect of the state policy. He also analyses the state strategies of the remembrance policy in international relations within the region, with special attention to Lithuania and Ukraine. He examines reasons for the success of the policy of remembering the 1939–1953 events in Lithuania in 1991–2011 and a failure of such policy in Ukraine in 2005–2010. The sources of difference between the effects of these two policies lie, in his opinion, not only in far greater ethnic and identity homogeneity of the Lithuanian society, but also in the fact that the EU gave an early, clear and consistent support for economic, social and political transformation of that country, which was, unfortunately, not provided to Ukraine — either after its establishment in 1991, or after the Orange Revolution in 2004.