Selective Memory: Romania’s Struggle with Two Dictatorships

Antonela Gyöngy ()
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Antonela Gyöngy: Babeș-Bolyai-University, Faculty of European Studies

A chapter in Politics and Society in Romania, 2025, pp 57-71 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter provides an overview of Romania’s culture of remembrance and memory politics since 1989. It focuses on how the country deals with its two major dictatorships of the twentieth century: the fascist regime led by Ion Antonescu from 1940 to 1944 and the communist dictatorship from 1947 to 1989. The chapter examines the Romanian culture of remembrance and the different realms of memory politics within a European context. It becomes clear that the difficult transition process of the 1990s prevented a comprehensive reappraisal of the past. The analysis of various initiatives to come to terms with the fascist and communist legacies reveals that interpretations of history are predominantly framed within a victim narrative and/or a heroic understanding. In both the political and public spheres, there is a need for a reappraisal of the past that goes beyond deliberately selective representations.

Keywords: Culture of remembrance; Politics of memory; Coming to terms with the past; Romania; Interpretation of history; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:socchp:978-3-658-49515-2_4

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-658-49515-2_4

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