POPOLACOP · Political Polarisation and Communist Past: Czech and German Case

Political Polarisation and Communist Past: Czech and German Case

The project aimed to analyse the role of selected organisations of victims of political persecution in the Czech Republic and Germany between 1989 and 2019, i.e. during the key phase of democratic transformation and the consolidation of memory policies in both countries. The project focused on three of the most important and politically influential associations whose activities have had a real impact on memory policy and public debate on the communist past over the last three decades. One of the project's goals was to address the lack of consideration given to the role of victim organisations in previous research, where they were often perceived primarily as moral authorities and unambiguously positive actors in democratisation. The main goal was to understand how narratives emerged and transformed among victims of the communist dictatorship, the value systems of their organisations, and how these were transmitted within the associations and to wider society. The project analysed victim organisations as actors who actively engaged in the politics of memory, focusing on how they sought to influence legislative processes in relation to memory laws, and the extent to which they participated in the creation of memorials, museums, and other memory institutions. Particular attention was paid to how their value framework changed over time, how dominant narratives evolved and how successful they were in promoting their own goals within the political, educational and broader social spheres. The comparative approach enabled the similarities and differences between the two countries to be captured, contributing to a stronger grasp of how the concept of victimhood was constructed in post-communist countries. It also illuminated the institutional, cultural, and political factors that influenced this process and explained the persistently high level of frustration evident among victims of communist dictatorships in both countries. The original methodological framework, which focused primarily on the concepts of polarisation and narrative, was expanded to include the concepts of victimhood and the related politics of victimhood. In the project, victimhood is not understood as a fixed status resulting from past suffering, but rather as a dynamic, socially constructed category arising from constant negotiation between victims, the state, political institutions, society and other actors. This approach enables analysis of how the experience of persecution is interpreted, institutionalised and recognised at legal, symbolic and political levels, and how it transforms into claims for moral authority and political recognition. On this basis, the Contextual Victimhood Framework was developed. The project provides findings based on empirical research that can be used in future to inform memory policies, educational strategies and the work of memory institutions. This is important in the current political context, which is characterised not only by the rise of populism and extremism, but also by disputes over the interpretation of the past. The project emphasises the important role of the humanities, particularly history, psychology, and memory studies, in analysing the long-term effects of trauma and value conflicts on democratic coexistence in post-authoritarian societies.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union