Traumatization of historical memory: European project vs national discourse

Abstract

The article focuses on the analysis of cultural trauma in the context of the political transformation of European memorial culture. On the example of Poland, the author demonstrates that the design of cultural injuries in modern conditions reveals a more complex picture of the combination of memorial discourse. Mainstreaming the cultural trauma of the partition of Poland and its contamination with the “double occupation” of the Nazi regime and the pro-Soviet government leads to a range of political and ethical problems. Another trend in the design of cultural injuries is the increasing competition for the image of the victim with other post-Soviet states, which causes the need to form the local traumatic discourse.

Keywords

• historical memory
• trauma
• design
• discourse
• contamination
• competition