Café Babel, France
May 9 2005

Identity and collective European memory

The European identity required reconstruction in the aftermath of the
Second World War. It is now time for the European populations to come
together and create a shared, common history. For some things, time
cannot heal.
Memorial for those executed at the Berlin Wall This May has proved
to be a month of happy co-incidence. At a time when more or less
everywhere people are celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the end of
the Second World War, the French nation will be called to vote upon
the European constitution. This legislation, an must for European
civil society, forms a landmark in a historically dynamic period
which began to blossom at the end of the Second World War. The wish
that such an event must `never again’ occur, along with an
examination of conscience have finally been translated into the
implementation of the European project. The goal, then, was to avoid
a return to imperialism, to economic protectionism and, above all, to
streamline inter-European processes.

Promoting collective awareness

It was as a consequence of this outbreak of genocide that the
European identity began to reconstruct itself little by little,
bringing with it the construction of a common memory. The journey
began with a promotion of awareness of the atrocities of mankind,
driving us to take our common destiny in hand. It is upon
re-examining our common past, our divisions and our past conflicts
that we are able to construct our common future together.

Hence the importance of education and multi-national commemoration
ceremonies which allow us, beyond our nationalistic interpretations
of the past, to re-write a common history which will be bequeathed to
future European generations. Today, however, despite considerable
effort, it is difficult to overcome the barrier posed by
nationalistic interpretations of the past. Thus the Georg Eckert
Institute, upon analysing school textbooks from 20 European
countries, realised that less than 10% of the content of them dealt
explicitly with European history. `The longer a country has been a
member of the European Union, the higher this percentage rate
becomes. Conversely, in the newly independent States the textbooks
tell a very nationalistic history, insisting on the antiquity and
originality of the nation’ states Fak Pingel, deputy director of the
Georg Eckert Institute. This very institute, moreover, originated as
an innovative experiment responsible for the conception of a
Franco-German history textbook.

Teaching a common history

Thus education is at the heart of the European project and some, like
the European Institute of Cultural Routes, are working on the subject
of key `locations’ in European memory. The issue, explains the
historian Pierre Nora, is to lead a `selective and knowledgeable
exploration of the main areas of our collective heritage, an
inventory of the principal `locations’ and to sketch a `framework of
common history”. As yet, much work still remains to be done if the
Community institutions and EU member states wish to create this
collective history. For if Franco-German relations are at the heart
of this communal re-examination of our past, the Poles and Germans or
indeed the Croats and Serbs still have difficulties in broaching
their own shared pasts.

Equally, in a period when the survivors of the Holocaust are
disappearing, a new and vital stage of this work on a collective
memory is emerging. It is important to transcend the generational and
genealogical aspects since, as German journalist Michael Martins
points out, `it would be necessary, for example, for a young German
of Turkish origin visiting the Holocaust museum in Berlin to
integrate this aspect of the past into his conscience, even if
descendents like himself haven’t been directly confronted by it.
He would need to understand that being European also means being able
to accept all aspects of the past with a sense of contemporary
responsibility.’

Henceforth, Europe still has a heavy workload to accomplish and must
maintain a critical review of the past in order to avoid falling into
`an apologetic and commemorative souvenir memorial’, as Martins puts
it. Is it really pertinent to celebrate the end of the Second World
War between allies? Attitudes are gradually beginning to evolve with,
for example, the notable presence of the German Chancellor, Gerhard
Schroeder, at the commemorations of the Normandy landings last year.
European institutions must concern themselves more with encouraging
European citizens and countries to develop a greater sense of
responsibility. What can one do then, to ensure that the Turkish
government recognises the Armenian genocide whilst the Jewish
genocide is still interpreted differently by EU member states?

In this quest for a collective memory, the European constitution
represents a major step towards the creation of a `constitutional
patriotism’, which signifies that the sentiment of belonging is being
translated into recognition of the principles of democracy and of a
constitutional state. It is a question of transcending national
applications of Human Rights through dialogue and interactions
between member states, stopping short though, of denying national
identities. Saying Yes to the European Constitution means having a
critical reflection on one’s own identity and making our way towards
a new idea of Human rights, social rights and politics, interacting
so as to transcend the nationalistic attitudes which originated from
the barbarisms of the 19th and 20th centuries. Essentially, we must
limit the nationalism which is putting the brakes on the construction
of our common European memory and identity.
Sarah Wolff – Paris – 9.5.2005 | Translation : Paul McIntyre