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Explores the memory of the Holocaust and the Jewish past in post-communist Eastern Europe

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations 
Preface and Acknowledgments 
Introduction 
John-Paul Himka and Joanna Beata Michlic
1. "Our Conscience Is Clean": Albanian Elites and the Memory of the Holocaust in Postsocialist Albania 
 Daniel Perez
2. The Invisible Genocide: The Holocaust in Belarus 
 Per Anders Rudling
3. Contemporary Responses to the Holocaust in Bosnia and Herzegovina 
 Francine Friedman
4. Debating the Fate of Bulgarian Jews during World War II 
 Joseph Benatov
5. Representations of the Holocaust and Historical Debates in Croatia since 1989 
 Mark Biondich
6. The Sheep of Lidice: The Holocaust and the Construction of Czech National History 
 Michal Frankl
7. Victim of History: Perceptions of the Holocaust in Estonia 
 Anton Weiss-Wendt
8. Holocaust Remembrance in the German Democratic Republic--and Beyond 
 Peter Monteath
9. The Memory of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Hungary 
 Part 1: The Politics of Holocaust Memory 
 Paul Hanebrink
 Part 2: Cinematic Memory of the Holocaust
 Catherine Portuges
10. The Transformation of Holocaust Memory in Post-Soviet Latvia 
 Bella Zisere
11. Conflicting Memories: The Reception of the Holocaust in Lithuania
 Saulius Sužiedlis and Šarūnas Liekis
12. The Combined Legacies of the "Jewish Question" and the "Macedonian Question" 
 Holly Case
13. Public Discourses on the Holocaust in Moldova: Justification, Instrumentalization, and Mourning 
 Vladimir Solonari
14. The Memory of the Holocaust in Post-1989 Poland: Renewal--Its Accomplishments and Its Powerlessness 
 Joanna B. Michlic and Małgorzata Melchior
15. Public Perceptions of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Romania 
 Felicia Waldman and Mihai Chioveanu
16. The Reception of the Holocaust in Russia: Silence, Conspiracy, and Glimpses of Light 
 Klas-Göran Karlsson
17. Between Marginalization and Instrumentalization: Holocaust Memory in Serbia since the Late 1980s 
 Jovan Byford
18. The "Unmasterable Past"? The Reception of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Slovakia 
 Nina Paulovičová
19. On the Periphery: Jews, Slovenes, and the Memory of the Holocaust
 Gregor Joseph Kranjc
20. The Reception of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Ukraine 
 John-Paul Himka
Conclusion 
Omer Bartov
Contributors 
Index

About the Author

John-Paul Himka is a professor of history and classics at the University of Alberta. He is the author of Last Judgment Iconography in the Carpathians. Joanna Beata Michlic is the director and founder of the Hadassah–Brandeis Institute Project on Families, Children, and the Holocaust at Brandeis University and is the author of Poland’s Threatening Other (Nebraska, 2006).

Reviews

"An extraordinary volume and a feat of editorial ingenuity... No matter what you know or think about contemporary Europe and the politics of Holocaust memory, you will be enlightened and surprised by this remarkable book." Doris L. Bergen, Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies, University of Toronto, and author of War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust "Since the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, debates have taken place in all the countries of the area on the involvement of the local populations and wartime governments of the area in the mass murder of the Jews. This well-researched and comprehensive volume provides a definitive account of the present state of these discussions. It is essential reading for all those interested in the Holocaust." Antony Polonsky, Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Brandeis University