A (New) Spectre Is Haunting Europe: National Memory

History is under attack, all over the world, for both the political and propagandistic uses of the past – which increasingly frame the actions of autocratic governments – and for the bans on writing, studying, teaching subjects that may be regarded as offensive to the memory of o...

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Main Author: Massimo Vallerani
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Viella Editrice 2023-06-01
Series:Storicamente
Subjects:
Online Access:https://storicamente.org/vallerani_history_under_attack
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author Massimo Vallerani
author_facet Massimo Vallerani
author_sort Massimo Vallerani
collection DOAJ
description History is under attack, all over the world, for both the political and propagandistic uses of the past – which increasingly frame the actions of autocratic governments – and for the bans on writing, studying, teaching subjects that may be regarded as offensive to the memory of one country or even a threat to its national unity. These two perspectives are closely linked, because it is precisely in those countries where history, or rather an idealised or politically-oriented image of the past, is employed with greater ideological zeal that it is more difficult to write history without repressive state intervention. The examples are many: prison sentences for those who tackle certain topics, state censorship of school curricula, inaccessible archives, destroyed documents, marginalisation of disobedient officials, coercive rewriting of the past. It has become increasingly difficult to maintain the vital link between historical research, dissemination of results and teaching, to the detriment of an official history increasingly bent to the ideological pretensions of governments to create unitary histories in homage to a distorted idea of national prestige.
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spelling doaj-art-0349418028d44abca3d3b2df9da060cb2025-08-20T02:00:51ZengViella EditriceStoricamente2282-60332023-06-0118110.52056/9791254691984/38A (New) Spectre Is Haunting Europe: National MemoryMassimo Vallerani0Università di Torino, Dipartimento di Studi Storici, via Sant’Ottavio 20, 10124 Torino, ItalyHistory is under attack, all over the world, for both the political and propagandistic uses of the past – which increasingly frame the actions of autocratic governments – and for the bans on writing, studying, teaching subjects that may be regarded as offensive to the memory of one country or even a threat to its national unity. These two perspectives are closely linked, because it is precisely in those countries where history, or rather an idealised or politically-oriented image of the past, is employed with greater ideological zeal that it is more difficult to write history without repressive state intervention. The examples are many: prison sentences for those who tackle certain topics, state censorship of school curricula, inaccessible archives, destroyed documents, marginalisation of disobedient officials, coercive rewriting of the past. It has become increasingly difficult to maintain the vital link between historical research, dissemination of results and teaching, to the detriment of an official history increasingly bent to the ideological pretensions of governments to create unitary histories in homage to a distorted idea of national prestige.https://storicamente.org/vallerani_history_under_attackhistorymemorypropagandanationalismarchives21st century
spellingShingle Massimo Vallerani
A (New) Spectre Is Haunting Europe: National Memory
Storicamente
history
memory
propaganda
nationalism
archives
21st century
title A (New) Spectre Is Haunting Europe: National Memory
title_full A (New) Spectre Is Haunting Europe: National Memory
title_fullStr A (New) Spectre Is Haunting Europe: National Memory
title_full_unstemmed A (New) Spectre Is Haunting Europe: National Memory
title_short A (New) Spectre Is Haunting Europe: National Memory
title_sort new spectre is haunting europe national memory
topic history
memory
propaganda
nationalism
archives
21st century
url https://storicamente.org/vallerani_history_under_attack
work_keys_str_mv AT massimovallerani anewspectreishauntingeuropenationalmemory
AT massimovallerani newspectreishauntingeuropenationalmemory