Macikai kaip „tamsiojo paveldo“ objektas: memorialas, muziejus, atmintis : mokslo studija

Abstract

The focus on war, military conflicts and the commemoration of the consequences of war in Europe continues unabated. The last three decades have seen a significant increase in the number of museums dedicated to the history of the Second World War. The 2016 French military guide 1939-1945: guide Europe, compiled by French authors, counts no fewer than 1 500 WWII museums and memory sites across Europe. Although the war ended almost eighty years ago, the material traces of the war have disappeared from the national landscape, and many of its witnesses are no longer present, the memory and meaning of the Second World War continue to fuel historical debate and stir controversy in societies. In the aftermath of the Great (First World) War, various forms of commemorating and remembering the war’s victims were sought to find meanings that could make sense of the enormous losses suffered by the soldiers who took part in this European conflict. Many of the First World War memorials conveyed the warning “Never again!” in various aesthetic forms symbolising the desire to ensure that the horrors of this war would never be repeated in the world. But that “never again” in Europe lasted only until the autumn of 1939. The search for common meanings and commemorations of the victims of the Second World War was made even more complex by the different political systems and ideologies on both sides of the Iron Curtain, the different politics of history, and the formation of different cultures of remembrance. Considering the fact that more civilians than soldiers died in the Second World War, the search for ways and forms of memorialising the military conflicts and ‘dark heritage’ of this war was complicated. [...]