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Himka Obstacles to Integration Canadian Slavonic Papers Obstacles to the Integration of the Holocaust into Post-Communist East European Historical Narratives Author(s): John-Paul Himka Source: Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes, Vol. 50, No. 3/4 (September-December 2008), pp. 359-372 Published by: Canadian Association of Slavists Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40871306 . Accessed: 18/10/2013 12:56 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Canadian Association of Slavists and Canadian Slavonic Papers are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 129.79.13.20 on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 12:56:45 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions John-PaulHimka Obstacles to the Integrationof the Holocaust into Post-CommunistEast EuropeanHistorical Narratives Abstract: Factors that have made it difficultfor post-communist East European societies to integratethe Holocaust into theirhistorical cultures include the communist heritage,which downplayedthe specificallyJewish Holocaust; sensitivityto charges that a nationwas complicitin the murderof the Jews; the framingof East European histories as national narrativesinto which it is difficultto incorporatethe experience of other nations; the feeling that Jewish sufferingis recognized, while that of other East Europeans is not; the positive re-evaluationof the interwarand wartime politics and cultureafter the collapse of communism;the survivaland revival of anti-Semitism,with new inputsfrom the Middle East and fromWestern Holocaust deniers; the construction in the West of the Holocaust as a centrepieceof twentieth-centuryhistory; the influence of East European diasporas; the embedmentof the discourse on the Holocaust in the political divide between nativistsand Westernizers;the deploymentof accusations of Holocaust collaborationas an instrumentof foreignpolicy; and debate over the restitution of confiscated Jewish property.Often these factors come togetherinto a reinforcing discursivestructure. The essay's conclusion suggestshow to overcome these obstacles to the integrationof the Holocaust into East European histories. The integrationof theHolocaust into East Europeanhistory and memoryhas provedto be a challenge.1The issueof local collaborationin themurder of the Jewshas especiallyevoked responses of denial,since East Europeanhistorical self-portraitsgenerally omit what Joanna Michlic calls the "darkpast."2 The purposeof thepresent essay is to identifythe obstacles to theintegration of the Holocaustinto East European historical cultures. Thereare a numberof examinationsof howEast Europeannations have or havenot come to termswith the Holocaust since the collapse of communism.3 I have presentedversions of this paper in a number of venues, most recentlyat the annual conferenceof the Canadian Association of Slavists held in Saskatoon 26-28 May 2007. Afterevery presentation, I revised the paper substantiallyin response to comments I received,and I am gratefulfor all the suggestionsand criticisms.I particularlywant to thankKaryn Ball, Melissa Jacques, WilfriedJilge, Per Anders Rudling,Michael Shafir, Kai Struve, and Felicia Waldman. I also wish to thank Oksana Mykhed for research assistance. JoannaMichlic, Coming to Termswith the "Dark Past ": The Polish Debate about the Jedwabne Massacre, Analysis of CurrentTrends in Anti-Semitism,2 1 (Jerusalem:The Hebrew Universityof Jerusalem,The Vidal Sassoon InternationalCenter for the Studyof Anti-Semitism,2002) 2. E.g., Randolph L. Braham, "Anti-Semitismand the Holocaust in the Politics of East CanadianSlavonic Papers/Revue canadienne des slavistes Vol. L, Nos. 3^, September-December2008 This content downloaded from 129.79.13.20 on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 12:56:45 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 360 John-PaulHimka These have been helpfulto me in identifyingthe issues thatimpede the internalizationofthe Holocaust, and I willbe citingsome of them below. I have not,however, undertaken an exhaustivereview of thisliterature, since my point is notto describethe situation since 1989,as thisliterature does, but rather to constructa generalframework to understandthe sources of resistanceto Holocaustintegration. Many of the points made below are familiar to scholarsof theHolocaust and its reception, and somepoints made in a fewsentences in this articlecould sustain a muchlonger treatment. But here I am interestedin putting itall togetherin orderto renderthe mutual reinforcement of Holocaust-resistant discoursesmore transparent. Often the existingliterature works with unstated assumptionsabout why the Holocausthas been difficultfor post-communist Europe.This article strives to makethese assumptions explicit. It is interestedin thebroad outline of certain East European subjectivities. AlthoughI attempthere to discussthe factorsin Holocaustresistance in sucha waythat it draws on theexperience of, and refers to, Eastern Europe as a region,4I am mostinformed by myresearch on Ukraine.I am somewhatuneasy aboutthis combination of the generaland the particular,but I hope thatthis rathermakeshift approach can accomplishwhat is essentiallya modestaim: to stimulatethinking on why it has been hard for East Europeansocieties to integratethe Holocaust into their historical consciousness. In myemphasis on commonalitiesand patterns,distinctions among the East Europeanpeoples are notgiven much attention, but that does notmean that such distinctions are not importantand worthy of study in their own right. I do notthink that the resistance to incorporatingthe Holocaust is a simple matter;at play, rather,is a configurationof factors,an overdetermination. Throughoutthe region there are recurringdiscourses about the Holocaust that interlockand shapeand reinforceone another.I believethat reflection on the obstaclesis theprecondition for developing an effectiveprogram for promoting Holocaustawareness in the region. The CommunistHeritage A readilyidentifiable reason for the tardinesswith which East European countrieshave integratedthe Holocaust into their history is that,by and large, the specificallyJewish Holocaust was downplayedor ignored under Communism.5 CentralEurope ," Holocaust and Genocide Studies 8.2 (Fall 1994): 143-163. As to why I use the old termEastern Europe instead of the new ones (Central Europe, Balkans, FormerSoviet Union, Eurasia, and so on), see John-PaulHimka, "What's in a Region? (Notes on 'Central Europe')," HABSBURG, 8 May 2002 (archived in H-Net Discussion). Zvi Gitelman,"Politics and the Historiographyof the Holocaust in the Soviet Union," in Bitter Legacy: Confrontingthe Holocaust in the USSR, edited by Zvi Gitelman (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1997) 14-42. Daniel This content downloaded from 129.79.13.20 on Fri, 18 Oct 2013 12:56:45 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Obstacles to the Integration of the Holocaust 361 East Europeansocieties then were "protected" from having to considerthe Holocaustand itsimplications. This is one of thereasons why, when the fall of communismallowed the issue to surface,some East Europeansreacted with suspicionto thesudden concern with the fate of Jews during World War II.6 It was also difficultfor oppositionists under communism to confrontthe Holocaust because they found it hard to examine criticallyfigures and movementsthat were condemnedby theirauthoritarian regimes. And this hindereda frankassessment of local participation inthe murder of Jews.7 Guilt, Self-Esteem,Reputation An obviousreason why those East European nations with a significanthistory of collaborationin the Holocaustare reluctantto speak aboutit is thatthey are ashamedto. They feel that to bringup suchmatters sullies the reputation of their nation.This reluctanceto publicize the "dark past" is commonenough everywhere,but it is particularlyexacerbated in nations,such as the East Europeannations, with a complexof marginalizationand eveninferiority vis-à- vis the West. The feelingof inadequacyproduces also narrativesof self- glorificationthat make it even more difficult to admitto grievouswrongdoing in thenational past. It sometimeshappens that Westerners know littleabout Ukrainiansand Lithuaniansexcept their reputation as anti-Semitesand willingcollaborators in the Holocaust.This is differentthan the knowledgeabout Germans,which recognizestheir crucial role in launchingthe Holocaust,but also appreciates Germancultural achievements and acknowledgesthat German history consists ofmuch more than the Third Reich. At one timethe same people who held anti- Semiticstereotypes also held anti-Slavicor anti-EastEuropean stereotypes. Sincethe Holocaust, the two prejudices have been decoupled, and an inveterate Romanovsky,"The Holocaustin the Eyes of Homo Sovieticus:A SurveyBased on NortheasternBelorussia and Northwestern Russia," Holocaust and GenocideStudies 13.3 (Winter1999): 355-382. An enlighteningand originalrecent contribution is MarkA. Wolfgram,"The Holocaustthrough the Prismof East GermanTelevision: Collective Memoryand AudiencePerceptions,"
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