Shades of Red, Shades of Grey

Proteau, Jasmine Shades of Red, Shades of Grey Shades of Red, Shades of Grey The Role of Cultural Context in Shaping Museums of Communism Jasmine Proteau Abstract In the post-communist era, Eastern-European museums face three key issues in their attempts to interpret the history of daily life under communism: feelings of nostalgia, representing both individual and collective histories, and ‘purposeful forgetting’. As socialism was experienced differently in each regional context, a single country or museum does not give a full comparative analysis to examine these issues. This work focuses on comparing three institutions across Eastern-Europe: the Museum of Communism in Prague, the GDR Museum in Berlin, and the Romanian Peasant Museum in Bucharest. Two central questions guided the approach of this work: how have these museums, and the countries they represent, portrayed, memorialized – or rejected – socialism in past and how do their approaches connect or diverge? Though all are faced with complex interpretive issues, each museumEastern Europe? is unique More in its specifically, approach. what issues have these museums faced in preserving a controversial and raw Keywords nostalgia, communism, museums, memory, culture Museums, as cultural institutions, are at the munist era, Eastern-European museums face three key - issues in their attempts to interpret the history of daily ty. Seeking to re-establish themselves as credible sourc- life under communism: feelings of nostalgia, presenting esforefront of culture, of redefining intellectual post-communist debate, and criticalnational analysis identi both individual and collective histories, and something of the past, their interpretation of this crucial moment I have chosen to call ‘purposeful forgetting’. - As socialism was experienced differently in ments. The experience of socialism denies a singular each regional context, a single country or museum interpretation,in each nation’s and history as a isresult, reflective museums of cultural of commu senti- does not allow for enough comparative analysis to ful- nism struggle against the publics’ need to remember ly examine these issues alone. This work will focus on and their desire to forget. The interpretation methods comparing three institutions across Eastern Europe: of Eastern-European post-communist museums1 are the Museum of Communism in Prague, the German - Democratic Republic Museum (GDR) in Berlin, and the text under which they experienced both communism Romanian Peasant Museum in Bucharest. Two central primarily influenced by the cultural and national con- questions guide the approach of this work: how have al consciousness rather than an accurate depiction of these museums, and the countries they represent, por- theand complexities its aftermath, of contexts communist that history. often reflect In the the post-com nation- trayed, memorialized – or rejected – socialism in East- Defying Conventions-March 2016 Proteau, Jasmine Shades of Red, Shades of Grey is now considered an antique – a vintage and desirable museums faced in preserving a controversial and raw piece of the past. For the GDR, fond memories of Ger- pastern Europe? and how More do their specifically, approaches what connect issues orhave diverge? these many’s past are represented as real and valid. By ac- Though all are faced with complex interpretive issues, knowledging the feeling of nostalgia, the museum faith- each museum is unique in its approach. fully represents the coping method of the East German community that dealt with the radical instability of the post-communist era (Barney, 2009, p. 137). In the Grappling with Nostalgia GDR Guide museum director Robert Rückel responds to critics of the museum that cry ‘ostalgie!’ by assert- In previously communist countries where basic ing that a complete understanding of the GDR requires human rights were violated, conformity was key, and a look at the everyday, not simply the “closed borders even toilet paper was scarce (Drakulic, 2011, p. 15), it and constant surveillance” but also the “shortages, the is hard to imagine anyone having a sentimental longing weekly oath ceremony, and full employment” (2012, p. or a wistful desire for the past. Certainly, nostalgia is 4). Through this interpretation, which critics suggest not unique to post-socialist countries but it provokes is problematic given that feelings of nostalgia are in- a strong response when applied to a historically con- authentic by recreating a fake idealized past, the GDR troversial subject such as this. Nostalgia is a highly Museum is addressing a perception of East German life contested form of remembrance across disciplines. that is real to the people who experience it. For Volcic (2009) and Jameson (1989), “nostalgia… is However, this interpretation method needs to an obstacle to knowledge, clouding “real” history with be approached with caution as it can lead to the blend- inauthentic emotion”(Barney, 2009, p. 132-133). Yet, ing memory and history (Nora, 1989; Crane, 1997). others like Kimberly Smith see nostalgia as a complex The GDR needs to represent the history of socialist Ger- and valid contributor to communal identity (2000). many while distinguishing it from the memory, which Navigating these differing interpretations of the past “remains in permanent evolution, open to the dialectic of remembering and forgetting, unconscious of its suc- communism that, in an attempt to present the past in cessful deformations, vulnerable to manipulation and variousis an understandably forms, risk appearing difficult sympathetic task for museums to commu of- appropriation…” (Nora, 1989, p. 8). By allowing too nism if they embrace this creator of ‘communal iden- much memory, or nostalgia, to permeate the interpre- tity’. Therefore, museums of communism are required tive narrative the GDR risks ignoring or minimizing the to choose either to embrace a multi-angled approach, many negatives of living in under communist rule and attempting to engage with nostalgia by acknowledging therefore presenting a heavily biased, non-credible, in- different perspectives, or reject nostalgia as a misrepre- terpretation of past events. sentation of the past. Though Romania and Germany both experi- Berlin in particular is no stranger to communist enced an abrupt change during their transformation nostalgia; in fact, Germans have coined a word for those into democratic states, they dealt with the loss of the who still pine for the days of East Germany: ostalgie2 . In utopian dream they had been promised in different the context of ostalgie, the GDR Museum has been crit- ways. In contrast to the ostalgie of the GDR, the Roma- icized for their nostalgic displays of everyday objects nian Peasant Museum rejects nostalgia completely. This (Arnold-de Simine, 2013, p. 161). The Trabant P50 is a notable example of an everyday object used to provoke cultural context and community that is represented, but nostalgia. Despite noting that the car “exhibited con- alsodifference because in interpretationof the museum’s is partly own uniquea reflection history. of the In siderable technical defects” such as dangerous brakes terms of context, Bartmanski argues that nostalgia re- or those who hoped to own a Trabant, affectionately called the ‘Trabi’, “faced a long wait”, the car is never- by the struggle for a feeling of continuity “not neces- theless cited for inspiring “such loyalty and love” and sarilylies on any a cultural kind of rather longing than for a thesocial past” context (2011, influenced p. 222). providing “a measure of freedom in an unfree coun- Nostalgic cultural context of East Germany was largely a by-product of the East-West divide; the solidarity of a Trabant, and the car’s problematic safety issues, are a group of people that lived through communism was overshadowedtry” (GDR [website], by romantic 2015). memoriesThe difficulty of an in object obtaining that expressed through nostalgia for GDR material culture Defying Conventions - March 2016 Proteau, Jasmine Shades of Red, Shades of Grey that was once “a source of perennial dissatisfaction and litical Installation, was all that remained. Communism, embarrassment” later “became emblems of pride and rather than being represented in a sympathetic light, nostalgia” (Betts, 2000, p. 736). As the two halves of was effectively demonized (National Museums Europe the country “struggled to amalgamate” easterners took Report, 2012). control of their material culture, and through nostalgia, The Czech Republic, similar to Romania, also has very few, if any, traces of nostalgia in their institu- symbols of “opposition to the lagging Westernization” tionalized memory of communism. Prague’s Museum (Barney,used museumification 2009, p. 139). toBy turnplacing everyday these objects objects in into the GDR Museum, the objects are acknowledged as worth certainly not pro Communist…” (Museum of Commu- remembering (Scribner, 1999). This difference in cul- of Communism defines itself as “Concise, objective, but tural context between Germany and Romania is the key rejection of communist nostalgia: in 1999 only one in difference in desire for institutionalized nostalgia. tennism, Czechs 2015). were Overall, in favour the museum of returning reflects to itscommunism country’s Another important factor in the approach to (Gherghina, 2010). Sergiu Gherghina argues that the nostalgia is the history of the museum itself. The GDR relative wealth, lack of political dissent and deadlock, was established in a post-communist world to ac- and

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