BALTIC WORLDSBALTIC A scholarly journal and news magazine. December 2020. Vol. XIII:4. From the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES), Södertörn University. Special Issue: 92 pages of memory studies December 2020. Vol. XIII:4 XIII:4 Vol. 2020. December Breaking BALTIC the silence through art Visualizing WORLDSbalticworlds.com traumatic events Sites and places for remembrance Bringing generations together Special issue: issue: Special Confronting Reading Silences, Entangling Histries Entangling Silences, Reading muted memories Reading Silences, Entangling Histories also in this issue Sunvisson Karin Illustration: ARCHIVES IN TALLINN / HOLOCAUST IN BELARUS / HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE/ OBLIVION IN POLAND Sponsored by the Foundation BALTIC for Baltic and East European Studies WORLDSbalticworlds.com editorial in this issue Dealing with the demons of the past here are many aspects of the past even after generations. An in- that we talk little about, if at all. The dividual take is often the case, dark past casts shadows and when and the own family history is silenced for a long time, it will not drawn into this exploring artistic Tleave the bearer at peace. Nations, minorities, process. By facing the demons of families, and individuals suffer the trauma of the past through art, we may be the past over generations. The untold doesn’t able to create new conversations go away and can even tear us apart if not dealt and learn about our history with Visual with. Those are the topics explored in this Spe- less fear and prejudice, runs the representation cial Issue of Baltic Worlds “Reading Silences, argument. Film-makers, artists Entangling Histories”, guest edited by Margaret and researchers share their un- of the Holodomor Tali and Ieva Astahovska. derstanding on how to work and When we were beginning The ghosts of the dark past still haunt and approach sensitive subjects and to think about what we as hurt, and the silencing and taboos make the the healing aspects for all involved artists and also the third genera- healing process more difficult. It’s similar to in the process. The untold stories tion of survivors can tell about the way individuals suffer following a traumatic need to be made visible and to be “the Holodomor we fully realized event: Reactions and crisis are natural but if not given time and space in order for that visual representation of dealt with, they may become persistent and society to be able to accept and mass starvation in the arts is not lead to disaster and stress when encountering move forward. easy. Page 28 new difficulties. Unleashed sorrows can cause trouble for generations afterwards, even for the ON THE LAST PAGE of this issue you victims’ descendants. find a presentation ofCBEES State of the Region Report 2020: Con- IN THIS SPECIAL ISSUE the focus is set on the structions and Instrumentalization Baltic States and Eastern Europe that have ex- of the Past. A Comparative Study perienced not only the occupation of the Nazi on Memory Management in the regime, the Holocaust and the World War II Region. It is dealing with memory but also the communist take-over and the ter- politics and scrutinizing memory The voices of ror during the Stalin period, the Holodomor management and memory pro- women across and the labor camps. How can we begin to duction in the region, presenting talk about the past in a way that doesn’t lead the situation for ten countries con- the generations to re-opening wounds and stirring up hostile cerning the political history of the How do you find words emotions? past. ≈ that have been frozen In a series of articles contributing research- Ninna Mörner for generations through fear and ers and curators seek the answer in suggesting confusion? How do I interview a that art and cultural expression can com- “person who has been repeatedly municate traumatic memories and awaken interrogated and silenced during understanding and empathy for the victims, her life? Page 80 The content expresses the views of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Baltic Worlds. contents 3 colophon Baltic Worlds is published by the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) at Södertörn University, Sweden. Editor-in-chief Ninna Mörner Publisher Joakim Ekman Scholarly advisory council Sari Autio-Sarasmo, Aleksanteri Institute, Helsinki University; Sofie Bedford, IRES, Uppsala University; Michael Gentile, Oslo ILLUSTRATION: KARIN SUNVISSON University; Markus Huss (chair), Stockholm University; Ekaterina Kalinina, Jönköping University, Thomas Lundén, CBEES, special issue Guest editors: Margaret Tali & Ieva Astahovska Södertörn University; Kazimierz Musiał, University of Gdańsk; Barbara Törnquist Plewa, Centre Reading Silences, Entangling Histories for European Studies, Lund Corresponding members introduction essays Aija Lulle, University of Latvia; 4 Exploring alternative ways of 20 Nomaic memory. Artivism as the Michael North, Ernst Moritz commemorating long-silenced practice of recovering memory, Arndt University Greifswald; traumas, Margaret Tali & Ieva Zuzanna Hertzberg Andrzei Nowak, Jagiellonian Astahovska 28 Visual representation of the University, Kraków; Andrea Petö, peer-reviewed Holodomor. From commemoration Central European University, practices to contemporary art, Lia Budapest; Jens E. Olesen, articles Dostlieva & Andrii Dostliev Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University, 9 Dissonant Soviet monuments in post- 61 A city of amnesia. Marcin Kącki’s Greifswald; Olga Schihalejev, Soviet Lithuania. The application of Białystok. White Power. Black Memory, Tartu University artistic practices, Rasa Goštautaitė Jan Miklas-Frankowski Copyediting/proofreading 34 Displaced time. 10 photographs from 80 The voices of women across the Semantix, Bridget Schäfer restricted collections as model for a generations, Kati Roover Layout remembrance, Annika Toots Sara Bergfors, Lena Fredriksson, 85 Repetition of silence. Monuments for a 50 Bringing back the silenced memories, Serpentin Media new time, Paulina Pukytė (un)official commemorations of Illustration the Holocaust in Belarus, Elisabeth Karin Sunvisson, Moa Thelander interview Kovtiak 44 A language to heal. Interview with Subscription 67 Reconstruction of contested history. Jūratė and Vilma Samulionytė, Sofia Barlind Vilnius 1939–1949, Giedrė Jankevičiūtė Margaret Tali Printed by Elanders Sverige AB reports Printed: ISSN 2000-2955 90 Coming issues Online: ISSN 2001-7308 92 The wars on memory, Ninna Mörner Contact Baltic Worlds [email protected] NMÄ NE RK A E V T S Trycksak 3041 0242 Guest editors: 4 Margaret Tali & Ieva Astahovska Introduction. Exploring alternative ways of commemorating long-silenced traumas his special issue dealing with transdisciplinary project “Communicat- memories, and we investigated how they memory focuses on the silences ing Difficult Pasts”.1 We were lucky to be are being employed both by researchers about WWII, its aftermath and able to hold the symposium in real life and artists. We were also interested in the Soviet era in the Baltic and very shortly before the lockdown and the impacts that the downplaying of past TEastern Europe. Untold histories and before public discussions moved online, complexities has had on the rise of right- minorities’ perspectives are placed in the because presence and a sense of being to- wing movements as well as on the repres- spotlight, drawn out from the shadows gether enabled sensitive discussions that sion of different minority communities and hidden corners of the collective and we could not have had from a distance. and women nowadays. individual memories shared and yet Considering how relationships be- In the context of shifting official narra- contested in the region. By bringing the tween communities and individuals in tives of history — of the Soviet repressions suppressions of traumatic events in the our region often escape easy descrip- and the Holocaust, which continue to past into a conversation with each other tions, leading to scattered histories and remain contested — we wanted to focus the articles offer productive ways of un- memories that remain divided, proved to on the possibilities of bringing those two derstanding present social changes in the be productive fuel for the discussions in together. Furthermore, the symposium region. We see a special value in bringing the symposium. There are important as- added to research on trauma by bringing together scholars conducting research in pects in minority histories that have often together artists and researchers across fields such as literature, histories of art not been included in the dominant his- disciplinary boundaries, thus giving a and architecture and cinema, with cura- tory narratives of the Baltic Sea region. At new nuance and reflexivity to the subjects tors and artists producing exhibitions, the heart of the symposium were discus- discussed. communicating learned trauma of the sions of alternative ways of commemorat- past or dealing with own expressions of ing long-silenced traumas, examining THE SELECTION OF ARTICLES in this Spe- memories. repression of different minority histories cial Issue “Reading Silences, Entangling as well as ethical ways of communicating Histories” include the three Baltic States, THE IDEA GREW OUT of the international trauma and experiences of violence in Belarus, Ukraine, Poland and through the symposium “Prisms of Silence” that the work of artists, writers and filmmak- fate of the Ingrian community, also Fin- we organized in Tallinn in the Estonian ers. There was a special