www.ssoar.info European Commemoration: Locating World War I Wolfrum, Edgar (Ed.); Triebel, Odila (Ed.); Arendes, Cord (Ed.); Siebold, Angela (Ed.); Duyster Borredà, Joana (Ed.) Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Konferenzband / collection Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Wolfrum, E., Triebel, O., Arendes, C., Siebold, A., & Duyster Borredà, J. (Eds.). (2016). European Commemoration: Locating World War I (ifa Edition Culture and Foreign Policy). Stuttgart: ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen). https:// nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-51520-9 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY-NC-ND Lizenz This document is made available under a CC BY-NC-ND Licence (Namensnennung-Nicht-kommerziell-Keine Bearbeitung) zur (Attribution-Non Comercial-NoDerivatives). For more Information Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen finden see: Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.de European Commemoration: ifa Edition Culture and Foreign Policy Locating World War I “Memory cultures are still rooted in the region and European Commemoration: the nation, even if pioneering work is being done that Locating World War I transcends borders” (Kramer, Chapter I). Commemoration depends on current views of the past. The conference “Europäische Erinnerungskulturen – European Commemoration 2014” gave an overview of the initiatives, narratives and commemorations taking place across Europe. This expert conference provided an opportunity to analyse common perceptions and to discuss different opinions about what the First World War still stood for a hundred years later. What are the correlations between national, transnational and European perspectives? Is there a difference between a European perspective and multiperspectivity? What can and what should be the goal of historical education concerning the First World War? The contributions in this anthology reflect on these Edgar Wolfrum, Odila Triebel, Cord Arendes, questions, reveal blind spots and present new approaches Angela Siebold, Joana Duyster Borredà (eds.) European Commemoration: Locating World War I and projects to European Commemoration of the First World War. It comprises contributions from Alan Kramer “Too early to say?”, Aleida Assmann “European Com- memoration of the Great War”, Joke van del Leeuw Roord “Memory and Remembrance in history education” and Maceiej Gorny “Our war? Eastern Europe`s experience and memory of the Great war”. Edition Culture and Foreign Policy ifa Edition Culture and Foreign Policy European Commemoration: Locating World War I Contents Introduction by Edgar Wolfrum, Odila Triebel, Cord Arendes, Angela Siebold and Joana Duyster Borredà (eds.) 5 Speech by the Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the 12 “Europäische Erinnerungskulturen – European commemoration 2014” conference I Changes and theoretical reflections on remembrance, commemoration and memory in 2014 “Too early to say?” Centennial perspectives on the First World War 17 by Alan Kramer Through the looking-glass of the Great War. Exploring the past to 31 question the present by Andrea Molesini History education and memory practices: on curricula, classrooms and media 40 by Felicitas Macgilchrist European commemorations of the First World War – from national to 55 transnational memory cultures? by Aleida Assmann Rethinking commemorations, memory and remembrance in history education 67 by Joke van der Leeuw-Roord II Challenges and blind spots The art of sleepwalking: transnational memory and its European blind spots 82 by Vesna Goldsworthy Legacies of war: international women`s movements in the aftermath of war 92 by Ingrid Sharp Our war? Eastern Europe`s experience and memory of the Great War 103 by Maciej Górny Commemorating the First World War in Belgium, a divided country 113 by Herbert Ruland Hero or Foe? Gavrilo Princip and memory politics in Bosnia-Herzegovina 122 by Krsto Lazarevic The Great War and today`s China 134 by Guoqi Xu The Armenian Genocide and the European history and memory 144 by Hayk Demoyan De-constructing Weimar and re-constructing it again. Weimar`s political culture 152 and post-WWII discourses by Michael Dreyer ifa Edition Culture and Foreign PolicyEuropean Commemoration: Locating World War I Contents III Perspectives and projects Teaching multiperspectivity in 21st century Europe: 171 challenges and limits of extra-curricular historical education projects by Bogdan Murgescu Internet memes: a handy tool for commemoration 182 by Thilo Kasper Europeana 1914-1918 – Creating a pan-European personal archive 188 of WWI with a special focus on the Western Balkan states by Frank Drauschke and Breda Karun “How to deal with history?” – The importance of history and 205 commemoration in Franco-German-South Eastern European projects by Frank Morawietz Constructing the House of European History 218 by Andrea Mork War poetry, nationalism and internationalism: a pan-European perspective 236 by Geert Buelens ifa Edition Culture and Foreign PolicyEuropean Commemoration: Locating World War I Introduction Edgar Wolfrum, Odila Triebel, Cord Arendes, Angela Siebold and Joana Duyster Borredà (eds.): Introduction The commemoration of historical events is neither something that suddenly happens nor something static. On the contrary, commemoration depends on current views of the past and on the meaning that people attach to history and memory. It is therefore bound to change over time. What meaning is given to the past, is more a question of present perspectives than of historical facts. This makes it even more of a challenge to hold appro- priate discussions about historical commemoration between different spheres such as poli- tics, society, education and science, but also between regions, nations, and even continents. In 2014, numerous institutions all over Europe commemorated the outbreak of the First World War one hundred years ago and government representatives from around the world remembered the beginning of the four-year war which, particularly in Western Europe, became known as the Great War, la Grande Guerre or the Urkatastrophe of the 20th century.1 Politicians requested and encouraged museums and political and educational institu- tions to gather ideas and promote initiatives that evoked the history of the First World War. But not only political demand ended up stimulating a plethora of discussions, exhibitions and lectures on the “partly forgotten time”. Many social projects, cultural initiatives, scien- tific lectures and publications also sprang up of their own accord alongside the political initiative. These included the House of European History which aims to become a “reservoir of European memory” (Mork, Chapter III) and the bottom-up initiative Europeana 1914- 1918 (Drauschke/Karun, Chapter III). The conference “Europäische Erinnerungskulturen – European Commemoration 2014” held in December 2014 at the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin aimed to represent the different spheres where memory is constituted and contested in order to give an overview of the initiatives, narratives and commemorations taking place across Europe. This expert conference provided an opportunity to analyse some common perceptions and conclusions and to discuss different opinions about what the First World War still stood for a hundred years later. Designed as an interdisciplinary conference where scientific, social, educational and cultural experts could meet and exchange their experiences, 1 However, the commemoration process was not initiated by politicians throughout Europe. In Germany for example, politics did not play such a proactive role, see Epkenhans 2015: 135. ifa Edition Culture and Foreign PolicyEuropean Commemoration: Locating World War I 5 Introduction the discussions gave a multi-faceted insight into diverse commemorational projects, practices, expectations, experiences, challenges, and conclusions. Since Europe is a place with very different memory cultures, this conference provided an opportunity to discuss possibilities for transnational commemoration. Facing up to national and intercultural perceptions Despite a noticeable increase in Europeanisation, when remembering the First World War most narratives are influenced by national readings. What are the correlations between national, transnational, European or even global perspectives on the war? In what way are there similarities between the national interpretations? Why are there differences? The societies of the various European countries commemorate and perceive the First World War in very different ways. In Germany’s national memory in particular, the “guilty” connection with the First World War and the “shameful peace” left its mark on war commemoration for a long time. In the United Kingdom and France, La Grande Guerre is seen as a national defensive war, while in other parts of Europe it became a “forgotten” war (Drauschke/Karun, Chapter III). In many countries it was overshadowed by the horrors of the Second World War. Totalitarianism and the Holocaust, the Zivilisations- bruch, became much stronger lieux de mémoires. Given these differences, what does it mean to establish a European perspective? Is there a difference between a European perspective and multiperspectivity? Should “European” mean strengthening perspectives that exist independently of the national point of view e. g. violence, grief, exclusion and expulsion of minorities, transnational move­­ ments such as socialism,