Suffering into patrimony: dealing with communist repression in postcommunist Romania
Suffering into patrimony: dealing with communist repression in postcommunist Romania

Summary/Abstract: Analyses of communist repression in post-communist Romania focused on anti-communism and its totemic figures. Laws, institutions and people promote this perspective,transforming the suffering of the formerly politically persecuted into a patrimony meant tobe preserved and passed on. On the official level, the anticommunist paradigm gained mo-mentum in December 2006 when the communist regime was condemned as ‘criminal andillegitimate’. However, a majority of the population have not embraced the official approachto communism as the fallen regime still acts as a ‘millieu de memoire’ (as defined by PierreNora). My article deals with the main institutions and laws which aimed at promoting andtransmitting the memory of repression in post-communist Romania. Analyzing the memorypolitics as regards the communist repression might provide fresh insight into the ongoingprocess of building a cultural memory through selection, reconstruction and adjusting fig-ures, deeds, and memorial items.

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