Master Historical Narratives and Transitional Criminal Justice in Post-Communist Societies: Bulgaria, Germany and Romania in Comparative Perspective
Master Historical Narratives and Transitional Criminal Justice in Post-Communist Societies: Bulgaria, Germany and Romania in Comparative Perspective

Summary/Abstract: This article explores the relationship between transitional criminal justice and master historical narratives about the communist past in post-1989 Bulgaria, Germany and Romania. It analyses the different legal debates that framed trials targeting policies of repression applied in the late 1980s, and examines their rapport relationship to the official historical memory promoted by the states with regard to communist rule. The article specifically focuses on the Revival Process trials in Bulgaria, the Border Regime trials in Germany, and the December 1989 Revolution trials in Romania. Many transitional justice scholars have emphasized the role of criminal justice in creating new and comprehensive histories about the repression under former non-democratic regimes. This paper argues instead that transitional accountability is rather the product than the source of a dominant historical narrative that shapes the understanding of the dictatorial past. The first part of the article discusses various theoretical approaches to the epistemic function of transitional trials. The second part considers the master historical narratives about communist repression in the three countries, as well as the legal and historical debates that emerged from transitional trials. The article concludes that there is a strong relation between the results of these trials and the dominant narratives concerning the communist past. However, where this narrative is still in flux, because events are too recent and too controversial, trials may play an important role in producing alternative historical emplotments.

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