The Cynical and the Ironical – Remembering Communism in Hungary
The Cynical and the Ironical – Remembering Communism in Hungary

Summary/Abstract: The cynical politics of remembrance has a very different effect on its audience than does the ironic sort. It makes reflection impossible, precluding any confrontation with the past, hindering humour and laughter. It demands submissive reception and it serves up this reparation in return: here, we can grieve for ourselves and pass sentence on others. Politics has numerous tools at its disposal to spur society to remember the past. Political gestures can be made, laws can be passed, educational programs can be initiated, and memorials and museums can be built. The paper analyses two government-sponsored initiatives at ‘musealization’, which shed light on two different forms of remembering. Museum exhibits concerning the socialist era generally focus on narratives crafted by scholars or by visual artists. Not only do they convey knowledge but they can also awaken emotions in the visitor: they can calm them or incite them, make them cry or make them laugh. A successful museum can be the venue in which the process, the work of memory begins: visitors can evoke their own experiences in connection with what they see.

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