23 August 1939
A European Lieu de Mémoire?
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The memory of the Hitler-Stalin pact differs throughout Europe. In Western Europe, it hardly exists, and in Germany it has faded. In East Central Europe, above all in Poland and the Baltic, the German-Soviet partition agreement is a central point of reference in remembrance culture. In Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova, historians and the general public have difficulties with the secret protocol of the Treaty of Non-aggression. This gives rise to acute con-flicts over memory with Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn. 23 August 1939 is a date of fundamental importance for Europe, but it is not a European lieu de mémoire.
(Osteuropa 7-8/2009, pp. 249–256)