Sixteen years after the wave of the revolutions that toppled half a century of communist rule in Central Europe Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Hungary are members of the European Union with fully consolidated democratic regimes. Yet their domestic political scenes are still split along the ethnic lines and latent ethnic conflict is palpable within as well as across the borders. This paper focuses on one of the main factors that feed the continuing ethnic tensions in politics, and that is the manipulation with historical history by the political figures. National elites often use references to the events in ethnic groups’ past as ready-made weapons against representatives of other ethnic groups, or as a lure to attract voters within their own community. My research shows, that the level of awareness and interpretation of events and eras highlighted in historical memories of this or that ethnic group varies by nationality, but also by the function of belonging to the ranks of national or local elite. ‘Common’ people, simply put, seem to have more pedestrian priorities than linking ancient histories to current political squabbles. In this brief paper, Kusá looks at the theoretical background of ethnic mobilization under the elite leadership, and tools utilized to further political agendas, with a focus on the manipulation with historical memory. To deeper illustrate these tensions, a case study from southern Slovak town of Komárno is examined.
“Je Me Souviens”…Historical Memory on the Stage of Central European Politics
JVF Conference Papers
