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- Title
COLLECTIVE MEMORY: THE CHOICES AND THE NATURE OF REPRESENTATIONS OF THE PAST IN SĄJŪDŽIO ŽINIOS 1988-1989.
- Authors
VENCLAUSKIENĖ, LAIMA
- Abstract
The article deals with the manifestations of collective memory (representations of the past, where past events are interpreted, conceptualised and used for today's needs) in Sąjūdžio žinios 1988-1989. As the Soviet regime made great efforts to reinterpret the past and create a programmed and artificial memory by radically confronting the institutionalised and individual memories, Sąjūdis' goals included filling the "blank spots" of history, primarily targeting the secret protocols of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact. "The return of history" and "recovered (national) memory" also meant voicing injustices and repressions suffered by the Lithuanians during the Soviet era, such as mass deportations, which, in turn, led to victimhood and "competitive martyrology", as well as creating the image of the Soviet era as that of constant repressions, darkness and sham. Allusions to the Soviet Union as the (evil) empire (the slaughterhouse of nations) featuring colonial intent and slavery, compared with the Tsarist Empire (the prison of nations) and serfdom, are often used in Sąjūdžio žinios. The phenomenon of reverse-cultural colonisation is observed in the opposition between the periphery (Lithuania) and the Soviet metropolis. The opposition itself is drawn in the form of indifference to the existence of the Lithuanian nation, its exploitation and humiliation. In the reflections on environmental issues found within Sąjūdžio žinios, the damage to Lithuania's nature is viewed as yet another thread in the history of the nation's oppression. Concern for ecology is also concern over the nation's fate and its future: mass deportations have ended, yet those who survived are now poisoned in their own polluted land, under the menace of the nuclear disaster -- ecologic genocide. The Lithuanian nature was said to be in need of purification, just as history and memory were to be recovered and renounced of lies. History (historical truth) was "brought back" to the streets of the Lithuanian cities and towns by public rallies, as those to mark the anniversary of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, attesting to collective memory's performative nature. Sąjūdžio žinios called on the readers to mark the event, referred to as the offset of the tragic situation the nation has found itself in, while the publication's rhetoric employed a schematic narrative template of suffering-waiting-revival cycle. The comments on the national calendar (the revision of memorable days) and national attributes in the news bulletin relate to the need for the past that is commonly shared and jointly remembered, as well as commemorative symbolism.
- Subjects
COLLECTIVE memory; CHOICE (Psychology); GERMAN-Soviet Nonaggression Pact; MEMORIALS; NARRATIVES; LITHUANIAN history
- Publication
Darbai ir Dienos, 2013, Issue 60, p117
- ISSN
1392-0588
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.7220/2335-8769.60.5