Europe's Divided Memories After 1945: Note on the Crisis of European Integration and Memory

The article describes the development of historical narratives of European integration all over Europe since 1945. It suggests the coexistence of two memorial levels, a national ad a cosmopolitan one, incompatible though running and evolving in parallel . National memories in particular contradict each other and reflect opposed experiences of WWII. Dealing with national memories was probably too difficult for building a unified supranational memory. The problem however has become unavoidable after 1992 and not fully resolved by the centrality of the Holocaust. As cosmopolitan discourses over the past show their inadequacy to accomodate and meet national memories and social demands, the clash over an unreconciled past is bound to increase.