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Abstract
Texts and events regarding the Swedish Living History project in the years 1997–2008 are studied in the sense of a discursive formation, ‘Living History’. The article focuses on political aspects of changes, antagonism and discursive positions in public debates about ‘Living History’, whereby politics, journalism and academic history are seen as interacting parts. An examination of 651 press articles leads to the conclusion that ‘Living History’ changed its initial political focus of explicitly combating racism and anti-Semitism to eventually become a forum for universal democratic values, while at the same time focussing on apologetic views on communism. This development corresponds to the changing hegemonic discourse on ‘Living History’, from stressing the uniqueness of the Holocaust to a view strongly influenced by totalitarianism theory.
Notes
1 I use the concept discursive formation in the sense of a ‘set of different texts, articulations and acts, referring to the same object and supporting certain common strategies or goals’ (Selling, Aus den Schatten der Vergangenheit, 281 and chapter 1).
2 Selling, ‘“Levande historia” als schwedisches Mahnmal’. My German version pays more attention to the participators’ perspectives and to the Nazi gold-debate, but does not present the quantitative results.
3 See Selling, ‘Ideologisk kamp om Levande historia’; Franck, ‘Historieframställning i grundlagsandans tjänst’; Andersson Palm, ‘Historieskrivningens frihet hotad’, ‘Politisk historia i regeringsregi’ and ‘Om historieskrivning genom votering’.
4 ‘Upprop mot statlig kampanjhistoria’.
5 E-mail with Lars M. Andersson. Oral information from Stéphane Bruchfeld.
6 Ludvigsson, ‘Levande Historia’, 169.
7 Trenter, ‘I mötet med minnet’, 298–300.
8 Kverndokk, Pilegrim, turist og elev, 26. Cf. Zander, ‘To Rescue or Be Rescued’.
9 Bryld, ‘The Five Accused Years’, 99–100. Cf. Selling, Aus den Schatten der Vergangenheit, 93–4.
10 Karlsson, Med folkmord i fokus. Cf. his earlier perspectives as in ‘Public Uses of History’ and ‘Förintelsen som politik’.
11 Kroh, Transnationale Erinnerung, 236.
12 Eizenstat, ‘US and Allied Efforts to Recover’, iii, 21, 25, and 43.
13 Kurt Mälarstedt, Dagens Nyheter, 16 May 1997.
14 Statement of Christian Democrat Alf Svensson in Sveriges Riksdag, Protokoll 1996/97, 119, 12 June 1997. The survey asked: ‘The term “Holocaust” usually refers to the Nazi killing of approximately six Million Jews during World War II. How sure are you that the Holocaust occurred?’ 4.8% of the respondents chose the answer alternative ‘not at all sure’, 3.3% ‘a little uncertain’, 14.3% ‘pretty sure’, 66% ‘completely sure’ and 14.3% ‘don't know’ (Lange et al., Utsatthet för etniskt och politiskt relaterat hot, 59.) Another survey concluded that 96% of Swedish inhabitants over 16 years were ‘sure’ that the Holocaust occurred (SIFO Research International, ‘Svensk undersökning om Förintelsen’).
15 Sveriges Riksdag, Protokoll 1997/98: 35.
16 SOU 2001: 5, 41f; Dagens Nyheter, 7 October 1999.
17 Eizenstat, ‘US and Allied Wartime and Postwar Relations’, Foreword.
18 Thomas Höjeberg, Aftonbladet/TT, 9 June 1998.
19 SOU 1999: 20, 93–5.
20 Official state reports on Swedish neutrality, see SOU 1994: 11 (for the period 1949–1969) and SOU 2002: 108 (1969–1989).
21 Eizenstat, ‘US and Allied Efforts’, 21.
22 Sveriges Riksdag, Protokoll 1998/99: 7.
23 Vetenskapsrådet, Forskningsprogrammet “Kommunistiska regimer”.
24 SOU 2001: 5, 90. See page 101, reference to alternative discourse as in Gerner and Karlsson, Folkmordens århundrade.
25 SOU 2001: 5, 101.
26 Kommittén Forum för levande historia, Dnr 80.
27 Dagens Nyheter, 29 January 2001.
28 Kommittén Forum for levande historia, criticism from Ingrid Lomfors, Dnr. 67 and 117; Hédi Fried, Dn. 77; Stéphane Bruchfeld, Dnr. 97. See also Fried in Dagens Nyheter, 19 December 2006.
29 Forum för levande historia: Årsredovisning 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006; Otterbeck, Islamofobi; Bachner, Antisemitiska attityder; Tiby, En studie av homofobia hatbrott; and Jansson, Ett fördrivet folk.
30 Alm, Brott mot mänskligheten, 96–108. For the ‘historians’ debate’ (Historikerstreit) and Nolte, see my discussion in Aus den Schatten, 70–98 and in ‘Förintelsemonumentet som slutpunkt’.
31 Utbildnings- och kulturdepartementet, Regleringsbrev 2007, U2006/9499/BIA.
32 Alm, Brott mot mänskligheten, 4.
33 Editorial in Dagens Nyheter, 12 February 1999.
34 Berggren, ‘Tack Göran och Fredrik!’.
35 My own reason for signing was a disapproval of the discursive shift after 2006, as described in this article.
36 See the leader of the Conservative Party (Moderata samlingspartiet), Bo Lundgren, in Dagens Nyheter, 19 June 2000, and the chairman of the Liberal Party (Folkpartiet), Lars Leijonborg, already in Dagens Nyheter, 8 December 1998.
37 Karlsson, ‘Levande historia som politik’; Gerner, ‘Förintelsen och Gulag’.
38 Gerner, ‘Nazismen och stalinismen två sidor av samma mynt’.
39 Gerner, ‘Folkmord som intention och funktion’.
40 Editorial in Svenska Dagbladet, 13 February 2000.
41 UOK, Att tro men inte veta. Hjemdahl and Anderson, ‘Ungdomar har obefintlig kunskap om kommunism’. See Selling, Aus den Schatten der Vergangenheit, 70.
42 Dagens Nyheter, 15 November 2007.
43 Editorial in Svenska Dagbladet, 11 November 2007.
44 Sveriges Riksdag, Vänsterpartiets motion 2003/04, Kr255.
45 See Expressen: Lööw and Hjelm-Wallén, ‘Vänstern vill mörka kommunismens brott’ and ‘Vänsterns ideologiska kyla’; Oredsson, ‘Om kommunismens återkomst i riksdagen’; Hoffmann, the chairperson of the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet), responded, see Hoffman, ‘Vänsterpartiet försvarar nedläggningskravet’.
46 Linderborg et al., ‘Tre historiker om vad levande historia är’.
47 Bachner et al., Antisemitiska attityder, 84. See Selling, ‘Vi inom vänstern är blinda för judehatet’; Guillou, ‘Israelerna framstår som gravt rasistiska’; and Bachner in Expressen 10 February 2007.
Aftonbladet/TT.
Dagens Nyheter.
Svenska Dagbladet
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