The Memory of Guilt Revisited

The collapse of the communist states is regarded as the starting point of the new Europe. With this turning point, historical narratives have had to be rewritten in the post-socialist countries. Focusing on the little known case of Slovenia, this issue of zeitgeschichte offers a comprehensive survey of the transformations affecting collective memory and the writing of history in one post-communist country. The essays analyze the ways in which Slovenian society has grappled with traumatic historical events and thus give insight into the ongoing struggle over the interpretation of Slovenia's past. Given the proliferating illiberal tendencies in the political culture of numerous European countries, the strategies of historical revisionism described in this issue are likely to be of considerable interest not only to scholars interested specifi cally in the case of Slovenia.

Petra Mayrhofer ist Zeithistorikerin und wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Institut für Zeitgeschichte der Universität Wien.