Compliant policy and multiple meanings: Confl icting holocaust discourses in Estonia

Abstract

This chapter uses a sociocultural approach to analyse the formation and implementation of policy around Estonia’s Holocaust Day, a day of both commemoration for victims of the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity, and education about the Holocaust. It investigates both the multi-level development of the policy in light of external pressure (from foreign advocates and transnational groups including NATO and the Council of Europe) and the ways in which policy as normative discourse was constructed and its meanings negotiated between international sources, the national government, and educators. It draws attention to the multifaceted nature of discourse in a post-authoritarian context where power disparities further complicate an already complex transnational policy environment.