L'Europe et ses mémoires. Trois perspectives croisées

Abstract

By contrast with the two preceding centuries, which were shaped by the impact of the French and Russian Revolutions, the 21st century has begun unde r the sign ofthe eclipse of utopias. The disappearance of a visible "ho rizon of expectation" hasgenerated a charged memory of the 20th century as a time of violence, totalitarianisms and genocides, encapsulated by the image of their victims. Analyzing th e commemorationsof May 8, 1945 - the anniversary of the end of the Second World War and of the Sétif massacre - this article distinguishes three main spaces that define Europe's memories: a Western space shaped by the remembrance of the Holocaust; an Eastern space dominated by the legacy of Communism; and a postco lonial space exhuming the continent's imperial past. In spite of the conflicts that it entail s, the conjunction of these different perspectives can prove fruitful both hermeneutically (as a tool for rethinking European history) and politically (as a means of reformula ting an idea of citizenship that transcends national divisions). © 2009 Presses de Sciences Po.