CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Hasegawa, Mako |
|---|---|
| Title | (Un)commemorated Memory in Italy: Tuscany's Project of "Treno della Memoria" in the Entangled International, National and Regional Memory Politics Surrounding January 27 |
| Summary | Since the 1990s, Western European countries have placed Holocaust remembrance at the core of memory politics and begun establishing commemoration days. As such, January 27, the liberation day of the Auschwitz concentration camp, plays an important role. In 2000, Italy designated this date as the Day of Memory, dedicated to both Jewish victims and political deportees. Earlier studies have criticised the limitations of this commemoration day both in the context of national politics and the media. However, considering the post-war Italian narrative, the Day of Memory has the potential to uncover the un-commemorated aspects of history. With a post-war Italian identity represented on Liberation Day, the myth of the resistance and of the “good Italian” became widely diffused. Meanwhile, the war crimes of the Fascists and any notion of Italian responsibility, including Italian involvement in the Holocaust, were sidelined. Nevertheless, some Italians did collaborate with the Nazis in acts of mass killing and deportations. This thesis questions whether the Day of Memory confronts these un-commemorated, inconvenient sides of the past from an Italian regional perspective. This study investigates a Tuscan mnemonic and pedagogical event, the Remembrance Train, undertaken alongside the Day of Memory. The physical and emotional experiences of the Remembrance Train participants emerge as the prominent takeaways from the project, at least on the side of the students. Observing their reflections facilitates a deeper understanding of the real impact of the Day of Memory on a local scale. Situating the Remembrance Train within the public sphere and thus entangled with international, national, and regional memory politics, this thesis will examine the potential and limitations of the Day of Memory’s navigation of memory, with an especial focus on the impact for younger generations. |
| Supervisor | Mako Hasegawa |
| Department | History MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/hasegawa_mako.pdf |
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