The Elites’ Games in the Field of Memory: Insights from Lithuania

Abstract

The issue of memory has become an increasingly important analytical category for historians, sociologists, cultural theorists, marketing managers and political scientists. Some scholars have gone so far as to claim that memory is the new paradigm of history, overpowering and restructuring other frames of reference like class and gender (Winter, 2000). The fall of Communism and its ensuing social transformations are major historical events that further increased political and intellectual interest in the studies of memory. In post-Communist Europe, of which Lithuania is a part, the complexity of the present-day situation, as well as its successes, promises, disappointments and hopes, makes people rethink the recent past. Consequently, political elites in the region are active in the field of memory. Democratic regimes respect freedom of consciousness, speech and association as well as uphold the principle of free and fair elections, and by doing so they create conditions that are essential for the emergence and practices of historical memories that are analytically distinguishable from ideology, propaganda and half truths. It is important to emphasize that in any society there is no single historical or collective memory, but rather there are as many stories and feelings about the past as there are social or political groups vying for power.