An Inconvenient Past: The Memory of the State Crimes in Russia and Other Countries

The memory of crimes for which your own state is responsible, not external power is named the "heavy background" not accidentally. It is very hard psychologically, politically and legally to recognize one's own responsibility without shifting it on to external or internal enemies, time and circumstances. Only at first glance there seem to be many examples of this self-imposed reinterpreting, and Russia is the only country of its kind which cannot face up to past. In reality, says the researcher of memorial culture N. Epple, when it comes to the immediate successors of the perpetrators and the living political reality, there are no precedents of this kind so far. Even the example of Germany, in his view, cannot be regarded absolutely successful. The book compares domestic working-through of the past with the experience of other countries as Germany, Argentina, Poland, South Africa and Japan in order to outline the general principles of such work for overcoming collective trauma and achieving civil peace in Russia.