MUSEALISATION OF COMMUNISM, OR HOW TO CREATE NATIONAL IDENTITY IN HISTORICAL MUSEUMS

• Authors: Ziębińska-Witek Anna
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The goal of the article is to critically analyse and deconstruct museum narratives about communism in East-Central Europe 30 years after transformation. The research material is museum exhibitions interpreted in accordance with the methodology of visual research (composition analysis, content analysis, analysis of material objects, and analysis of meanings). The first and most important museum type from the perspective of the memory canon is The Act of 6 June 1997 Penal Code (Journal of Laws of 1997, item 553). Art. 125. § 1. Whoever destroys, damages or takes away a cultural object in an occupied area or in which military operations are taking place, violating international law, shall be subject to the penalty of deprivation of liberty for a term of between one and 10 years. § 2. If the act concerns goods of particular importance for culture, the perpetrator shall be subject to the penalty of deprivation of liberty for not less than 3 years. Art. 278. § 1. Whoever takes away someone else’s movable property for the purpose of appropriation shall be subject to the penalty of deprivation of liberty for a term of between 3 months and 5 years. § 2. The same punishment shall be imposed on anyone who, without the consent of the authorised person, obtains someone else’s computer program in order to gain financial benefits. § 3. In the case of an act of a lesser significance, the perpetrator is subject to a fine, limitation of liberty or deprivation of liberty for one year. § 4. If the theft was committed to the detriment of the closest person, the prosecution takes place at the request of the injured party. Art. 279. § 1. Whoever steals by burglary is punishable by imprisonment from one to 10 years. § 2. If the burglary was committed to the detriment of the closest person, the prosecution takes place at the request of the injured party. As it represents the official historical policy of most East-European states, is the so-called identity or heroic museum. Its purpose is not so much to show the truth about the past but to create the collective memory of a society and its positive self-image.

Keywords

EN

HISTORICAL MUSEUM; EXHIBITION; COMMUNISM; COLLECTIVE MEMORY; NARRATIVES

• Publisher: Muzeológia a kultúrne dedičstvo, o.z.
• Journal: Muzeológia a kultúrne dedičstvo
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 59 – 72

Contributors

author

Ziębińska-Witek Anna

• Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Institut of History, Poland

Identifiers

DOI

10.46284/mkd.2020.8.4.5