European Memory Politics in Scandinavia – the Case of a Swedish-Danish Border Region

Abstract

The article analyses how history is used in the Danish-Swedish cross border Oresund area. The case study allows for an exploration of memory politics with relation to multiple regional processes (EU, Nordic, Scandinavian), as well as from multiple perspectives (national, subnational and transnational). The paper argues that the Nordic arena is in the focus of communicative and cultural memories through storytelling, with emphasis on solidarity and successful institution-building. Yet, conflicting national memories persist as obstacles and current diverting political standpoints at national level (e.g., migration, the Covid pandemic) are likely to affect how history is portrayed regionally. European history, on the other hand, plays a subservient role. For instance, references to the European continent’s totalitarian past are not explicitly used for memory politics, and recollection of the world wars are used in asymmetric modes and with focus on the specific Nordic experience.